Voluntary Services Recovery Fund now open

Published : 17/08/20 | Categories: Funding,

A new fund from Welsh Government and administered by WCVA will focus on reducing the inequality resulting from the pandemic.

As the Welsh Government eases lockdown restrictions and people in Wales move forward, the funding needs to respond to new challenges.

Although the social restrictions are easing, many people are still in emergency situations that need urgent support.

The Voluntary Services Recovery Fund (VSRF) will focus on reducing inequalities across society because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Many communities suffered disproportionately; therefore, actions need to take place to ensure a fair and just recovery.

The funding will also provide the resources for the voluntary sector to embed safe practises to carry on delivering essential services across Wales.

WHAT THE GRANTS WILL COVER

Grants will support not for profit organisations working at a community scale up to a national level in Wales and can be between £10,000 – £100,000.

We can consider requests outside this range, but please contact us using so that we can discuss vsrf(at)wcva.cymru.

This fund is primarily focused on revenue funding; however, your funding request can contain costs for purchases of smaller ‘capital’ equipment including consumables (for example PPE, screens etc).

Activity will be funded for expenditure during the financial year 2020-21. We can consider requests where expenditure may be incurred outside of this financial year, owing to an essential need, this will need to be clearly demonstrated in the funding request.

All requests will be submitted through WCVA’s Multipurpose Application Portal (MAP). Organisations can register using this link; https://map.wcva.cymru

A guidance video for registering on MAP can be found here.

WHAT ABOUT THE VOLUNTARY SERVICES EMERGENCY FUND?

The Voluntary Services Emergency Fund (VSEF) was a Welsh Government fund that ran from April to August 2020. The fund aimed to help voluntary organisations working on the frontline against the pandemic continue their vital work.

In the 15 weeks of operation VSEF awarded almost £7.5million in response to emergency grant requests.

The activity funded by VSEF has helped the sector support the most vulnerable across Wales in response to COVID-19, projecting engagement with almost 6,000 volunteers and supporting over 700,000 beneficiaries over the coming months.

Find examples of the activity funded via VSEF here.