Speaking Out Briefing No.27: Small Grants Programme

This is the final year of the Speaking Out small grants project, and more than ever, support to frontline groups is of vital importance. The sector is facing cuts, and even though this fund is relatively small, the organisations involved have been able to demonstrate a strong impact year on year.

First launched in February 2008 the Speaking Out Small Grants Programme (SGP) has funded voluntary and community organisations working with children and young people aged 0 to 25 in England.  The project gives each organisation up to £1000 to deliver one-off projects or activities in their local communities. Now in its third and final year of funding, this round focused on an ability to demonstrate how the grant would be used efficiently in delivering activities; and more generally to highlight the important work of the children and young people’s voluntary sector in making a positive impact on children and young people’s lives. As the sector faces unprecedented cuts it is so important that this work is not lost. Many of the children and young people helped through the Speaking Out project are hard to reach and from disadvantaged backgrounds.  The projects illustrate what can be done on a small budget; they also show what great work could be done by children and young people’s voluntary sector organisations if they had more funds.

The grants were set up to fund the development and implementation of new activities or extensions of existing projects that aim to raise the voice of children and young people. This round focused on organisations that are able to demonstrate how they used the limited funds from the grant to achieve outcomes for children and young people in efficient ways. The grant programme funded 19 different projects up to £1,000 each.

To download the full briefing: Speaking Out Briefing No.27: Small Grants Programme, published April 2011