Home Office - Community Engagement Fund 2026-27
Aims/priorities: During 2026 to 2027, the funding is intended to:
Tameside
Tameside
Benefact Trust – Community Impact Grants
Aims/priorities: This fund aims to support Christian organisations to deliver projects that will make a positive and transformative impact on lives and communities and contribute to the following objectives:
The UK Youth Fund
Aims/priorities: UK Youth and Pears Foundation have launched a new £10 million fund to champion an approach that works: providing multi-year, unrestricted funding alongside targeted capacity-building support to small youth organisations.
The aim of the Fund is to strengthen the financial resilience and capacity of small youth and outdoor learning organisations across the UK.
We aim to achieve this through two key outcomes:
Comic Relief and Sainsbury's Holiday Activity and Food Programme
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.
Funding Focus 2026: Celebrating Our Volunteers
Silver Cord
Silver Cord is a befriending service available to anyone in Tameside and Glossop who is experiencing the distressing effects of social isolation and loneliness. The service is free to those in need and is provided by trained, DBS-checked volunteers from partner churches across Tameside.
Silver Cord wanted to recognise and celebrate the invaluable work and dedication that their volunteers provide and were successful in applying for The Volunteer Celebration Fund last year.
Volunteers were invited to a celebration evening which also included beneficiaries who were able to share their stories of how support from Silver Cord has positively impacted their lives.
“Hearing the stories from the beneficiaries was a highlight for all as we have never had that before at a volunteer event.
One beneficiary shared their experience of how much the calls through lockdown, the doorstep visit on Christmas Day with a meal, gifts, and now feeling welcomed at The Living Room has meant to her. She encouraged us all that it may not seem like much to the person volunteering, but how big and profound an impact it has. She closed with 'I can't thank you enough, you've made such a difference.
Thank you for making the application so straight forward and for enabling and encouraging us to celebrate our volunteers in this way.”
Debs Peyton | Silver Cord
Droylsden and District Foodbank
Droylsden and District Foodbank is a project founded by local churches and community groups, working together towards stopping hunger in our local area.
Everyday people in the UK go hungry for reasons ranging from redundancy to receiving an unexpected bill on a low income. A simple box of food makes a big difference, with foodbanks helping prevent crime, housing loss, family breakdown and mental health problems.
Volunteers are the driving force behind foodbanks. There are thousands of volunteers across the UK, helping The Trussell Trust Foodbank Network get emergency food to people in crisis.
Droylsden and District Foodbank volunteers undertake a variety of roles such as ensuring that food is in date, working in the warehouse through to informal chats with clients over a cup of tea, to discuss their situation and signpost them to further support.
These volunteers make a real difference to the life of someone in crisis.
In 2025 the Foodbank applied to the Volunteer Celebration Fund to host a celebratory meal for 25 of their volunteers. It was an opportunity to thank them for another busy 12 months and to spend some relaxation time enjoying each other’s company.
“Droylsden & District Foodbank was founded in 2013 and may of our current volunteers have been working with us over that time. We have also gained new volunteers over the years and enabling all of our active volunteers to be able to get together to celebrate their work and spend time together gives new energy to our Foodbank project.”
Pat Catterall | Droylsden and District Foodbank
Ambitions (Tameside)
Ambitions is a voluntary community organisation serving adults with learning and physical disabilities in Oldham, Tameside and North Manchester. They are dedicated to fostering a supportive community where adults with learning and physical disabilities can thrive through engaging social activities.
Their team of passionate volunteers are at the heart of Ambitions, working tirelessly to create inclusive and engaging activities for the community. Their dedication ensures that every event is a step towards a brighter future for adults with learning and physical disabilities. To show their appreciation, Ambitions organise volunteer social events twice a year.
In 2025 they were successful in their application to The Volunteer Celebration Fund. A social bowling night was arranged at King Pins Manchester. This was an opportunity to bring volunteers together from different boroughs who rarely met in person. The event included bowling, curling, shuffleboard and food, in a private area, ensuring everyone celebrated together.
“Amid rising living costs and financial pressures in the social care sector, it's harder for members to join regular activities. The celebration fund helps support our volunteer events without straining our finances, which is crucial during challenging times”.
Jonathan Griffiths-Barnes | Ambitions
The Volunteer Celebration Fund 2026
The application window will be open for two weeks from Tuesday, 21 April 2026, to Tuesday, 5 May 2026.
The Space - Digital Commissions
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:
National Archives - Project Grants
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.
Funding Focus 2026: Made in Tameside
Our Tameside groups and organisations need resources to grow and develop, as well as to provide services, activities and support for people in need. For many of our voluntary organisations, securing funding and other resources is a constant challenge.
This is why this month we are celebrating our VCFSE groups across all our areas and highlighting the funding support, training and development work Action Together provide to ensure the growth, development and sustainability of the sector.
Here we share some examples of the brilliant work that has been undertaken by groups and the impact this work has had on our Tameside communities.
Tameside you are amazing!
New Life Church
New Life Church is a community anchor organisation based in Ashton. They offer a variety of free community activities including ESOL, Wednesday Welcome, Thursday Feast and Parents and Tots group. The organisation supports some of the most marginalised people in Tameside, including people who are homeless/rough sleeping, experiencing mental and physical disabilities, affected by Domestic Violence, substance misuse and often living chaotic lives.
Action Together are based at New Life once a week and have supported New Life in various ways.
To build on their work, they needed funding to develop and extend their reach especially around volunteer management and systems around monitoring and evaluation. Their funding has mostly come through local grants as well as continued support through the church. Last year, New Life Trustees made the decision they needed to apply for a Big Lottery Reaching Communities grant supported by our Development Worker, Dawn Acton.
Dawn was able to advise and support New Life to prepare for the bid, this included;
- Gathering evidence to demonstrate the need for the project
- Linking in with the Lottery Officer for the Tameside area
- Checking the application prior to submission
We were thrilled to announce that New Life Church was successful in their application and was awarded just under 300k.
This award will enable the recruitment of a new staff team including a Community Project Co-ordinator, admin support and sessional workers. This will allow the Community Development Manager to be more focussed on strategic work in Tameside and Greater Manchester as well as developing systems that will improve monitoring, evaluation which will strengthen their ability to evidence the impact they make to people’s lives. This will help with future grant funding, commissioning and sustainability.
Feeback from New Life Church included:
"Working with Dawn and the team at Action Together has been a real pleasure! They have been so supportive in helping us to think through clearly the things we do and then be able to put together funding bids that will help us to continue serving the most vulnerable people within our community effectively".
Stuart Gosling | Pastor, New Life Church
Tamesides People 4 Wildlife
Tamesides People 4 Wildlife based in Denton, wanted to apply for funding to finish the last stage of their community Wildlife Garden. Working with Action Together they decided to apply for National Lottery Awards 4 All and were successfully awarded 20K.
The project aim was to complete the final stage of their Community Wildlife Garden, transforming it into a welcoming, inclusive, and inspiring green space for everyone to enjoy. Once finished, the garden will feature inviting seating areas with an eco-friendly fire pit which can hold a variety of community activities such as bird of prey displays, bat walks, nature walks, pond dipping, and creative sessions for local art groups and families.
From the outset, the committee was strongly supported by Action Together. This support was vital in strengthening the project and ensuring it is well planned, sustainable, and focused on delivering positive outcomes for local people.
Action Together provided ongoing guidance and expertise throughout the development of the project, helping the committee to shape clear aims, identify community benefits, and ensure the project responds to local needs. This has helped to embed inclusion, accessibility, and wellbeing at the heart of the wildlife garden.
Jonathan King, Development Officer at Action Together, worked closely with the committee to guide and support the preparation and submission of a National Lottery funding application, enabling the project to move forward and complete the final stage of the wildlife garden.
“Action Together has provided ongoing guidance and expertise throughout the development of the project, helping the committee to shape clear aims, identify community benefits, and ensure the project responds to local needs. This has helped to embed inclusion, accessibility, and wellbeing at the heart of the wildlife garden.
“It was a pleasure working with both Action Together and Jonathan, the help given to portray our vision on paper and submit a successful funding application was extremely valuable. We look forward to working together again in the future and bringing new opportunities to our local community”
Danny McKay | Chair of Tamesides People 4 Wildlife, Denton
Hamper Outreach Project
Dukinfield Moravian Church Hamper Outreach Project received £1,000 through the Tameside Communities Fund - Micro grants.
A parent of two teenage children was referred to Early Help after several emerging concerns around health and financial hardship. The mother had been experiencing ongoing health issues, which had already limited her ability to work consistently.
The combination of reduced income, rising living costs, and sudden unemployment placed the family in immediate financial crisis. As a result, the parent had no choice but to request access to the food hamper project to ensure her children had enough to eat. Through the Food Hamper Project, the family received a short-term supply of nutritious food. This support provided vital stability at a time when they were at significant risk of slipping into deeper crisis. With their immediate food needs met, the family was able to focus on:
- Managing mum’s health needs
- Working with Early Help to create a sustainable financial plan
- Exploring employment and training opportunities
- Reducing stress within the home, improving overall wellbeing
- Prevented the family from potentially stepping up to a higher level of involvement
The parent expressed deep relief and gratitude for the support, stating that the food hampers gave her “breathing space” to recover from the sudden financial shock and refocus on her family’s stability.
Jillian comments on the impact that the Food Hamper Project has made:
“This case represents just one example of how the Food Hamper Project is helping to reduce inequality and support families through some of the most challenging periods of their lives. By addressing food insecurity, we are directly contributing to better health outcomes, improved social stability, and greater economic resilience for families who need it most”.
Jillian Phillips | Family Help Lead Practitioner, Targeted Family Help, Children’s Services
Return to Play
Return To Play was an extension of Use Your Energy, Action Together’s community investment programme to encourage children and young people (CYP) aged 5 -18 years to become more active, and formed part of Tameside’s Local Delivery Pilot. The aim was to support young people to become more active, more often. Return to Play was co-created with young people who also had a voice in determining which investments were successful.
Supported by the Development Team, groups could apply for funding up to £2,000 to make their active idea a reality. Of the 43 groups who applied 25 were successful, with a total of just under £45,000 investment funding over 1,677 young people who have become and continue to be more physically active.
Some of the recipient’s comment on the support they received:
“Dawn Acton, Sandra Jackson and Saman Nisar have all been a great support. Sandra gave good advice on wordings and cost headings and guided us to a successful funding application.”
Tracey Ford | Polperro Potters
“We have had a positive support network from Action Together and this has helped with our funding access and delivery. We have been visited and supported by representatives from Action Together and the young people from our youth forum have felt their voices have been heard and valued".
Janet Fagan | Ensemble Theatre
More stories from Return to Play can be found on our youtube channel here
Grants Awarded in Tameside
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.
Men's Health Community Fund
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.