Supporting people with practical cost-of-living interventions in North East England

About The Mayor's Opportunity Fund

Community Foundation North East and Point North Community Foundation are partnering with the North East Mayoral Strategic Authority (North East MSA) to run phase 2 of the Mayor’s Opportunity Fund.

The Fund support’s the North East MSA’s commitment to ensuring the region becomes the home of real opportunity.

Organisations applying to work within Tyne & Wear and Northumberland can apply using the link above.

Organisations applying to work in County Durham should apply through Point North:  https://pointnorth.org.uk/grants/

Who can apply

We welcome applications from constituted community groups and charitable, not-for-profit organisations with an annual income under £500,000.

Priority will be given to organisations supporting residents who are:

• Experiencing financial hardship
• In low-income or insecure work
• Falling outside eligibility for sufficient statutory support
• Experiencing digital or financial exclusion
• From groups less likely to access mainstream services

Organisations that have a live Mayor’s Fund grant may reapply, but we may take this into account as part of the decision-making process.

What we will fund

The Fund will prioritise locally trusted organisations that can reach residents most at risk of hardship and provide support that is responsive, preventative, and community-led.

The Fund is designed to complement existing regional and local provision, ensuring funding adds value rather than duplicates established support.

Funding will support a broad range of practical cost-of-living interventions, including:

Reducing essential costs:

• Community food provision
• Access to low-cost or free essential goods
• Access to energy-saving items and practical support

Access to opportunity and services:

• Community transport initiatives
• Digital access where this reduces costs or increases access to support

Community-led solutions:

• Repair, reuse and sharing initiatives
• Peer support and community-based navigation into services

We will also consider applications for equipment and minor capital costs where these are necessary to deliver the proposed activity.

Grants of up to £7,500 are available and successful applicants can spend their grant over a 12-month period.

When can we apply

This is a rolling programme and decision will be made quarterly. The deadline for each meeting is listed below. If your application is submitted after a deadline has passed, it will be considered at the next quarterly meeting.

More urgent funding requests can be considered outside the quarterly process, but applicants should discuss this with us before applying and the application will need to explain why funding is required more immediately. Applications will still be subject to the normal eligibility, assessment, due-diligence and approval requirements.

Monitoring and reporting

Grantees will need to monitor and report against the intended benefits of the grant for the people you work with and the organisation; for example:

• increased provision of services
• increased numbers of beneficiaries
• increased organisation income
• increased partnership working
• increased workforce

Monitoring will include case studies and grantees may also be asked to participate in publicity and visits by the Mayor and/or North East MSA and Community Foundation staff.

When will we find out if we have been successful?

You will be notified of the outcome of your application at the end of the month following which it was considered. So if you apply for December 2026, you will hear by the end of January 2027.

The Fund seeks to benefit residents living in all seven local authority areas within North East MSA’s region, and we will consider population size, measures of disadvantage and other factors when assessing applications.