Our Grant Giving Team invests £2,985,372.53 annually into Sheffield’s crucial voluntary sector. It has 56 partners and over 30 lunch clubs. They provide activities, support and advice to the residents of Sheffield.
We recognise the vital role the voluntary sector plays in meeting the city's priorities.
We only award grants to voluntary sector organisations based in Sheffield. If you would like support and information on grants for individuals, you can apply to your Local Assistance Scheme.
Annual grants
The following are the grant awards made by us annually:
Men's Emotional Wellbeing Grant Award
Nationally, 3 in 4 suicides are men. We know there’s substantial societal pressure to ‘man up’ and a stigma around men showing weakness. This can cause significant mental health issues, with 75% of men experiencing symptoms of anxiety, depression and stress.
Due to this stigma and societal pressure, men are less likely to speak up in a medical setting. This means many men are unable to get the diagnosis and treatment they need. Unfortunately, this can lead to isolation and self-medication, often through substance misuse.
The Men’s Emotional Wellbeing Grant Fund supports partnerships and community groups to engage men in their community. It aims to stabilise support and develop existing, successful programmes that provide opportunities for men to engage in a meaningful activity to reduce their feelings of isolation and help them to form social connections.
This scheme has now closed and you can view our successful applicants from this year below.
- Voluntary Action Sheffield (VAS), (£22,000)
- Age UK (£61,904)
- Darnall Wellbeing (£121,100)
- Heeley City Farm (£76,349.63)
- Heeley Trust with partners: FURD, Heeley Asian Women’s Group, Roshni, Shipshape (£57,000)
- Manor Castle Development Trust (£181,900)
- The Terminus Initiative (£78,436)
- Shipshape with partners: Archer Project, Employers Forum, Broomhall Forum, Apna (£123,900)
- SOAR with partners: Fir Vale Community Hub and Aspiring Communities Trust (ACT), (£428,578.71)
- Stocksbridge Leisure Centre (£53,668.73)
- Woodhouse Community Development Forum (£164,926.30)
- Zest, with partner St Johns (£148,505.73)
People Keeping Well is sometimes known as Social Prescribing. It is about connecting people to a range of local services to improve general health and wellbeing.
The programme focuses on interventions to increase access to services and to tackle the issues that underpin many health problems. It also builds on the skills that already exist in these communities.
It is comprised of two strands:
- Community Wellbeing Programme
- Resilient Communities
Both of these are delivered by 17 partnerships across the city.
The initiative grew out of the Health Communities Programme. It has been developed in partnership with local people with activities provided through voluntary sector organisations.
Our People Keeping Well team works with the lead voluntary sector organisations to:
- administer and monitor grants
- connect the organisations with partners and other projects/programmes and funding opportunities
- disseminate information and opportunities
A further 5 years of funding for People Keeping Well and Grant Aid (2023 to 2028) was approved at our Strategy and Resources Committee on 5 December 2022.
The committee papers can be accessed at Strategy and Resources Policy Committee - Monday 5 December 2022, 2:00 pm. See agenda item 11.
If you have further questions on People Keeping Well, contact the team at pkw@sheffield.gov.uk.
Voluntary Action Sheffield (VAS), (£131,564)
South Yorkshire Funding Advice Bureau (SYFAB), (£40,117)
Grant award goes to support staffing, core and direct costs that support the delivery of the volunteer centre and organisational and impact development services.
This grant helps other voluntary sector organisations to:
- recruit the volunteers they need and develop their skills and knowledge to best practice standards
- improve their prospects of developing and maintaining a diverse income base in line with the existing and emerging opportunities available to the sector
- gain the skills and capacity to develop tools to demonstrate the impact of their services/activities
- manage and respond to internal or external change by means of adapting their ways of working and/or embarking on partnerships and mergers
- where appropriate, ending the grant agreements and helping to source alternative funding
The grant also goes towards providing tailored support to the Lunch Clubs service, in particular providing advice, support and managing referrals into the Lunch Clubs.
Citizens Advice Sheffield
Citizens Advice Sheffield (CAS) delivers a quality assured, citywide service. It provides access to free, confidential impartial triage and initial advice to those with complex problems.
In 2021/22, CAS was able to help 27,265 people across Sheffield. This was on over 74,000 issues with over £11 million gained through unclaimed benefits and £850,000 of debt written off.
This grant contributes to salaries and the core costs of running CAS.
St. Vincent De Paul Sheffield (£53,283)
This grant goes towards supporting and contributing to the core running costs of the store.
St. Vincent De Paul collects and distributes recycled furniture and household items to vulnerable families or individuals and those in crisis across Sheffield.
In 2021/22:
- 5898 pieces of furniture were delivered to 1050 families
- 100+ food parcels were delivered to vulnerable adults and families
- 77 tonnes of furniture were recycled and didn’t go into landfill
Bens Centre (£52,284)
This grant contributes towards supporting the core running costs of the organisation. Ben's Centre provides a day centre and outreach programme which supports vulnerable adults, particularly those experiencing substance misuse and homelessness. They aim to help adults to make more positive choices and work toward a brighter future.
In 2021/22 they provided:
- 3480 hot meals
- support 115 vulnerable adults with 894 uses of the clothes bank
City of Sanctuary (£37,453)
This grant contributes towards the core costs and delivery of the Victoria Hall drop-in for refugees and asylum seekers. It also supports the fortnightly Service Provider Meetings and the Refugee and Migrant Forum.
In 2021/22, City of Sanctuary provided support and advice to 499 refugees and asylum seekers through their weekly multi-agency drop-in sessions.
Voluntary Action Sheffield New Beginnings (£13,866)
New Beginnings Project supports refugees, migrants and asylum seekers to access volunteering opportunities. This project is also supported through funding from the Big Lottery.
Through this jointly funded project, 411 refugees and asylum seekers were supported and 26 gained in employment.
Sheffield Adult Volunteering Teaching of English (£35,298)
This grant provides a contribution towards the core running costs of the organisation. Sheffield Adult Volunteering Teaching of English adopts a community development approach that provides opportunities for individuals to learn functional English. In 2021/22:
- 98 learners received six months of one-to-one support
- 107 learners learned English through small online groups
- 342 learners accessed conversation groups within the community
Roshni (£34,744)
Roshni is a language and female specific resource centre. This grant contributes to a range of services and activities for vulnerable Asian women across Sheffield. It includes two weekly outreach sessions in Darnall and Tinsley.
In 2021/22 Roshni were able to support 299 women through their Empowerment Project. 40 women received culturally specific counselling.
Black and Minority Ethnic Elders (£30,000)
The ‘Building Better Lives’ project works with elders from Sheffield’s BME communities. It also aims to reduce loneliness, improve emotional wellbeing and increase participants to access mainstream services.
This is delivered through a collaboration of organisations Roshni, Aspiring Communities Together and Fir Vale Community Hub.
29 lunch clubs are currently supported and funded through grant awards from Sheffield City Council.
Lunch clubs enable older people across the city to make long lasting friendships, share good food and enjoy interesting activities. They are friendly and supportive groups and mostly run by volunteers who want to give something back to their local community.
The Council's Lunch Club Fund provides small grants for clubs across the city. It supports them to provide social events which can help reduce loneliness and isolation of older people.
If you would like to find a lunch club to join, you can contact Voluntary Action Sheffield (VAS). They run a city-wide service to help match people up with local lunch clubs.
If you or someone you know would like to join a Lunch Club, we’re here to help. To contact us, you can email us at lunchclubs@sheffield.gov.uk or call (0114) 273 4631 and leave a message.
Available funding
If you are looking for funding or support to access funding, you can contact the following organisations:
- South Yorkshire Funding Advice Bureau provide information, advice and training on funding and fundraising to community and voluntary organisations
- Voluntary Action Sheffield provides support and leadership to the voluntary sector and has done so for over 90 years
- South Yorkshire's Community Foundation helps individuals and businesses who want to give generously to support their wide-ranging grant programme for community groups
- Local Area Committees promote the involvement of local people in the democratic process and bring decision making closer to local people
- Holiday Activities and Food programme – this holiday provision is for school-aged children from reception to year 11 (inclusive) who receive benefits-related free school meals
- Sheffield Directory – your local information and advice website. Use it to find information and advice, and to discover local groups, activities and services in your area