Poverty & Inclusion – “Small Change”

“Small Change” is part of the Barrow Cadbury Trust’s Poverty and Inclusion programme. It provides small grants (up to £3,000) to catalyse mutual aid initiatives in Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Walsall, Sandwell and Dudley.  This funding stream is targeted at local community organisations, networks and partnerships that are looking for small amounts of funding to kick-start local self-help projects.  Examples of the type of projects that would do this are given below.

If your project will need on-going funding after your grant ends,  you will only be eligible for a Small Change grant if you have a plan for how you will raise further funds from your own efforts– for example through a small membership fee, sales of goods or some other way of generating enough income to maintain the project.  Projects that will depend for their sustainability on further grants are not eligible for funding under Small Change.  If your project will not need any on-going funding after our grant ends, you are eligible to apply to Small Change.

We are interested in supporting projects that will help people to help themselves and each other.  The grant can be used to start a new initiative or to extend an existing activity, providing it is already self sufficient and no further external funding will be required to sustain the extended level of activity.

The following are examples of ideas that might be eligible for Small Change. There are plenty of others – this list is not exhaustive and any new enterprising initiatives which fit the programme criteria can be considered:

• Food co-ops – where initial funding is required to purchase food, but after that, sales provide the income required to keep the co-op going.
• Social enterprises – for example setting up a catering business where local people get together to prepare and deliver food for events.
• Time banks – funds for publicity materials (including developing website) to attract new participants to the scheme.
• Allotments/community gardens – purchase seeds and equipment for a community allotment to be sustained through sales of plants, fruit and vegetables.
• Collectives – bringing together people with existing skills to establish a small social enterprise that will become self-sustaining.
• Setting up a borrowing scheme – such as a ‘toy library’, to purchase new toys, with ongoing income raised through subscription on toys borrowed.
• Walking groups – to purchase maps and publicity materials and publicise drive to recruit members.

Funding criteria

To be eligible for Small Change funding, you must be able to say “yes” to the following questions:

• Are you asking for a grant between £500 -and £3,000?
• Is your organisation based in Birmingham or the Black Country (Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall or Wolverhampton)?
• Is your project designed to help local people help each other?
• Is your project open to including those from a disadvantaged or deprived community?
• Is your project able to either continue without further funding once your Small Change grant ends OR do you have realistic plans to generate the income you will need to continue it without applying to Barrow Cadbury or another funder for a grant?

And, thinking about your organisation:

• Are you formally constituted and have you been operating for at least six months?
• Do you have an income of £10,000 or less?
• Does your governing body have at least three unrelated members on it?
• Do you have a bank account in the name of the organisation?

If you can answer yes to all the questions above then please click here for  our Small Change application form. 

If you are not sure whether your project is suitable for funding through Small Change, you an ring us for advice on 020 7632 9068 or complete our enquiry form.

Although Small Change is mainly aimed at small organisations, we will consider applications from larger organisations wishing to either set up a small project that will become self-sustaining or to support a smaller unconstituted group in setting up its own project.  If you are an organisation with an income over £10,000, we recommend contacting us for advice before submitting an application.