Funding Opportunities
We administer a wide range of grant programmes on behalf of grant-making trusts, business, and the public sector. With over twenty years of experience in this field, we help funding get to the places and projects that need it most, making a real difference to people’s lives.
All our current programmes are listed below, along with deadlines and links to full guidance.
If you’ve already started an application using our online portal, log in here to continue.
Fund status
- North Lancashire Stop Smoking: open now, closes 6 July
- Eric Wright Charitable Trust: opens 18 April, grants awarded monthly
- Lancaster District Street Aid: open, decision shortly after application
- Nat Merriman Fund: open, decision shortly after application
- Step Up Fund: open, decision shortly after application
easyfundraising
Set up a free easyfundraising page for your charity or voluntary organisation and 8,000 retailers will donate money to you when your supporters shop online with them – for free. It doesn’t anything extra as the retailer pays the donation, not the shopper.
Every 3 months, your organisation will receive the money your supporters have raised for you. As the funds you raise are unrestricted, you can spend it on whatever you need.
North Lancashire Stop Smoking
Tobacco is the single most important, entirely preventable cause of ill health, disability, and death in England with up to 80,000 deaths per year. The impact of smoking is extensive across our communities and is closely linked to health inequalities. Smokers have a recorded life expectancy that is at least 10 years shorter than non-smokers, with the effects being more pronounced among disadvantaged groups.
While smoking rates are generally reducing over time nationally, according to the latest GPPS data Lancashire smoking rates are significantly higher than the England average (13.6% v 14.5%) with North Lancashire recording an estimated prevalence of 15%, making Lancaster district the third highest across Lancashire.
As a result of the higher estimated prevalence in our area, Lancashire County Council has devolved funding to Lancaster City Council who are working with a collaborative group including the district’s ICC Development Leads, LDCVS, and Smokefree Lancashire, with the aim of engaging smokers to quit.
Timescale
Apply from 16 June 2025 until 6 July 2025, 11:59pm.
Partnership Applications
Organisations are encouraged to work in partnership to create the best possible outcomes. Partnerships should nominate a lead organisation and submit a single application.
Scope
Grants of up to £25,000 are available for community organisations to either:
- set up as Stop Smoking Hubs and host Smokefree Champions, and deliver related activities and campaigns for a period of twelve months, or
- create partnership projects where organisations deliver activities and campaigns alongside other organisations that want to become Hubs with Champions or are already hosting Smokefree Lancashire provision.
Eric Wright Charitable Trust
All smaller local organisations working within the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector are encouraged to apply for financial help in providing activities that will make a positive difference to the lives and wellbeing of people of any age. Grants of up to £500 are available.
The grant is available to organisations with an annual income of less than £50,000 (you do not need to be a registered charity to apply).
The fund is administered by Lancaster District CVS on behalf of the Eric Wright Charitable Trust (EWCT) via the LDCVS Bay Foundation. See our guidance notes for more information on the EWCT.
Timescale
Opens 18 April. Grants awarded monthly until the fund is entirely allocated. Apply before the end of each month for a decision the following month.
Multiple Applications
Organisations who have received awards from the fund are welcome to apply again.
If you would like to know more about how to complete your application, email [email protected] or telephone 01524 555900.
Pots of Possibility
Closing Loops is a five-year £1.5 million project led by FoodFutures, North Lancashire’s sustainable food partnership.
The scheme is delivered by six local organisations (LESS, Lancaster District CVS, Eggcup, Global Link, Shared Future CIC and Scientists For Global Responsibility), and is funded by The National Lottery Community Fund.
Thanks to National Lottery players, it is supporting community-led action and local initiatives to transform waste into a valuable resource, aiming to stimulate a zero-waste, circular and regenerative local economy.
As part of this, £300,000 in small grants will be available through the Pots of Possibility fund to enable charitable organisations, social enterprises, community groups and others in north Lancashire to develop creative ideas to help communities and the environment to flourish.
Apply to Community Pots for grants worth up to £5,000 and Your Pots for grants between £5,000 and £10,000.
Timescale
Community Pots
Round four opens for applications in March 2026
Your Pots
Round three opens for applications in autumn 2025
Multiple Applications
Organisations can only submit one application per round. If your organisation has had a Pots of Possibility grant in a previous round you are able to apply again, however you must have completed your project and your End of Grant Return before submitting a new application.
For support with the application process, eligibility, documentation and timescales, contact LDCVS by email at [email protected] or by telephone on 01524 555900.
For advice about Closing Loops themes, project ideas, and the fund’s apporoach to zero-waste and regenerative initatives, contact Jo Stocking, Closing Loops REconomy Coordinator by email at [email protected]
Lancaster Community Fund
Lancaster City Council and Lancaster District CVS invite local charities and community groups to apply to the Lancaster Community Fund. Grants of up to £1,000 are available to volunteer organisations in Lancaster District that need help to deliver projects and activities for the benefit of local people.
The fund has three main priorities:
- Projects that increase community involvement, build community wealth and resilience.
- Projects that contribute towards carbon reduction and a more sustainable district.
- Projects that contribute to individual and community wellbeing
2025/6 Rounds
Round 1: 19 Jun – 14 Jul 2025
Round 2: 3 Oct – 2 Nov 2025
Round 3: 30 Jan – 1 March 2026
Applications close at 11:59pm on the dates stated.
Criteria
Applications are particularly welcomed from groups working in disadvantaged communities or from new and smaller grassroots groups with low income.
If you have any questions about the fund or how to complete your application, email [email protected] or telephone 01524 555900
Banks Lyon Memorial Trust Step Up Fund
Lancaster District CVS is working with the Banks Lyon Memorial Trust to offer the Step Up Fund.
Funding is available for young people aged 16-24 living in the Lancaster District who are facing social and/or financial barriers.
Grants made through the fund will help the beneficiaries access goods and services to help them overcome those barriers with the aim of gaining access education, training or employment.
Timescale
Apply at any time. We aim to make decisions as soon as possibile.
Grants
Depending on need, grants will be up to £250 per person, spent on behalf of the applicant by LDCVS.
If you have any questions about the fund, would like to apply, or would like to refer a young person for consideration, contact Catherine Westwell by email at [email protected]
Lancaster District Street Aid
Donations to Street Aid generate a pot of funding that individuals can apply for in partnership with a supporting organisation (voluntary sector or local authority), to get the sort of practical help they need to stay off the streets for good.
Types of support that can be applied for via the scheme include access to housing, furniture and other home essentials, education/training courses, clothing for job interviews, equipment/materials for hobbies and interests, and transport to interviews/place of work.
Contactless terminals offering a fixed £3 donation have been installed in windows at Dalton Square Pharmacy (Gage Street, Lancaster), Citizens Advice North Lancashire (George Street, Lancaster and Queen Street, Morecambe), Festival Market, and Treasure Island (Marine Road Central, Morecambe)
Alternatively, donors can give £3 by texting STREET to 70450 (texts will cost the donation amount plus one standard network rate message), and make larger donations via TotalGiving.
Information for sponsor organisations
Organisations who want to sponsor an application for aid to a formerly homeless or currently vulnerably housed person can access our guidance notes here and start their application here.
To find out more about how to complete your application, email [email protected] or telephone 01524 555900.
“Having the bus vouchers made it possible for me to get to my hospital appointments. Having the financial stress of this removed helped me concentrate on my recovery from surgery and other treatments I received. It is a life changing thing being able to access funds like these.
Street Aid not only improved my life it significantly changed it for the good.”
Nat Merriman Fund
Lancaster District CVS administers the Nat Merriman Fund on behalf of the fund’s trustees. The fund was established in memory of Nat, a young Lancaster man that passionately believed in the value of creative and performing arts in the lives of young people, who sadly died in 1994 aged 15.
The fund is open to individual aged 11-25 years old who live in the Lancaster district, as well as organisations that work with them.
Funding up to
- £300 for individuals
- £500 for groups or organisations
Priorities
To enable young people to widen their experience and appreciation of the creative and performing arts.
Applications can now be made online for both individual and group/organisation grants.
If you would like to know more about how to complete your application, email [email protected] or telephone 01524 555900.
Your privacy is important to us, so we will keep your data secure. We need your details to process and manage your funding application. Your information may be processed on our behalf by carefully selected partners. We will not share your information further unless required to do so by law, or at your request. Please see our Data Protection Policy and our Privacy Notice relating to funding applications for more information on how we look after your data.
“We” means Lancaster District Community & Voluntary Solutions, charity number 1127626
