Volunteering Wales Grants is a scheme funded by the Welsh Government to promote and improve volunteering in Wales.

Volunteering Wales is about ‘…the kind of country we want to be’.

A volunteer is someone who commits time and energy for the benefit of society and the community, and volunteering can take many forms. It is undertaken freely and by choice without concern for financial gain.

Volunteering is one of the national wellbeing indicators tracking Wales progress against the Wellbeing of Future Generations (Wales) Act goals. To embed volunteering, create high quality volunteering opportunities, and engage young people, Welsh Government have funded three key schemes under Volunteering Wales.

If you would like to hear about potential future rounds please sign up here.

VOLUNTEERING WALES MAIN GRANT SCHEME

GRANT AIMS

  • Increase volunteer engagement and satisfaction by removing barriers to volunteering for people of all ages and from all parts of society.
  • Support the creation and development of high quality and positive volunteering opportunities in Wales.
  • Promote changes in beneficiary organisations to embed volunteering into their working practices and culture eg obtaining the Investing in Volunteers Award.

Funding is available for not-for-profit organisations proposing projects up to 12 months, for up to £25,000.

For more information please read the full scheme guidance here.

The scheme is currently closed to applications.

REGISTER ON MAP

In order to submit a request for funding, you will need to register with WCVA’s Multipurpose Application Portal (MAP). If you have previously registered with MAP, you can log in by entering your username and password on the home screen.

Organisations can register by visiting the website https://map.wcva.cymru.

If you need help registering on MAP please follow this video.

PREVIOUS GRANTS AWARDED

Main Grants Awards – round 1

Main Grants Awards – round 2

Main Grants Awards – round 3

VOLUNTEERING WALES STRATEGIC GRANT SCHEME

The Volunteering Wales Strategic Grant scheme is currently closed for applications.

This year’s Volunteering Wales Strategic grant will build on the work carried out in the initial pilot.  Projects will work to unlock the potential for further embedding and/or upscaling of co-ordinated volunteering. Grant requests are welcome for projects up to 18 months with a value of between £50,000-£100,000.

Grant aims

This fund will enable a small number of strategic investments (between four to six) to build on and learn from new or enhanced approaches or initiatives. Enabling the progress that has been made during the pandemic to be further explored and ‘hard wired’ into ongoing work.

Grant objectives

Unlocking the strategic potential of volunteering over the longer term by:

  • Identify the strategic need and explore new volunteering opportunities or remove barriers to volunteering;
  • Explore partnerships within and between the third, private and public sector;
  • Support the upscaling of strategic infrastructure and volunteer organisation to embed emerging good practise;
  • Undertake thorough learning around equality and inclusion in volunteering and how this impacts communities and their engagement;
  • Strengthen partnerships;
  • Lever further investment both financial and non-financial.

High quality proposals are welcome from the following priority areas:  

  • Health & social care
  • Education & young people
  • Environment/climate emergency
  • Arts/culture/sport
  • Welsh language/communities

Resources from the scheme

There’s a lot to learn from recipients of the Volunteering Wales Strategic Grants who have been leading pioneering projects that look long-term at volunteering and how we can unlock its potential.

Here are some examples of the projects and the resources they’ve created:

PREVIOUS GRANTS AWARDED

Strategic Grant Awards 2023-25

The organisations that were successful under the 2022/23 grant round can be found can be found here.

If you would like to hear about potential future rounds please sign up here.

For more information please read the full scheme guidance here

YOUTH LED GRANTS

Youth Led Grants is an initiative funded by the Welsh Government to support a range of volunteering projects and activities that are led and carried out by young people.

Youth Led Grants give young people a platform to become decision makers, allocating funding for youth-led volunteering that takes place in communities across Wales.

The initiative enables young people to develop skills and gain experience in youth leadership by joining grant making panels and leading local projects.

How it works

Each year a sum of money is distributed to the 19 County Voluntary Councils (CVCs) across Wales for a grant panel of young people (14-25) to allocate to youth-led volunteering projects in each local authority area.

Each panel decides how their application and awarding process will run and there are differences in the eligibility criteria and the size of grant awards. In some areas young people will need to be linked to an existing organisation, while in others young people can have more direct access to funding to deliver their projects.

Applications for funding should be completed by young people themselves, with support from a relevant adult where required.

YOUTH LED PROJECTS

Here are some examples of the types of activities that have been funded by the Youth Led Grants.

Impact of Youth Led Grants: Castle Clean Up Project

Impact of Youth Led Grants: Torfaen Youth Forum

From a Student Volunteer to a Youth Led Project Champion

Volunteer opportunities for young people made possible with Youth Led Grants

YOUTH LED GRANTS FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS

In 2021/22 the Youth Led Grants panels across Wales will be striving to support the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act (2015) by improving practice and funding youth-led projects that contribute towards one or more of the wellbeing goals.

GET INVOLVED

If you would like to find out more about the Youth Led Grants in your local area get in touch with your local CVC – the full list of the CVCs in Wales can be found at thirdsectorsupport.wales/contact.