Dream fund grows opportunities for young dreams

Dream Fund, a £400,000 funding pot encouraging charities and organisations across Rochdale to work together to secure vital funding

People’s Postcode Lottery today (8 August) announced the launch of the Dream Fund, a £400,000 funding pot encouraging charities and organisations across Rochdale to work together to secure vital funding.

The Dream Fund, which is new to the North West, is an awards programme that offers financial support for groups looking to work together to realise the project of their ‘dreams’. Made possible only by the ongoing support of People’s Postcode Lottery players, this new funding round will mark the Fund’s third year and a total of £1 million invested in innovative projects.

Originally launched in Scotland, Trustees chose to widen the scope of applications this year to include the North West – more specifically Greater Manchester and Merseyside.

“The North West is notorious for its forward-thinking attitude and embrace of quirky ideas,” said Clara Govier, Head of Charities People’s Postcode Lottery. “Combine this with the fantastic charities here in Rochdale and you have a recipe for success that will enhance communities across the region.

“We’ve seen over the last two years what a difference funding can make to charities and organisations wanting to bring what you would literally consider a ‘dream’ to life,” continued Clara. “Sometimes all you need is the money to get it off the ground and that’s exactly how the Dream Fund can help.”

The funding pot available for the applying charities and projects has also increased by an additional £100,000, so that it can help tackle youth unemployment. With unemployment rates for young people (aged 16-24) hitting 1.02 million people across the country*, and 9.5% in the North West, it has never been more important to invest in projects that increase the life opportunities of the long-term unemployed.

The fund is taking applications under four categories; encouraging active living, bringing communities together, tackling climate change and expanding life opportunities, and Trustees are looking for projects that will inspire communities to make a difference together.

The Trust is encouraging all charities and organisations to apply for up to £100,000 and join the list of projects that have already received support from the Dream Fund. Previous winners include Alzheimer Scotland and The Scottish Football Association Museum Trust, who together were awarded over £75,000 through the programme last year to run a Football Memories Project across the country.

Alistair Fergusson, Development Co-ordinator, Alzheimer Scotland said, “The support from the Dream Fund has just been invaluable. It has enabled us to achieve so much more than we had ever expected, we’ve been able to reach out and help groups that this time last year we simply wouldn’t of thought possible. We would really encourage all eligible organisations to apply to fulfil their organisations dreams too.”

This year’s application round is open to applications from Scotland and the North West of England (Greater Manchester and Merseyside) only.

Full application information, including eligibility criteria, can be found at www.postcodetrust.org.uk. The closing date for applications is Wednesday 31 October.
For more information please contact Claire Montgomery on 07535 699 575 / Claire@postcodelottery.co.uk or Sam Ayles on 0131 555 8991