This fund will support projects like:
- advice and information initiatives – such as helplines, drop-in sessions or community outreach work – that provide guidance to establish whether someone is entitled to relevant benefits
- active support programmes that, through guidance to fill in forms and the like, help over 65s to claim benefits they are entitled to
- budgeting advice and/or support to access better energy deals
- debt advice, where an organisation is appropriately registered to give this
- short-term help, such as access to grants to deal with one-off costs or emergencies or subsidised property maintenance, for older people already struggling financially.
Eligibility
Grants are available to registered and exempt charities, CIOs and CICs, with annual turnovers exceeding £100,000, or partnerships/collaboratives where the lead body meets these criteria. Priority will be given to smaller organisations and those embedded in the communities we are particularly targeting for this fund.
We are not able to fund individuals directly, or provide funds for capital investment, such as building projects, through this programme.
See the guidance for more information about the eligibility and prioritisation criteria for the fund.
Future plans
Organisations ineligible for this fund – specifically those working with older people to deliver other types of support, and/or community organisations with a turnover of less than £100,000 a year, are invited to email us to register their interest in future grant programmes. We will then send you a survey to find out more about your work.
In particular, we are considering offering organisations access to training, materials – including our own information and advice booklets – and additional support to help them keep up to date with good-quality advice, guidance and ways of directing older people to sources of help at this challenging time. If such a programme is of interest to you, please email us at grants(at)independentage.org.
Website: https://www.independentage.org/community/our-grants-fund/cost-of-living-grants-fund
