Funding for play

Core funding
Offers unrestricted funding for small and local charities, investing in their work helping people overcome complex social issues across England and Wales.

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Children and young people
Grants for the benefit of children and young people who live in one of nine boroughs in north and west London. In addition to ongoing annual grant giving of £12m, the charity has ring-fenced £22m to be spent over the next six years in the wake of the pandemic.

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Community funds
Sport England has modified its funding streams to help people safely return to play and are targeting the places they'll have the biggest impact.

Sport England’s Return to Play fund comprises three funding streams to help people safely return to play as we emerge from the worst of the coronavirus pandemic.

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Small grants
Deutsche Bank's Opportunity Fund offers support for charities, voluntary or community groups with an income of less than £250,000 per annum. Previously, funding was focused on improving outcomes for young people - however in recent years the focus has shifted to alleviating homelessness.

Deutsche Bank’s Opportunity Fund offers support for charities, voluntary or community groups with an income of less than £250,000 per annum.
Previously, funding was focused on improving outcomes for young people – however in recent years the focus has shifted to alleviating homelessness.

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Community funds
Community groups and not-for-profit organisations with an annual income of less than £350,000 can apply for a grant of between £5,000 and £40,000 to fund projects which help make their communities a better place to live.

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Children and young people
The Gannett Foundation is the charitable arm of Gannett Co Inc., owner of the Newsquest Media Group. It provides funding to support local organisations in the area where Newsquest operates in the UK - including large parts of London.

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Community funds
The Landfill Communities Fund (LCF) is a tax credit scheme which enables operators of landfill sites to contribute money to enrolled environmental bodies to carry out projects which create significant environmental benefits and jobs, promote sustainable waste management, and which improve the lives of communities living near landfill sites.

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Small charities
This fund is designed to support smaller charities in the UK, especially those working at grass roots and local community level, in any field, across a wide range of activities. Applications are welcomed from charities that have an annual turnover of less than £100,000 per annum.

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Children and young people
Lady Allen was a pioneer in the field of children's rights and adventure play for disabled children. Grants are awarded to candidates working with children, in particular disabled children and/or children from disadvantaged backgrounds. The travel award is awarded annually and offers candidates the opportunity to travel and broaden their professional experience.

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Capital funding
NLCF (previously Big Lottery) is responsible for distributing £600m each year to communities, raised by players of the National Lottery. The National Lottery Community Fund runs more than 20 funding programmes, several of which are relevant to play - including Awards for All and Reaching Communities.

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Community funds
Funding of between £250 and £3,000 is available for seed funding for local groups and organisations who are working to bring together neighbours of differing faiths or ethnicities.

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Holiday play
Provides up to £2,000 to fund projects which benefit deprived and disabled children and young people, with priorities including literacy, special needs education, clubs, play schemes, and counselling. Applications are only accepted from registered charities with an annual income of less than £150,000.

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Capital funding
The API is a member's body for playground equipment manufacturers and has a list of potential funding sources for playgrounds on its website here.

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Community funds
The Peabody Community Fund awards grants to charities, residents and community organisations working for the benefit of people living in the areas in which Peabody operates, which includes plenty of areas in London.

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Holiday play
A small budget is available to help community groups run summer play schemes for disadvantaged communities.  Some priority is given to projects which show they are inclusive of children from refugee families, and show BAME involvement.

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Children and young people
Funding of up to £150,000 for work that develops new and imaginative ways of addressing the root causes of London’s social problems, especially work which has the potential to influence and change policy, practice and public attitudes. Funding is available under a number of streams including: Good Homes and Neighbourhoods; and Stronger Voices.

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Community funds
The Postcode Society Trust awards funds raised from players of the People’s Postcode Lottery to local good causes in the south of England. Provides core or project funding of up to £20,000 to organisations with an income of less than £1m (and preferably less than £500k).

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Core funding
The Trust currently awards around £20m per year to charitable causes aimed at tackling inequality in London.

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