CVS doesn’t keep information about grants for individuals (as our remit revolves around local Voluntary & Community Groups), however we have produced the following useful information for Individuals seeking funding in respect of welfare and education.

Search for Grants and Benefits

Turn2us

Turn2us is an initiative from Elizabeth Finn Care offering a groundbreaking online service to help the millions of people in need in the UK.  

For the first time, people can access information on all benefits and grants available to them from both statutory and voluntary organisations, at no cost, through turn2us.  In many cases, applications for support can be made directly from the website. 

Research shows that there is low awareness of the support available from the voluntary sector despite the existence of nearly 800 charities giving help to people in need. Crucially, the people who need the help the most, find it hardest to navigate their way to get the help available to them. turn2us aims to address this wide scale and urgent need. Through turn2us, thousands of people from diverse backgrounds will have access to information that could make a real difference to their lives.

Website: www.turn2us.org.uk

Search for Educational Grants

Student Cash Point

Student Cash Point is a free website providing information on grants, loans, bursaries, scholarships and awards for students needing help covering the costs of going to college and university. Website: www.studentcashpoint.co.uk

Uni Grants UK

There is a host of funding opportunities out there for students about to become, or who are currently, undergraduates. Uni Grants have compiled a selection of organisations that offer funding of this nature and detailed the typical grants they offer.

Website: Uni Grants UK - Bedfordshire Grant Makers

The Guide to Educational Grants 2011/12 by Sarah Johnston (£75.00)

This guide contains information on over 1,400 national and local grant-making trusts, which together distribute over £60 million in grants. The guide provides a comprehensive list of sources of non-statutory help for people in education who are in financial need.

Available from www.dsc.org.uk

National Welfare & Educational Grants

Elizabeth Finn Care

Elizabeth Finn Care gives money to help people who have less than £4,000 in savings and, lacking enough household income, manage a bare hand-to-mouth existence.

By giving just that little bit more money beyond State Benefit provision, Elizabeth Finn Care enables people to:

• pay for the things they vitally need
• take charge of their lives once more, and
• plan for a future

We help people whose former careers have been interrupted or ended through circumstances beyond their control: physical or mental illness, redundancy, family breakdown, or those struggling on low income in retirement.

Website: Elizabeth Finn Care

Buttle UK

Buttle UK makes a real difference to the lives of children and young people in need. Each year tey help thousands of children, young people and families across the UK with our financial support programmes.

Grant Programmes

Buttle UK was established to ensure that children and young people in desperate need are given a brighter future. They achieve this through a range of grant programmes that are designed to provide vulnerable individual children and families the support they need to overcome immediate crisis or ensure the best possible opportunity for a successful education.

• Small Grants Programme Provides essential items for children and young people whose development, health and well-being are at risk. It offers basic items, that we all take for granted but many families in poverty are living without, such as a bed, a cooker, a fridge-freezer or a washing machine. In 2009–2010 Buttle UK made 8,887 awards touching the lives of nearly 20,000 disadvantaged individual children and young people across the UK.
• School Fees Programme - Transforms the lives of vulnerable children (aged 11 and over) by funding places at schools that provide a safe and supportive environment, often for the first time in their lives. Some children, many because of problems at home, do not thrive in mainstream education, and so fail or drop out of school entirely. Buttle UK enables children with medical, emotional or social difficulties to gain a stable and more supportive secondary education. In 2009-2010 alone Buttle UK enabled 304 children to get a better education at over 150 different schools throughout the UK, many of whom completed their GCSEs and went onto further study or employment.
• Students & Trainees Programme - Awards financial support to young people (aged 16-20), with severe social problems, particularly those who are estranged from their parents, to attend further education and training. By funding course costs, equipment, field trips or basic day-to-day living costs, Buttle UK relieves the financial pressures and worries that often force these vulnerable young people to abandon their studies early. In 2009-2010 Buttle UK enabled 172 young people to access courses as varied as architecture, music technology, business and tree surgery.
• Access to the Future Programme - Offers bespoke packages of support for hard to reach young people (aged 18-25) to aid their return to education, employment or training. Working with local partner organisations, our grants are targeted at removing the barriers to learning and work for vulnerable young people as well as funding a range of courses, activities and learning that would otherwise be unavailable. The support may vary from something like the cost of security guard training and licence, to driving lessons, or buying suitable cloths for an interview. Buttle UK aims to provide a complete package designed specifically for each young person, that will help them access a better future.

Family Action’s Educational Grants

There are a range of educational grants available through Family Action’s grants programme. Applicants must be studying at a college or university that is affiliated to EGS (Educational Grants Service).

Grants are primarily targeted at families and individuals with low incomes, particularly those living on benefits. Preference will be give to those studying courses likely to lead to improved employment prospects. Website: Family Action Educational Grants

Aid for the Aged in Distress (AFTAID)

Aid for the Aged in Distress (AFTAID) provides grants for older people in need.

Individuals, or their family and neighbours, can apply. Caring professions and voluntary organisations can also make referrals.

The individual receiving the grant must be:

• Of state pensionable age (60 years old for women and 65 for men)
• A UK citizen, residing in the UK
• On a lower income and have minimal savings.

Grants are not available for ongoing or retrospective payments or repayment of debts.

Applications must include written support from care professionals aware of the individual’s situation, for example a social worker, doctor or similar professional of the official care services working with the individual.

There is an online application form to complete. For more information visit the AFTAID Website

Contact: AFTAID
Email: info@aftaid.org.uk
Website: www.aftaid.org.uk/grantapp.html

The Prince’s Trust Development Awards

The Prince’s Trust offers Development Awards to help young people enter education, training or work. The types of items which may be funded include:

• Tools or equipment for a job or qualification e.g. hairdressing kit, carpentry tools, chefs’ whites
• Equipment or travel costs for volunteering or structured work experience
• Course fees
• Licence fees e.g. CSCS card (construction) or SIA licence (security)
• Interview clothes
• Childcare costs to help single parents complete short-term education courses
• Transport to and from a new job until first pay day.

You can find out more on the Prince’s Trust website

Contact: Telephone: 0800 842 842.
Text: “Call Me” to 07983 385 418

Local Welfare & Educational Grants

Bedfordshire

Kentish's Educational Charity

The information supplied by the Charity states that grants of between £150 to £1,000 are available to young people in Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire to assist with expenses incurred in their education. In accordance with the governing document, preference is given to needy young people with the surname Kentish or who are descended from the founder’s family.
Grants are not given for postgraduate study. Application forms are available from the Clerk to the Trustees and applications are considered in October/November. This small Trust, which is
run by volunteers, was founded in 1712. Because of the limited amount of income, only those applications which meet the criteria will be considered.

Contact: Mrs Margery Roberts, Clerk to the Trustees,
7 Nunnery Stables, St Albans, Hertfordshire, AL1 2AS
Telephone 01727 856626

Bedford Borough

Alderman Newton's Educational Foundation (Bedford Branch)

The Foundation is administered by Bedford Borough Council and offers one-off grants to young people (aged 13-25) who live in Bedford (certain areas to the north of the town are excluded, although it is hoped to increase the area to include Kempston and the rural part of the Borough of Bedford). Grants are awarded for educational purposes, such as the cost of books needed in connection with courses.

For full details and to download an application form visit the Alderman Newton's Educational Foundation webpage on Bedford Borough Council's website.

The Bedford Charity

Each the Bedford Charity give a small number of awards to individuals. These awards are to help with the cost of continuing and further education courses leading to career development.

This programme aims to enable applicants to change career or return to work through access to training or education and to support those prevented from doing so due to their financial circumstances.

Details can be found on the Bedford Charity Website

Bedford & District Aid in Sickness Charity

Grants provided for people in need who are in poor health and live in the borough of Bedford, the urban district of Kempston and the parishes of Biddenham, Bromham, Cardington, Clapham, Cople, Eastcotts, Elstow, Kempston Rural, Oakley, Ravensden, Renhold, Stewartby, Willington, Wilstead (Otherwise Wilshamstead) and Wootton.

Contact: Bedford Borough Council, Town Hall, St. Pauls Square, Bedford, MK40 1SJ. 01234 227203. dbaker@bedford.gov.uk

Clapham

Ursula Taylor Charity

The Charity states that grants are available for young people aged 13 to 24 who live in the parish of Clapham. Preference is given to the costs of education, books, equipment, clothing
and travel for training or apprenticing of those starting work or those at upper school or in further education.

Application forms are available from the Secretary to the Trustees. D E Kitchen, Secretary to the Trustees, 49 Highbury Grove, Clapham, Bedford, MK41 6DT. Telephone 01234 214251

Clophill

Clophill United Charities

Grants to individuals, mainly to pensioners and widows in the village.

Contact: n Tina Goddard Mason, Clerk, 35 Reads Hill
Clophill, Bedfordshire, MK45 4AG. Telephone 01525 860 847

Kempston

Kempston Charities

Information supplied by the Charity states that they make grants to both individuals within Kempston and Kempston rural. Grants can be for educational purposes. The welfare of older people is also supported.

Applications in writing. Mrs L Smith, 14 Riverview Way, Kempston, Bedford, MK42 7BB. Telephone 01234 306432

Oakley

Oakley Educational Foundation

Grants between £5 and £500 for young people aged 16 to 25 who live in the parish of Oakley. Assistance to school leavers with tools, books and instruments for further education.
Applications in writing requesting an application form for consideration in May and November.

Applications must include receipts for purchases. Dr Ruth Frances Bender, 7 Station Road, Oakley, Bedford, MK43 7RB.
Telephone 01234 824239.

Potton

Potton Consolidated Charities

This Charity states that it gives educational grants for students aged 18 to 25 with a Potton home address. The educational grant forms for the new academic year are available from
Potton Post Office during August and September each year. Grants may be available for organisations with clients who are resident in Potton at the discretion of the trustees.

Mrs C J Hall, Clerk, 1a Potton Road, Everton, Sandy, Bedfordshire, SG19 2L0. Email pot.concha@tiscali.co.uk

Sandy

The Sandy Charities

Grants to individuals in the ancient parish of Sandy and to organisations who benefit these individuals.

P J Mount, Clerk, c/o Woodfines LLP, 6 Bedford Road, Sandy,
Bedfordshire, SG19 1EN. Telephone 01767 680251. Email pmount@woodfines.co.uk

Lions, Rotary Clubs and Round Tables

Lions, Rotary Clubs and Round Tables sometimes make
grants to individuals in need. We can supply you with contact details