The Sovereign #iwill Fund 1.0 Grants
Since September 2022, the Sovereign #iwill Fund 1.0 has awarded 24 projects a share of over £207,000 through two rounds of funding.
Youth panel member, Emily said “The Sovereign #iwill Fund scoring day was a brilliant opportunity to get involved and support on awarding youth social projects funding. I felt empowered by having my own voice and opinion heard, which will go on to encourage youth to have their own say about other potential social youth action in Sovereign communities via #iwill funded projects."
Sovereign #iwill Fund 1.0 – Round 2 Grantees
Twelve more youth-focused organisations working in SNG communities have received a share of more than £108,000 thanks to funding from the Sovereign #iwill Fund 1.0.
In February 2023, we invited applications for the second round of the Sovereign #iwill Fund 1.0. We received 33 applications from organisations delivering projects which offer new opportunities for young people aged 10-20-years-old to get involved in youth social action.
Read more about each of the second round's winning projects
IMM’s (Intergenerational Music Making) Youth Social Action project received £10,000 funding.
IMM aims to build bridges across generations, sectors and amongst professionals to create stronger, more cohesive communities. The Youth Social Action project will support 50 young people aged 10-18-years-old across Basingstoke and Plymouth to plan, deliver and evaluate a youth-led intergenerational social action project
Spotlight UK’s Youth Social Action project was awarded £8,232.
At least 100 young people aged 10-18-years-old from schools in Reading, Southampton, Newbury, Andover and Basingstoke will get involved in fundraising, campaigning and volunteering through the project.
Spotlight UK believes it is important for young people to have a say in their future and that this project will boost confidence and self-esteem, build friendships and develop resilience and help develop team working and problem-solving skills.
Transition Chipping Norton’s Youth4Future project received £10,000.
The Youth4Future project will support 50 young people aged 10-17-years-old in Chipping Norton who will be involved in campaigning to improve community facilities across the town.
Recreate Dorset's Social Action programme for young people with learning differences received £10,000.
Recreate Dorset will use the grant to support 60 young people aged 10-20 years old opportunities to develop their creative and communication skills through developing a collaborative creative project that they will lead on and deliver for the local annual arts festival, which they will also volunteer at.
Didcot TRAIN Inspiring Young People's Youth Empowerment project received £9,960.85.
The project will support 45 young people aged 10-20 years old in South Oxfordshire to run and develop their charity. The young people will also be involved in designing and running events at their premises The Base, as well as other community projects.
Youth Challenge Oxfordshire (YoCO) Abingdon Music Event project received £10,000.
YOCO will support 70 young people aged 13-18-years-old from the Vale of White Horse to produce their own music, and then plan and host a music event for the community. The project idea was developed by the young people in the YoCO Abingdon group, who will learn a variety of skills in event management and communication, as well as creative skills when producing their own music, while continuously growing their confidence
Revive Newport’s Newport Youth Cafe and Detached Youth Work received £10,000.
Revive Newport will run a drop-in youth café two nights a week for 2000 young people aged 13-19 years old on the Isle of Wight, where they will be able to enhance their social skills, improve their sense of self-worth and understanding, and improve their educational standards and employability.
Plymouth Sports Charity’s A Sporting Chance project received £9,880.
Plymouth Sports Charity will provide 50 young people aged 12-14 years old in Plymouth the opportunity to create, manage and develop a free sports programme and sports festival delivered to primary school children. The young people will also be able to achieve a recognised sports coaching qualification themselves.
Imayla CIC’s Nature Well and Wildly Different project received £8,319.13.
Imayla will deliver a programme to 30 young people aged 12-16 years old in Bristol which will consist of ‘Nature Well’ ecotherapy sessions followed by youth-led social action planning and delivery sessions. Imayla will support the young people to cultivate a deeper connection to nature, develop their skills around emotional literacy and help them find ways to relax.
Aspire Ryde’s ACP (Aspiring Citizens Project received £7,330.
Aspire Ryde will support at least 15 young people aged 11-16-years-old through their ACP where they will learn musical and communication skills to take out into the community to support and enhance the lives of older people and those with early onset dementia. Each young person will be given a platform to make real social change and create a positive, lasting impact in the local community with a focus on interacting with local residential homes, care providers and care settings.
North Bristol RFC’s educational sports programme received £7,500.
North Bristol RFC will deliver an educational sports and nutrition programme, focusing on volunteering and fundraising, to at least 45 young people aged 10-20-years-old. The programme includes a variety of topics around sports, mentoring/coaching, nutrition, hospitality, clubhouse maintenance and social media/marketing with the aim to enable young people to become better leaders on and off the field, increase their confidence and start building that youth social action habit for life.
Young Gloucestershire’s Community Action Projects received £7,497.
Young Gloucestershire will engage at least 84 NEET young people aged 16-20-years-old in a variety of youth social action projects through their 12 week into-work project. 7 groups will complete youth-led community action projects which are shaped by the young people to choose their challenge, risk assess, plan and present the idea to the committee before delivering their proposed project.
#iwill Fund 1.0 Grants – Round 1 Grantees
A total of 34 youth-focused community groups and charities applied for the first round of Sovereign #iwill Fund grants. In September 2022, 12 projects were awarded a share of almost £100,000.
Find out about the funded projects
Watch the video below to find out how the grant awarded to Koala Community Hub helped young people have new experiences and challenge themselves by getting out of their comfort zone, increasing their confidence, skills, and friendships.
Download a copy of the Koala Community Hub video transcript
Watch the video below to find out how Solent Youth Action used the grant to support young people to develop an outdoor kitchen at their new skills centre, The Routes.
Download a copy of the Solent Youth Action video transcript
Read more about each of the first round's winning projects
Solent Youth Action’s Skills Centre Development project received £8,412.
Solent Youth Action used the grant to support young people develop an outdoor kitchen at their new skills centre, The Routes. 35 young volunteers aged between 10-20-years-old designed, planned, fundraised and built the space, which will benefit hundreds of people over the coming years. The centre is entirely run by young people, who volunteer their time whilst gaining practical skills in carpentry and using power tools, as well as horticulture, planning, teamwork, admin, youth work and landscape design.
Mayfield Nurseries’ Change Champions project received £9,144.49.
Mayfield Nurseries used the grant to engage around 40 young people aged 10-20 in their Change Champions project, particularly those who were struggling to engage in formal education or were facing life barriers in relation to mental health, poverty and housing.
The young people learnt about horticulture, sustainability, environmental issues and mental health and were able to plan and lead a series of events to engage others in the community in understanding more about nature, the environment and sustainability.
Shine Pinehurst’s Wonky Pizza project received £10,000.
Shine Pinehurst used the grant to support 46 young people aged 11-15 set up and run a pizza oven in the heart of communities across Swindon. The young people led the project and were in charge of choosing locations, days, times, the menu, advertising and making and delivering the pizzas.
The young people completed training in food hygiene, health and safety, food preparation, allergen training and in how to use the pizza oven to equip them with transferable skills for life.
Youthline’s Young Ambassador Scheme received £2,300.
Youthline used the grant to set up their ‘Young Ambassador Scheme’ for 9 young people aged 14-18 from across Bracknell Forest.
The project gave the Young Ambassadors the skills, knowledge and confidence to act as peer mentors through training sessions and increase awareness of healthy lifestyles, present in educational settings, fundraise and promote good health across the community.
Clean our Patch’s Litter Picking in Schools project received £10,000.
Clean our Patch used the grant to extend their schools programmes to 12 new schools across Plymouth, engaging 1272 young people aged 10-20 in litter picking training and activities.
Clean our Patch delivered workshops in schools to upskill young people to then lead on developing litter picking initiatives across the city, with the aim for young people to learn how to plan and run events, work together as a team, interact with members of the public and instil a passion for caring about communities and the environment.
Berkshire Youth’s Social Action project received £9,815.86.
Berkshire Youth used the grant to give 39 young people aged 10-15 new opportunities to be involved in and lead social action activities.
With three entry levels of the project, young people were able to decide what level of involvement suits them best and were supported to develop skills and competencies, as well as given opportunities to complete accredited training including Youth Achievement Awards and Level 1 Youth Leadership Qualifications.
Koala Community Hub’s Neurodivergent Youth Social Action project received £9,752.32.
Koala Community Hub used the grant to give 45 young people aged 10-20 empowering opportunities to lead, have a voice in their community and feel safe, by encouraging them into a variety of youth-led social action projects.
Young people were able to have new experiences and challenge themselves by getting out of their comfort zone while increasing their confidence, skills and friendships.
Cianna’s Smile’s Youth Advocacy Programme received £7,950.
Cianna’s Smile used their grant to engage 34 young people aged 10-18 in a variety of training opportunities to educate, empower and support them to make a positive difference for themselves and/or their peers that face life challenges because of Sickle Cell disease. The young people made choices on how to develop campaigns for Sickle Cell, learnt transferable skills and received real-life experience in campaigning and thinking about social change.
Reverse The Trend’s youth mental health project received £10,000.
Reverse The Trend used their grant to engage 110 young people aged 10-14 to campaign for schools in Bristol to add mental health learning and resources to the curriculum. The young people received training on youth social action, confidence-building, presentation skills, media skills and how to get their voices heard.
Reverse The Trend targeted young people from less affluent areas to increase community awareness about mental health, create dialogue about how feelings happen and equip them with the skills to improve their mental health.
JIGSAW Thornbury’s Young Volunteer Scheme received £10,000.
JIGSAW Thornbury used their grant to set up two groups for young people: a young volunteers scheme for 20 young people aged 10-14 and a youth club for 10 young people aged 10-25. The young volunteers scheme enabled young people to build their skills and confidence while giving something back to their community through leading six campaigns and fundraising events.
The youth club, was run in partnership with Krunch South West as an informal service to help young people develop a different set of social skills and independence and members were supported to become youth leaders and get involved with the young volunteers scheme in different ways.
Abingdon DAMASCUS Youth Project’s intergenerational youth social action project received £10,000.
Abingdon DAMASCUS Youth Project used their grant to support 55 young people aged 10-20 into leading intergenerational community events. Young people aged 10-13 led on the events with older young leaders aged 14-20 supporting them. Young people were given opportunities to achieve accredited AQA courses and were supported to develop their skills and confidence.
Find out more information on Abingdon DAMASCUS Youth Project 
.
YES! Brixham’s Christmas Grotto project received £1,835.
YES! Brixham used their grant to support 5 young people aged 14-20 lead on their annual, youth-run Christmas Grotto in December 2022, which was available to anyone and offered children the chance to see Santa and receive a present.
The young people led on organisation, building and delivering the event, helped with fundraising and actively engaged with the community.
