From November 2009 - Cumbria Floods update. Cumbria Community Foundation has earmarked a Flood Recovery Fund for charitable and community groups which may be useful for affected church-based projects providing services to local communities. Click here for details

Cumbria County Council
CCC makes small grants available (up to £1,000) across Cumbria through neighbourhood forums. Grants are available for voluntary, non-profit making and community groups for community based projects on an area basis. Grants awarded have included applications from playgroups, resident's action groups, sports groups, youth clubs, environmental groups, community centres and local charities.

Successful applications have been for a wide range of projects including: setting up costs, educational toys, newsletters, notice boards, craft equipment, food co-ops, emergency information, pantomimes and summer play schemes. Neighbourhood Forums deal with their grants in different ways and can also have slightly differing budgets. It's always worth having a chat with the Neighbourhood Development Officer for the area your project will be in.

Cumbria County Council also runs a Community Waste Prevention Fund which offers grants of up to £15,000 to support new and innovative waste prevention initiatives, which work directly with the community to encourage the key practices of reduce, reuse and recycle.  50% match funding is required, but this can be in the form of volunteer time rather than hard cash.

Northern Rock Foundation

Despite the banking and financial market crisis, Northern Rock are still offering £15 million pa grants to groups in Cumbria and North East in 2009 and 2010. One of the key changes is that Northern Rock will no longer funding building works.

Their four grants programmes target social disadvantage and promote culture and heritage for everyone:
Independence and Choice (£3 million pa) to enhance services for people with mental health problems, learning difficulties, older people ad carers. Building Positive Lives (£3 million pa) focuses on individual help for particularly vulnerable people to overcome barriers through services such as mentoring and befriending and crisis support. Safety and Justice (£2 million pa) for support services to victims of abuse. Culture and Heritage (£3 million pa) for inspiring, enjoyable and diverse culture programmes and events that raise our region’s profile and make it a better place for everyone to live and enjoy life. The priority for this fund is high profile arts and heritage programmes and this is not for community arts programmes.

South Lakeland District Council offers Disability Access Grants

Coalfields Trust
The trust offers grants of between £500 and £300,000 towards socio-economic projects in recognised coalfield communities in West Cumbria.

West Cumbria Community Fund

An agreement between the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, Cumbria County Council and Copeland Borough Council means that £1.5M per year will be available to support socio-economic projects in the communities affected by the Drigg Low Level Waste Repository.  Details of how the fund will operate have yet to be announced and will be posted here when available.

National Parks and AONBs

• Lake District National Park
• Yorkshire Dales National Park
  
• Arnside Silverdale AONB
  
• North Pennines AONB
  
• Solway Coast AONB