Women’s Health Community Fund

Background

The Women’s Health Community Fund is provided by Wellbeing of Women, a registered charity, in partnership with Holland & Barrett, the British based multinational chain of health food shops.

The Fund is part of the Wellbeing of Women's work to improve the education and awareness of women’s common health issues which are currently overlooked and underfunded particularly among under-served communities, with a specific focus on lower income families, ethnically diverse communities, those with disabilities and who are LGBTQ+.

Objectives of Fund

The funding is intended to improve education and awareness on common health issues experienced by women in the UK.

The funding is for projects that address the following key points:

• Projects that aim to improve information, education and support for menstrual health, related gynaecological conditions e.g. PCOS, endometriosis, adenomyosis, fibroids, PMDD, and menopause.
• Support people and groups that are often underrepresented in mainstream healthcare, information and services, for example people from Black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds (BAME/global majority), LGBTQI+, people living with disabilities, deaf people, blind and partially sighted people, people experiencing homelessness, addiction, people living in areas of economic deprivation.

The project should include multiple activities across the year with considerations made around its sustainability beyond the funding cycle.

Value Notes

Grants of between £500 and £5,000 are available to spend across 12 months.

Funding will be distributed in two tranches, 50% at the beginning of the project and 50% upon receipt of a six-month report.

Who Can Apply

Registered charities, non-profit, Community Interest Companies (CICs), community or volunteer-led groups can apply.

To be eligible, applicants must be:

• Based in the UK and focused on supporting communities in the UK.
• Have a UK-based bank or building society account in the name of their organisation.
• Have an appropriate safeguarding policy in place.

Applicants from grassroot organisations, community groups and volunteer-led projects will be prioritised, as they directly meeting the aims of the fund.

Location

UK

Restrictions

The following are not eligible for funding:

• Projects that do not meet the objectives of reaching underserved communities.
• Projects that do not directly meet the objectives of providing education and support on menstrual health, gynaecological conditions, menopause.
• Commercially driven or public sector organisations.
• Projects that support commercial activities – outputs should be free for users and the aims of the organisation or individual applying for funding should not be profit-making.
• Salaries including staff training or speaker fees.

Eligible Expenditure

The funding is intended to be used for a series of activities throughout the funding period, as opposed to one large activity.

Activities can be new or existing. (Applicants will need to consider ongoing sustainability and address this in their application.)

The grant can be used for all reasonable expenses such as venue hire, light refreshments, equipment hire and speaker expenses that directly relate to the project.

How To Apply

The application form can be found on the Wellbeing of Women website. The form can either be completed online or downloaded and posted to Wellbeing of Women.

Alternatively, groups can call the Wellbeing of Women team to schedule a time for the team to fill out the application form for the group.

The deadline for applications is 19 May 2024. Notification of decisions is expected the week commencing 17 June 2024.

Successful applications will be sent funding terms and conditions to sign before receiving the first instalment.

Contact Wellbeing of Women for further information.