Rochdale
Aims/priorities: This programme aims to tackle food poverty by helping people access the balanced, nutritional, and sustainable food they need, right now and in the future. The aim of the Fund is to provide school children (up to Year 11) with improved access to summer holiday activity and food schemes.
Our 2026 Volunteer Celebration Fund launched this week, giving Action Together member organisations the opportunity to apply for up to £500 to celebrate and strengthen their volunteer offer, whether that’s:
Are you looking to apply this year, and planning a celebration for your organisation? Read on for inspiration as we share with you some of the examples from last year where groups across Rochdale paid tribute to their amazing volunteers.
You can also see details of every group who received a grant from the Volunteer Celebration Fund in Rochdale last year HERE.
Non-profit training company Kate's Training CIC provide a range of first aid, health and safety, basic life support and safeguarding courses for adults and children across Rochdale. They also deliver many free community workshops and events.
Their successful grant from the 2025 Volunteer Celebration Fund was used to powerful effect, bringing to life the funding themes of recruit, retain and recognise.
With the funding, they delivered a series of recruitment events in local libraries and community venues, welcomed new volunteers through tailored induction training, and celebrated their team with a special event and certificate presentation.
We’re inspired by how much they were able to achieve with the funding, and it’s fantastic to see Kate's Training CIC’s volunteer offer continue to grow from strength to strength.
Kate Gorski, Founder of Kate's Training, shared with us what she'd personally gained from the funding, and the support from our Action Together Volunteer Support Officers:
"I have learned to be super-specific with job role description for volunteers, and also communicate clearly what type of volunteer we need/for which activities. I have also advertised a 12-month Volunteering Programme. I have learned how to manage volunteers, and to give them very specific and simple tasks, simple written lists of jobs etc. I have also learned how to support people with different disabilities better. I have also learned how to support asylum seekers and refugees. It has been great experience and learning journey."
They received lots of great feedback from their volunteers too:
“I had fabulous experience with Kate’s Training and am looking forward to more events and training in 2026”. Shifa
Rochdale's Springhill Hospice used their grant to arrange a special 'Thank You Party' in June 2025 to coincide with Volunteers' Week, and combined it with their annual Service Awards.
Over 100 volunteers joined them for wonderful afternoon tea with entertainment, dancing and a raffle with each volunteer attendee receiving a free ticket.
They told us their event was to recognise the invaluable contribution of their volunteers, and reward them with milestone service awards and badges - some of which had been volunteering for up to 35 years!
As well as a thank you opportunity, the event gave the volunteers chance to meet up with volunteers from other areas, people they might only see a couple of times a year, which they know from feedback is important to them. The feedback from people who took part certainly showed how successful the afternoon was:
"A big thank you to everyone who helped on the day and helped organised the lovely afternoon”
"Thank you most sincerely to everyone involved in preparing and arranging the volunteer party, it was really lovely and I enjoyed the afternoon”
Kashmiri Productions UK co-produces films with communities to address and raise awareness for Pakistani/Kashmir culture and heritage, British and Islamic values and showcases them nationally in cinemas.
In 2025, they organised PAK Film Festival with a team of volunteers helping them to deliver the project. Their application to the 2025 Volunteer Celebration was successful and their grant allowed them to hold a celebratory awards dinner at the Reel cinema to say a special thank you to their volunteers where they all received certificate of appreciation too.
Some of their volunteers shared their feelings following the event, and were really grateful to have been part of it:
"Thank you for the dinner and appreciation certificate" Tariq
"Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be part of this venture" Amir
The application window will remain open for two weeks from Tuesday 21 April 2026 to Tuesday 5 May 2026.
Aim/priorities: Funding is available to develop and deliver creative digital projects for online or in-person audiences in England.
The wider aim of the funding programme is to build the arts and cultural sector's capacity for making and distributing digital content.
Who can apply: Applications will be considered from art and cultural organisations, including:
Aims/priorities: This initiative aims to respond to a long-standing challenge in the UK’s GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums) and heritage sectors: how to make innovation and learning from community-facing projects more sustainable, transferable, and accessible across the sector. Through a supportive funding structure, it aims to help communities and organisations share their work more widely and contribute to a growing body of knowledge that others can learn from and build upon.
Every day across Rochdale, local organisations are quietly creating change - supporting people, building connections and responding to the challenges that matter most to their communities. Behind each project is a story of passion, resilience and impact.
Much of this work is made possible through access to funding and dedicated development support. By helping organisations identify opportunities, strengthen their applications and secure vital resources, Action Together supported groups to turn ideas into action. This investment not only enables projects to get off the ground, but also helps organisations grow sustainably, extend their reach and continue delivering meaningful impact within their communities.
Here, we share some of the fantastic feedback from our member organisations across Rochdale:
Kate's Training CIC was awarded a Micro Grant of £1,000 from the Rochdale Communities Fund during Quarter 1 of 2025. Their application included a plan to recruit 12 community volunteers from the community and empower them with the skills to then help with free first aid community events. This will in-turn support individuals, families and communities in the Rochdale Borough giving them skills, knowledge and confidence to deal with emergencies.
“Thank you so much for supporting me with the project 'Safer Community-Empower through First Aid Skills'. We are doing really well with the project, and I appreciate all your advice, especially that you have so much work experience in the community sector. Your advice is invaluable!”. Kate Gorski
The Cabbage Patch Crew is a group of residents from Portal Court Retirement Housing in Middleton, who after being gifted a greenhouse, went on to establish an allotment group. They transformed an area of their shared garden into an allotment, built raised beds, a potting table, seating and various other structures, and set about growing a wide variety of vegetables from seed - but more than that, they were bringing the residents together with shared interests and activities.
Following a successful application to receive Seed Funding in 2024, Cabbage Patch Crew went on to secure a Micro Grant from the Rochdale Communities Fund in 2025 and further expand their project with the provision of regular games nights and coffee mornings.
Mark Hyde – Cabbage Patch (Micro Grant award)
"Thank you so much Laura! Getting this funding has inspired us as a team to make a real difference not only here at Portal Court, but in the wider community. We have started a free for all (members or not) games night once a month, and free for all coffee games morning once a month. This means, we have something happening every two weeks. From last year we realised that intermittent illness can stop people getting involved. We have brought in a social side to our club to help people connect, bring people together and help alleviate loneliness. A BIG thank you to all at Action Together for making this all possible!" Mark Hyde
Rochdale Vets AFC was established to support men over the age of 35 who no longer play competitive football but want to stay active, social and connected. Members started entering tournaments across the North West and wanted to take the next step, setting up independently, joining the local Vets League, and offering more coaching sessions.
Rochdale Community Development Worker, Julie Durrant, worked with the group to help this transition, with advice on governance, finance and group structure. The players are now a small, self-funded unincorporated group, able to run their own activities without relying on Rochdale AFC.
Action Together initially awarded the group £500 in Seed Funding, and now they are applying to receive a Micro Grant from the Rochdale Communities Fund. Their next steps include expanding membership, securing funding, developing policies and risk assessments, and evidencing their impact.
Action Together are committed to Equitable Funding Distribution. We openly share information about the grants we distribute and who they have been awarded to on our website.
Aims/priorities: The fund is intended to support projects that improve the physical, mental and social wellbeing of men and boys aged 16 and over, with a particular focus on those living in disadvantaged communities or experiencing the poorest health outcomes.
Aims/priorities: The Lived Experience Support Grant is intended to fund a single national organisation to lead and coordinate the integration of lived experience across the Changing Futures programme. Its purpose is to ensure that the voices, insights, and leadership of people with lived experience of multiple disadvantage are embedded in system design, delivery, and improvement, ultimately strengthening services and outcomes across local areas.
Aims/priorities: The Learning and Support Grant is intended to fund a single national organisation to deliver a coordinated programme of learning, improvement support, and knowledge-sharing across the Changing Futures initiative. Its purpose is to strengthen delivery across local areas and maximise the impact of system-change efforts by enabling collaboration, building evidence, and supporting more joined-up approaches to addressing multiple disadvantage.
Aims/priorities: Volunteers’ Week (1-7 June 2026) is a time to say thank you for the fantastic contribution volunteers make. During another difficult year, people from all walks of life have taken the time to volunteer and made a huge difference to people and their communities. Action Together is inviting local voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise groups across Oldham, Rochdale and Tameside to apply for one of our Volunteer Celebration Fund grants to support an activity during 2026.
As part of our work supporting Volunteering in Rochdale, our Volunteer Team brought together Volunteer Managers from across the borough for an in-person meet up this March with an impressive turnout.
In previous years, Volunteer Managers in Rochdale would meet regularly in-person. The Covid-19 pandemic moved these gatherings online and they eventually stopped taking place as we all struggled to manage online meeting fatigue.
In response to recent feedback from Volunteer Managers about the need for peer support, and the desire for in-person connection, our Action Together Rochdale Volunteering team hosted an in-person meet up at Fire Up Co-working Space on 26 March 2026.
Twelve Volunteer Managers from a diverse range of local organisations attended our meeting, and we received really positive feedback from those who attended.
After an introduction from Volunteer Support Officer Phil Greenwood, we had a lively and fruitful discussion about what Volunteer Managers want from future meet-ups.
Our attendees shared that meet-ups are a valuable space to:
After the discussion, attendees had time to network with each other. It was a great opportunity for new connections to be made, and Volunteer Managers shared tips and best practices with one another.
This event was the first step towards providing regular in-person meet-ups for Volunteer Managers in Rochdale. Action Together will support local Volunteer Managers to host future meet-ups on a bi-monthly basis.
Our plan is to have a different organisation to host each meet-up; where they will have the opportunity to spotlight their volunteer offer and provide space for informal networking, and our Volunteer Support Officers will be present at these future meet-ups for support and guidance.
If you are a Volunteer Manager, or support volunteers in Rochdale, we invite you to get involved with future meetups.
You can find out about future meet-ups by becoming an Action Together member.
Along with the personalised support members receive from our Volunteer Teams, members also have access to our 'Volunteer Manager Zone'. It's a dedicated area packed with helpful resources, templates, training videos and more.
