Funding for young people's community projects in the UK, where to apply now

First, the honest part

Many websites still send young people to vInspired for a grant. From 2008 to 2018 the vInspired charity ran vCashpoint, small grants of up to £2,500 and later up to £500 for a young person to run their own community project, and from 2013 a crowdfunding platform called Igniter. Both closed with the charity in November 2018. There is no vCashpoint to apply to, and Vinspired Digital, the company that runs the platform today, does not make grants.

What replaced it is not one scheme but several routes, and the first thing to know is that almost no grant funder pays money to an individual. Most want a group with a written constitution, a bank account in the group’s name and two or three unrelated people running it. If you are one person with an idea, you have three choices: find a small charity or youth club to host your project and apply through them; form a small constituted group with two friends; or use one of the few funders below that do pay individuals. The heritage pages tell the vCashpoint story if you want it.

Everything below was checked on the funders’ own pages on 13 September 2026. Deadlines move; check the link before you plan around it.

Routes for an individual

• UnLtd awards. For social entrepreneurs from 16, individuals included. Starting Up awards of up to £8,000 and Scaling Up awards of up to £18,000, with support alongside the money. The next round opens on 1 October 2026 at 10:00. unltd.org.uk/awards
• Arts Council England, National Lottery Project Grants. Individuals from 18, with a UK bank account in their own name, and organisations. £1,000 to £100,000; decisions on applications under £30,000 take about twelve weeks. For arts, museums and libraries projects. artscouncil.org.uk/ProjectGrants
• The King’s Trust. For 16 to 30 year olds: Development Awards to pay for training, learning or the cost of starting work, and the Enterprise programme, from 18, for a business idea, with a small grant to test the idea and a larger one to start. Amounts are best read on the Trust’s own site. kingstrust.org.uk
• Jack Petchey Foundation, London and Essex only. Individual grants for volunteering for 11 to 25 year olds, up to half the cost of volunteering, capped at £500, to cover travel and participation costs rather than a project budget. jackpetcheyfoundation.org.uk

Routes for a small group

• National Lottery Awards for All. £300 to £20,000 for constituted community groups, charities, CICs, schools and similar, in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, with at least two unrelated committee members. Open all year. Individuals and sole traders cannot apply. tnlcommunityfund.org.uk
• Sport England Movement Fund. £300 to £15,000 for not-for-profit organisations with a governing document, for projects that get people active; apply at least twelve weeks before you start. It also pledges half of a crowdfunding target if you raise the other half. sportengland.org
• Postcode Society Trust, Grassroots Grants. £500 to £2,000 unrestricted, for groups in England with an income under £25,000, through Groundwork. Open until 30 September 2026. postcodesocietytrust.org.uk
• Comic Relief Community Fund, England. Up to £5,000 for grassroots organisations with an income under £250,000, through Groundwork, in windows; the current one closes on 30 September 2026. groundwork.org.uk/comic-relief
• Your local community foundation. Every part of the UK has one, holding local funds that small groups can apply to, often with youth strands. Find yours by postcode. ukcommunityfoundations.org
• Your council. Many councils run small youth grants or youth-led grant panels. They open and close by round, so ask the youth service directly.

Crowdfunding

• Crowdfunder. No platform fee for community, not-for-profit and charity projects, card fees of 2.9 per cent plus 30p (less for charities), and match funds from councils and funders that add money to projects that meet their rules. You must be 18 with a UK bank account; a parent, guardian or adult leader runs the campaign for anyone younger. crowdfunder.co.uk
• Spacehive. For projects that improve a place, with funds from councils and businesses that pledge to matching projects. A fee of 7.5 per cent plus VAT, charged only if you hit your target. spacehive.com
• GoFundMe. For personal fundraising rather than community projects; no platform fee, card fees per donation, and 18 or over to run a page. gofundme.com

Schemes you may have read about that have closed

vCashpoint and Igniter (2018). The #iwill Fund’s 2025 rounds, which funded organisations rather than young people directly, closed in November 2025. Lead the Change and the UK Youth Fund, both 2026, fund youth organisations and closed to applications in the spring. The Co-op Local Community Fund closes each June and reopens the following year. YouthBank UK closed in 2011, though some local youth-led panels still run under other names.

What a strong application shows

Funders say the same things in different words. The project answers a need you can describe from your own knowledge of the place, not from the internet. The people it is for had a say in designing it. The budget is small, specific and adds up. You can say who will do what, and when. You have thought about safety, and if under 18s are involved you have a written safeguarding policy. And you can show what changed afterwards, which is where a verified record of the hours and the people involved does the work for you.

What Vinspired adds

Vinspired does not fund projects; it helps them happen. A group can set up for free, post the roles it needs, and have every volunteer’s hours verified and recorded, so the report to the funder writes itself. Young volunteers earn certificates and badges for the hours, which is the recognition vCashpoint used to attach to its grants.

This page is checked every quarter. If a scheme above has changed, tell us and we will correct it.