Big changes start locally

Heart of the Community Fund

Help causes at the heart of your community

Here at the Virgin Money Foundation, we’re on a mission to support community regeneration by backing the people who can make big changes happen locally.

We love helping local communities thrive, so every three months we're working with the Virgin Money Lounges in Glasgow, Sheffield, Edinburgh, Norwich, Manchester, Cardiff and London to give three local community organisations the chance to receive £2,000 – with awards of £1,000 and £500 for two runners-up.

The awards will go to the community organisations with the most votes from Virgin Money customers and Virgin Money Lounge members. There is a voting unit in each of the Lounges and visitors can pick up a small red heart when they visit, to put into the tube named with the community organisation they'd most like to support.

Just our bag

Through the Heart of the Community Fund we support projects that:

Are run by smaller community organisations. That means annual running costs of less than £500,000.
Work in parts of the city that need money the most.
Have strong local roots.
Benefit the wider community.

In London, we can only accept applications from community organisations working in Inner London. In Manchester, we’ll accept requests from organisations based in Greater Manchester South (Manchester City, Salford, Trafford, Stockport and Tameside).

Spending the Money

Funds can be used to buy materials and equipment, make improvements to a community building or sports facility or clean up an area of wasteland. The money could also pay for staff to run an activity.

What isn’t eligible?

Unfortunately, there are some causes we can’t support, such as:

General appeals. We won’t be able to award £2,000 towards a very large cause.
Sponsorship or marketing – our name on a football shirt for example - or advertising in a magazine.
Projects looking to raise money that’s already been spent.
Appeals that only benefit one person.
Animal welfare. We love animals but the Foundation’s all about people.
The day-to-day costs of schools and other educational facilities.
Medical treatment or research. This includes hospices and medical centres.
The promotion of religious, political or advocacy-based groups.