Hello Fundraisers,

Welcome to the September edition of Voluntary Support's Fundraising newsletter!

This month we welcome our new Funding and Resilience Manager Wendy McGeachy, and take a look at major donor fundraising. We also have a round-up of training opportunities and new funding options:

Fundraising News:

• Welcome to Wendy, our new Funding and Resilience Manager
• Is Your Charity Ready for Major Donor Fundraising?
• Over £2millon Donated Through easyfundraising This Summer
• Raising Funds Through The Giving Machine
• Funding Competition To Boost Towns
• Warburtons Closes Small Grants Programme, Promising New One in Autumn

Training & Events: 

• Social Media Marketing and Remarketing for Community Building
• Charity Mash-Up 2026
• Get Grants Free Conference

New Funds: A range of funds with deadlines coming up this autumn.

If you need support with fundraising, please get in touch with Wendy at: wendy@voluntarysupport.org.uk. 

Kind regards,

Alison Morey

Welcome to Wendy, our new Funding and Resilience Manager

Wendy McGeachy has joined Voluntary Support North Surrey as our new Funding and Resilience Manager. 

Wendy's career spans 30 years in the voluntary sector, most recently supporting organisations In London and Kent.  She has experience in fundraising as an applicant and has supported other organisations to apply for funding. She has also been a grants assessor, primarily for European funding, but also as part of a grants panel for a housing association and a community foundation.

If you are in need of additional fundraising support, please contact Wendy on 01932 571122 or email wendy@voluntarysupport.org.uk

Wendy will be at our September networking event, talking about how she can help groups with fundraising. Other speakers include Greg Martin, Energy Assessor at Zero Carbon Guildford and Katie Davey is Community and Partnerships Manager at Action for Carers.

Is Your Charity Ready for Major Donor Fundraising?

In a recent LinkedIn post, fundraising consultant Beth Upton wrote about one of the most common mistakes she encounters in major donor programmes. Many charities set their major gift threshold at an aspirational number they have never actually received, meaning their existing top donors sit below the line and the programme stalls before it has started.

Upton advises setting the threshold where your top ten current donors actually sit, not where you wish they sat. And then make sure everyone in the organisation knows what that number is - because your finance officer, volunteer coordinator and trustees are often the people most likely to encounter the next one.

Attracting major donors is really about readiness, argues Hannah Shepherd of Money Tree Fundraising in a recent blog post. Major donors are drawn to charities that already have the right foundations in place. Hannah identifies six key areas to work on:

• Define what a major gift means for your charity. Not a sector-wide number but the level at which one gift changes what your organisation can do and at which it makes sense to invest staff time in a single relationship. For some organisations, that figure might be £3000 - for others, £100,000.
• Build a compelling case for support. Donors are looking for clarity and impact, not need alone. Lead with what a donor's money achieves, not what the charity needs.
• Build your pipeline. Start with who already gives. Segment your database to find your top current donors, understand why they gave, and think about how you could strengthen those relationships, and who they might introduce you to.
• Make your charity visible. Strategic events, board and trustee connections, good deployment of brand, and connections with professional advisers all help get you in front of the right people. Have a short, clear pitch ready - five sentences at most.
• Cultivate before you ask. Spend as much time - sometimes more - on cultivation as on the ask itself. Create individual donor plans and map out each donor's journey month by month.
• Get your internal systems right. Donors stay with, well-run organisations, and retaining a donor is far cheaper than finding a new one.

Over £2millon Donated Through easyfundraising This Summer

According to easyfundraising, £2m in unrestricted funding has been donated to third sector organisations through the easyfundraising platform this summer.

easyfundraising has thousands of online retailers will donate money to your organisation when your volunteers, staff, trustees and supporters shop with them. Popular retailers who will donate include Tesco, trainline, eBay, Argos, Asda, Sainsbury’s, John Lewis, M&S, Boots, Asda, Booking.com and 8,000 others.

Every three months, the donations are paid to your organisation as unrestricted funding, to spend on whatever you need. The next funding payout is due in November. To set up your free easyfundraising page visit: https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/community/

Raising Funds Through The Giving Machine

The Giving Machine's mission is to bring people, businesses and good causes together by:

• making giving part of everyday life.
• helping organisations support their communities in meaningful, accessible ways.
• ensuring charities, schools, and community groups can rely on simple fundraising and timely grants to keep their vital work going.

For charities and community groups, they do this through:

• Small community grants: offering 8 x £250 grants every quarter. Applications take 10 minutes.
• GivingLottery: a lottery that raises money for your organisation.

Funding Competition To Boost Towns

The Let's Celebrate Towns competition has opened for entries from towns across the UK. The joint initiative by Visa and Nationwide recognises projects that are helping towns become stronger, more resilient and vibrant.

The competition covers five categories:

• High Street Revival
• Backing Local Business
• Protecting Valued Places
• Connected Places
• Community Pride

Five winning towns will each receive a £20,000 grant towards a community project or initiative.

Funding can support projects that address local challenges and strengthen communities. Eligible activities include initiatives that support businesses, revitalise high streets and protect valued places. Previous projects supported through the initiative have included cultural festivals, high street regeneration and heritage restoration.

Entries are invited from MPs and local leaders, local authorities and town councils, as well as community groups and organisations. Successful entrants will also have the opportunity to attend a national awards ceremony at the Houses of Parliament.

Social Media Marketing and Remarketing for Community Building - 21 September 2026 - Staines Library

This workshop explores how to strategically use social media to attract, engage, and retain audiences through authentic community building. We will look at what is a reasonable expectation from your efforts, what kind of goals to set and how to achieve them. We will also cover the technique of growing an email list from your social media and website, and the fundamentals of remarketing, leveraging repetition and targeted messaging to really engage followers and subscribers  

By the end of the course, you will understand how to integrate social media, email marketing, and remarketing strategies into a cohesive system to nurture relationships and boost their engagement.

Key Topics: 

• Designing social media content that captures your target audience 
• Achieving engagement and building an online community
• Growing and managing an email list effectively
• Creating remarketing campaigns that reinforce brand awareness through repetition
• Nurturing closer connections and longer-term relationships 

Charity Mash-Up 2026

24 September, 9am - 2:30pm, Woking

This year's Charity Mash‑Up by Surrey Community Action takes the theme of No Charity Left Behind, bringing together Surrey’s voluntary sector at a moment when the pressures have never felt sharper. As local government reorganisation and the mergers of CCGs reshape long‑standing partnerships, charities are navigating shrinking funding opportunities, rising operational costs, and surging demand for vital community services. This conference presents a space to connect, collaborate, and strengthen the sector so every organisation—large or small—can continue delivering the support Surrey's communities depend on.

Speakers include Maddy Desforges OBE from NAVCA, Kat Wayne from The National Lottery Community Fund and charity consultant Vic Hancock-Fell.

Get Grants Free Conference

Funding information resource Get Grants is running its free virtual conference in October for the third year running.

This year’s event, which runs on 6 and 7 October, features expert fundraising advice, peer support, tips and Q&A sessions.

You can also download and watch last year's sessions for free. Sessions include in conversations with funders Henry Smith Foundation and Hilden Charitable Trust, and sessions such as practical storytelling and stewarding human connection.

SCC Community Resilience (Climate) Grant

Surrey County Council's Community Resilience Toolkit, created by Surrey County Council, Surrey Fire & Rescue, and Surrey Prepared, supports community groups to create a local resilience action plan focused on the specific risks in your area - such as flooding, overheating, wildfires and coping with utilities outages.

Once your group has a completed resilience plan, you can apply for a Community Resilience Grant to deliver one or more specific projects you've identified.

The programme recognises that building resilience is most effective when communities work together. Grants are available to community groups and Parish and Town Councils. They will be awarded to applicants that involve multiple local partners to ensure plans reflect the needs and priorities of the whole community. The following pages are designed to help organisations collaborate:

• Slow the Flow 
• Defeat the Heat 
• Green the Scene 
• Be Fire Wise 
• Other 

Application deadlines:

• 16th September 2026: £1000 grant for a completed action plan. Available on a first-come, first-served basis.
• 30th September 2026: Up to £15,000 Project Delivery Grant for high impact, short-term project(s) identified in your group's action plan. While the plan should include longer term ambitions, this funding is for projects that must be completed by 15th March 2027. 

MHCLG Common Ground Award

The Common Ground Award will shine a spotlight on organisations across England that are making a real difference by bringing communities together.

Through the Common Ground Award, MHCLG (Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government) will provide direct capital investment into voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations, that are building social connections across and between different communities.

This investment will support the cost of constructing or renovating facilities, spaces or the purchasing of equipment to help deliver services that build community cohesion and resilience. 

The aims of the Common Ground Award are to:

• Identify and reward good practice in building stronger connections between and across communities and promoting social cohesion and resilience.
• Invest in the physical spaces and equipment that enables good practice 
• Build a community of practice, for knowledge sharing across the voluntary and community sector and with government

Applicants will be assessed based on how their objectives and activities seek to build social connections across and between different communities.
To be eligible for the Common Ground Award, organisations and consortiums applying to this grant scheme must therefore directly work on at least one of the following core themes: 

• Encouraging and enabling social mixing, promoting understanding and reducing divisions between different communities and people from different backgrounds
• Reducing prejudice, discrimination and hatred directed toward individuals and communities because of their background
• Resolving conflict and addressing tensions across and between communities

For the 2026-27 Common Ground Award, we will accept applications from both individual organisations and from consortiums.

Individual applicants can apply for a grant between £20,000 and £50,000. Individual applicants can set out how capital investment could be scaled up to a maximum of £100,000, which may be considered in exceptional cases - where there is clear evidence of need, with both significant expected impacts and high likelihood to deliver, supported by an exceptional application. 

When an application is made by a consortium, the consortium can apply for a grant between £100,000 and £250,000. 

The Common Ground Award will be open to applications from 14 September 2026 to 12 October 2026. Read the prospectus for the Common Ground Award.

An applicant webinar will take place from 12:30 to 1:15pm on Thursday 10 September. It will provide applicants with an overview of this year’s Common Ground Award, including key elements from the prospectus, scoring framework and application form. Participants can submit questions in advance, with responses provided to the most frequently raised themes during the session. If potential applicants are unable to join us on this date, or are on the waiting list, a link to a recording of the webinar and an updated FAQs document will be sent to all who register. Sign up to the webinar.

NFU Mutual Charitable Trust

NFU Mutual Charitable Trust is offering grants for organisations working in agriculture, rural development, and insurance across the UK to deliver projects and activities across one or more of the Trust's main objectives:

• To advance the education of the public using research and the dissemination of information concerning agriculture.
• To advance the education of young people within rural areas.
• To relieve poverty within rural areas.
• To promote the benefit and social welfare of inhabitants of rural communities by associating with the inhabitants and local authorities, voluntary and other organisations, to advance education and leisure.
• To promote research into agricultural-associated activities.
• To advance the education of the public using research and the dissemination of information concerning insurance.

Most grants fall within the range of £1,000 to £75,000. Trustees met twice a year to consider applications, typically in June and December. Deadline is 9 October. 

Worshipful Company of Information Technologists (WCIT) Charity

The WCIT Charity offers grants of between £5,000 and £15,000 to charities for projects that improve digital inclusion, accessibility and participation for people who face barriers to accessing or using technology.

Priority areas include:

• Education
• Inclusion
• Tech for charities
• Public understanding of technology

There is particular interest in innovative projects involving AI, data, digital skills or accessibility technologies. Projects must benefit at least 25 people in the UK. Eligible applicants must have an annual income and unrestricted reserves below £1 million and have been established for at least one year.

Applications next open on 14 September 2026 and close on 3 November 2026. Note that applications are capped at 50 per quarter, so early submission is advisable.

Veolia Environmental Trust

Constituted groups, local authorities and environmental bodies can apply for two types of grant for projects in communities near qualifying Veolia sites:

• Community Grants (£10,000–£75,000) for capital improvements to community buildings, outdoor spaces or recreational facilities
• Habitat and Biodiversity Grants (£10,000–£75,000) for projects that conserve, restore or enhance threatened habitats and protect or increase biodiversity

Grants are awarded to projects that:

• Protect and enhance biodiversity and natural habitats.
• Inspire the creation of a sustainable, carbon-neutral space.
• Promote community action and well-being.
• Are inclusive and accessible to everyone and anyone to use.

There are typically four funding rounds per year. The next deadline is 1 October 2026.

Morrisons Foundation Connecting Communities Grants

Charities can apply for grants of up to £20,000 for capital projects that revitalise local spaces, reduce social isolation and ensure vital community services remain accessible.

Eligible projects include:

• Renovations and upgrades (community kitchens, accessible toilets, refurbishing communal rooms)
• Small-scale construction (outdoor shelters, therapeutic sheds, forest school structures)
• Equipment and installations (mobility equipment, CCTV, boilers, insulation)
• Transforming environments (community gardens, sensory gardens, inclusive outdoor play areas)

Preference is given to charities with smaller incomes, projects serving more deprived communities, and those located close to a Morrisons store.

There are no deadlines - applications are accepted at any time, with decisions made within eight weeks.

Henry Smith Foundation Maternity Equity Fund

The Henry Smith Foundation is launching a new Maternity Equity Fund focused on reducing avoidable harm and unfair maternity inequities, with an emphasis on preventative, community-based support before issues escalate.

Grants totalling £185,000 are available, structured as approximately £61,600 in year one and £61,700 in each of years two and three, with around 35 awards expected. Eligible applicants include charities, CICs and other not-for-profit organisations with an annual income between £20,000 and £1.5 million.

Projects must:

• Take place in the UK
• Focus on communities experiencing the greatest maternity inequities, including marginalised communities and communities in areas of highest deprivation, including rural areas.
• Demonstrate lived experience involvement and trauma-informed, culturally-safe support

Expressions of interest close 14 October 2026.

Sunrise Medical Community Fund

Community groups, sports clubs, disability organisations and individuals can apply for grants of up to £5,000 to support projects that make community spaces and experiences more accessible, wheelchair-friendly and inclusive.

Eligible projects include:

• Inclusive sports programmes (wheelchair basketball, rugby, tennis)
• Accessible events and activities
• Specialist equipment enabling greater independence
• Local community projects improving accessibility and inclusion

The deadline for applications is 30 September 2026.

Armed Forces Covenant Fund Reveal and Respond Grants

The Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust has launched its Reveal and Respond Programme, offering grants for collaborative projects designed to improve access to mental health and wellbeing support for underrepresented groups within the armed forces community. Each project must involve a partnership between an armed forces organisation and a specialist non-armed forces organisation.

Two strands are available:

• Strand 1 - Test and Develop (£20,000–£40,000): two-year projects testing or refining new approaches for a specific cohort
• Strand 2 - Scale and Strengthen (£150,000–£300,000): two-to-three-year projects building on existing evidence and delivery experience

Eligible applicants include UK-registered charities and CICs established for at least three years, and local authorities.

Gardening With Disabilities Trust

The Gardening with Disabilities Trust has reopened its small grants programme to help individuals and groups continue gardening despite disability or health issues. Awards are typically for hundreds of pounds, with around £41,600 awarded in small grants last year.

Eligible applicants include:

• Individuals who need to adapt their garden due to physical, mental or visual disability
• Residents in long-stay hospitals or nursing homes who share a garden
• Groups running special gardens in hospitals, centres and schools

Eligible costs include:

• Tools, raised beds, planting tables and poly tunnels
• Greenhouses and compost
• Small-scale adaptations such as access pathways, paving, handrails and wheelchair access

Applicants are required to join the Trust's Garden Club but membership is free of charge. The Trust usually pays suppliers directly once work is completed, or issues vouchers redeemable at a local retailer.

Applications can be made at any time.

Costco & United Way UK Give Local Grants 2026/27

United Way UK, in partnership with Costco, is distributing 30 small grants of £1,500 to organisations delivering long-term solutions in local communities across the UK. Eligible organisations must have an average annual income of £300,000 or less, and funding can be used for core costs, a new programme or the expansion of an existing programme.

Priority areas include:

• Education: early childhood development, school readiness, out-of-school learning, soft skills
• Income stability: job training, access to employment, financial literacy
• Health: mental health support, hunger prevention, access to housing

One grant will be awarded per location.

One Stop Community Partnership Programme

Administered by Groundwork in partnership with One Stop Stores, this programme offers community groups and organisations grants of up to £1,000, alongside a long-term tailored programme of support delivered in partnership with their local One Stop Store team.

Eligible organisations must operate within two miles of a One Stop store and work to support one or more of the following:

• Tackling food poverty
• Supporting vulnerable people, older people or low-income families
• Running youth sports teams
• Reducing or recycling waste
• Improving the environment

Groups should use the Store Locator on the Groundwork website to check distance and funding availability before applying — not all stores offer this programme, and it is not available in Northern Ireland.

There are two rounds per year. Round two opens 1 September and closes 30 September 2026. Apply early as applications may close before the deadline.