#iwill Youth Social Action Fund now open

Comic Relief has partnered with the #iwill campaign, to create a £2.4 million Youth Social Action Fund to target young people from less affluent backgrounds. #iwill is a UK-wide campaign aiming to get six out of 10 young people involved in social action by 2020. Big Lottery Fund and the Department of Culture, Media and Sport have each invested £20 million to support young people access high quality social action opportunities.

Co-produced with young people, and championing peer to peer engagement and the importance of trust building, this initiative will fund projects to seek out young people, and encourage those from disadvantaged backgrounds to participate in and lead youth social action.

The funders are keen to fund projects that will work with young people in areas of high need and deprivation, and where there are minimal services or activities available for young people. We would expect applicants to demonstrate the need of the young people they will work with, based on indices of deprivation, unemployment and other measures as they see fit.

Areas of interest:

  • Mental health 
  • Children in care, or those who have left care 
  • Homelessness 
  • LGBTQ+

Grant information

Funding is available for grants of between £20,000 to £50,000 per year for up to three years (with a maximum of £150,000 in total).

Eligibility criteria

Organisations applying to this initiative must meet Comic Relief’s general eligibility requirements. In addition the following types of organisations will be prioritised:

  • Have a strong track record of working with young people in areas of deprivation and poverty; 
  • Can demonstrate the leadership of young people in their organisation, and how young people have helped develop their applications; 
  • Have engaged with the types of young people that would benefit from this work and have demonstrable knowledge and experience of the communities they will be working with; 
  • Have existing strong working partnerships with local business, enterprises, or other groups that may be able to help with the outreach and engagement of ’reluctant’ young people; 
  • Grants are available for organisations based in the UK for work in the UK. 
  • There is no restriction on the annual income of the organisation or partnership applying for a grant. 
  • Only one proposal per organisation will be considered. 
  • There is no restriction on applying for this grant if you have another grant with Comic Relief.

How to apply

Applications must be submitted online. The application process will be a one stage process and proposals fshould be submitted by midday on 12th May 2017.

For further details and to apply please visit #iwill Youth Social Action Fund.