CISWO Funding

CISWO recognises that miners’ welfare charities play a vital role in providing essential facilities for local communities. To help sustain these spaces, we offer grants and loans to support miners’ welfare charities, enabling them to maintain and develop recreational facilities and services for the future.

For further information or to discuss funding needs, miners’ welfare trustees are able to contact their CISWO regional development manager.

CISWO’s Small Grants Programme is specifically for miners’ welfare charities, providing grants of up to £2,000 to help welfares deliver practical improvements, meet urgent compliance requirements and develop projects that benefit their local communities.

Recognising the increasing pressures facing smaller charities, the fund has been designed to provide accessible, flexible support where it is needed most in former mining communities.

Eligible miners’ welfare charities can apply for grants of up to £2,000 to support:

• Immediate practical improvements to facilities and services
• Emergency or time-critical compliance requirements
• New activities that benefit local communities
• Standalone projects that charities would otherwise be unable to fund

The programme enables more miners’ welfare charities to access timely support, helping them continue to serve as important community hubs and centres for local activity.

For larger projects CISWO provides Recreational Facilities Grants.

This funding is specifically for miners’ welfare charities supporting the provision of recreational spaces and services for the future.

Applications for funding must come from the trustees of the charity, although this may be in collaboration with a user group, for example a football club.

Grants and loans can be used for:

• Capital projects – e.g. building new changing rooms, development of MUGA
• Development costs – including surveys and feasibility studies
• Refurbishment, or repairs – e.g. refurbishing recreational space, upgrading floodlights

Funding must be used towards developing, sustaining, or increasing recreational activities and must be charitable.