Updated: Updated the 'Rehabilitation Social Action Fund' section following the deadline for applicants.
What is social action
The Centre for Social Action supports programmes that encourage people to create positive change through social action.
Social action can broadly be defined as practical actions in the service of others, which:
- is carried out by individuals or groups of people working together
- is not mandated and not for profit
- is done for the good of others; individuals, communities and/or society
- is bringing about social change and/or value
- includes the giving of time and money
The government set out its intentions on how to promote social action in the:
Centre for Social Action: objectives
The Centre for Social Action aims to:
- provide financial support, and in some cases additional skills development, to programmes that motivate people to make a difference through social action - helping programmes to expand
- commission campaigns that encourage large numbers of people to get involved in social action
- support the development of a modern and effective infrastructure to support social action
It will invest around £36 million of government funding and £4 million of Nesta funding in 2013 to 2014 and 2014 to 2015. Details of how to apply for funding will be released as programmes are announced.
Types of projects supported by the centre
The Centre for Social Action builds on the work of the Social Action Fund and the Innovation in Giving Fund.
Details of projects supported through those funds can be found on:
Funding: grant programmes
A series of social action grant funds have been launched to specifically support programmes that encourage social action.
Social Action Fund (SAF) follow-on funding
The Centre for Social Action focuses on identifying and accelerating the development and spread of high-impact social action initiatives. As part of the work of the centre, we are looking to provide support to a number of existing SAF recipients that have the potential to contribute towards the centre’s objectives.
We have therefore invited a number of SAF projects to submit proposals for further funding. These have been selected based on their fit with 4 criteria:
- the organisation has either met or exceeded the majority of their specified SAF targets at the last quarterly reporting period and/or provided strong, credible justification as to why specific outputs had not been achieved
- the project has a strong fit with 1 (or more) of the 5 Centre for Social Action priority thematic areas
- the organisation has both the ambition and capacity to scale their existing SAF project (eg engage more people in social action and/or geographical expansion)
- the programme is not currently being considered under other relevant funding streams (eg the Innovation Fund, the Campaign for Youth Social Action)
As part of the selection process, organisations will need to demonstrate, among other things, the impact that their projects are having on key outcomes and how they plan to develop their programme in a financially sustainable way.
Decisions on further funding are expected in mid-late September 2013.
Innovation Fund
The Innovation Fund is a £14 million fund run by Nesta, the UK’s Innovation Foundation, working in partnership with the Cabinet Office.
Find more information on what innovations the fund will support and how to apply for funding.
The Youth Social Action Fund
As part of the Centre for Social Action, and in parallel with the launch of the independent Campaign for Youth Social Action, bids are being invited for funding for programmes which deliver social action programmes in 4 areas: Birmingham, Middlesbrough, Lancashire and Kent. For further information, please visit the Youth Social Action Fund page.
Rehabilitation Social Action Fund
The Centre for Social Action Rehabilitation Social Action Fund closed for applications on 5 September. Up to £3.5 million has been made available for charities and social enterprises who can demonstrate that they have a strong track record in using social action to rehabilitate offenders, a commitment to improving their evidence of impact and an ambition to scale up.
The Ministry of Justice has emphasised the important role voluntary and community organisations play in the rehabilitation of offenders in their strategy to deliver the Rehabilitation Programme. There is a wealth of promising programmes using social action to reduce reoffending delivered by voluntary and community groups. The Rehabilitation Social Action Fund recognises their contribution and will support them to scale up (whether through partnership working, expansion of an existing service or replication of a model in a new location), build evidence of impact and develop sustainable business models in order to engage with future commissioners, funders and contractors.
Grant recipients of the Rehabilitation Social Action Fund will receive tailored business development support to scale up sustainably. If you’re interested in bidding to provide this support, please visit Contracts Finder to find out more. The deadline for bids is 2pm on Thursday 26 September 2013.
Infrastructure for social action
The centre is supporting the development of the online and offline infrastructure for social action, and is currently working with YouthNet to develop and find a new host for the searchable volunteering database Do-it. Bidding to host this project has now closed.
A full specification for organisations interested in being part of the Do-it platform is available here.
Funding: campaigns
The Centre for Social Action will commission a small number of campaigns that aim to get large numbers of people involved in social action.
An example of a campaign that would be commissioned is the Alzheimer’s Society’s Dementia Friends campaign which seeks to recruit 1 million Dementia Friends to create dementia-friendly communities.
We are not currently looking to fund specific programmes, but are interested in any ideas you have for other large-scale social action campaigns.
Please fill in our campaigns ‘call for ideas’ application form below and send it to CentreforSocialAction@cabinet-office.gsi.gov.uk, providing details of:
- the issue that the campaign would seek to address
- who we would be encouraging to take action - eg parents, house-owners, older people
- what we are asking them to do - eg become a Dementia Friend
- who benefits from the campaign
- your contact details
We’ll respond to all ideas within 10 working days.