£225,000 in grants given to VCSE organisations to get Greater Manchester walking

Please Note: This is a Greater Manchester Walking Grants (2019-2021) update. For more information on the Greater Manchester Walking and Wheeling Fund, click here.

Between November 2019 and January 2021 GMCVO gave out a total of £225,000 in grants to VCSE organisations to get Greater Manchester Walking.

We have now allocated a total of 89 grants (40 small, 13 COVID small, 16 medium (Round 1 ), 15 medium (Round 2), 5 partnership)

The grants are funded by Greater Manchester Moving who have received funding from Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership to support as many people as possible to walk regularly.

We are supporting safe physical activity opportunities during Covid-19 restrictions as we know how important it is for everyone in Greater Manchester’s health and wellbeing. You can find GM Walking’s latest advice on walking during Covid-19 here.

From November 2019 small grants from £50 to £1,000 were available for voluntary and community groups and social enterprises to get more people in Greater Manchester walking.

In January we launched medium grants of £1,000 to £5,000 as well as partnership grants of up to £15,000 . Groups were invited to apply for more than one grant where appropriate.

All ideas were welcomed but we were particularly looking for applications that encouraged people who are usually less active to start or increase their weekly walking.

Although plans for traditional walking groups were eligible we wanted groups to think creatively about how they could encourage people to get out and about.

The grants can be used for a variety of purposes which may include; equipment, travel expenses, training, additional staff-time and facilitators.

Suggested ideas for applications were:

• Training and support for Walking Champions
• Creative activities like history walks or treasure hunts
• Mass walking events
• Environmental changes/improvements

See our case study blogs about successful grant applications for Cartwheel Arts and Starling

Applications for GM Walking Grants are now closed. If you would like to be kept upto date about future funding opportunities, sign up to our newsletter: