Cameron Grants are small cash awards from the Cameron Grant Memorial Trust to support innovation in mental health. Please read on for more information and details of how to apply.
Introduction
The objectives of the Cameron Grant Memorial Trust are to raise awareness of suicide, to urge all who are suffering in silence to speak up and ask for help, and to support people, especially young people, who are fighting to overcome poor mental health. CGMT was set up in memory of Cameron Grant, who tragically took his own life after a long, but hidden, history of fighting symptoms of depression. The Trust sought innovative ways to spread the message ‘There is always someone you can talk to.’ The use of Cameron’s Coasters (drink mats) printed with information about local and national mental health resources has been hugely successful, with over one million coasters printed and distributed to Universities, Schools, Professional Federations and Workplaces.
This spirit of innovation lives on and we are keen to encourage innovative ways to support mental health and wellbeing.
As a society, we are getting better talking about mental health. The level of awareness and support continues to grow, from the Royal Family, prime ministers and parliamentarians, to celebrities and frontline blue light services, and some of the stigma attached to mental illness is waning. Partly as a result of this progress, demand for support continues to grow. Further, according to the UK ONS, during the pandemic, the number of people suffering with moderate to severe depressive symptoms almost doubled.
Although lockdowns have now gone, energy price rises, and food inflation are severely impacting many people’s ability to live a decent life. The NHS is on its knees, the war in Ukraine, and ongoing multisector strikes all add to the sense of doom that many of us feel. This background is providing plenty of real-world reasons for people already struggling with mental health issues to feel worse. Despite this rising tide of mental health issues, the ability of underfunded and poorly resourced front-line support services to assist continues to diminish and it is against this backdrop that we are delighted to announce a second round of our grant giving programme. Our first grant giving programme in 2021 was very successful and attracted around 375 applications, of whom 29 were awarded grants.
This years’ programme will be smaller, and we will only be issuing around TEN grants. As before, the focus will be on Innovation and only applications that show very clear innovation will be rewarded. Through this scheme, CGMT will offer ‘seed-funding’ of between £1,000 & £2,500, to individuals or organisations who need money to trial new ways to support those in need. CGMT will award grants to fund these innovations. For details of the grants, what they’re for and how to apply etc, please see below.
About this round of Grants
Who?
Grant applications will be accepted from: Individuals; Charities; Social Enterprises/CICs; Schools; Colleges; Uniersities; Pre-registration start-ups; Voluntary Groups; Community Groups and other not-for-profit entities. We will not accept applications from companies that are aimed at generating profits for private distribution.
NB: The applicants and the project must be UK based.
What?
Applications for a grant of between £1,000 & £2,500 will be considered. The grant can be used to trial a new service, create an asset, a technology, a performance, fund research, or otherwise experiment in any way that supports the treatment of mental health. The emphasis will be on innovation – using new methods, channels, technology, ideas or approaches to reach out and effect change. Ideas should typically fit into one of the following categories:
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Destigmatising Mental Health
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Reducing Barriers to Mental Health Care
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Improving Mental Well Being
Note the grants are for project-based activities that demonstrate clear innovation. They will not be made to fund ongoing operational expenses or salaries. The innovation can involve technology though it doesn’t have to. Cameron’s Coasters are a brilliantly simple and non-technical idea, but still innovative in their concept, design and execution.
Some examples from our first grant round in 2021 include:
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Toothbrush kits containing signposting to support
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Training Barbers to spot tell-take signs of suicidal thoughts
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Encouraging ‘sleep ambassadors’ in corporate clients
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A booklet to help children log their happy thoughts
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Benches in known suicide spots that speak to people
We just know there are dozens more ideas out there that we can add to this list, and we need YOU to help us find them.
Why?
The need for mental health support has never been greater and will be driven higher by the UK’s many post-pandemic troubles.
Where?
Grants are available to any individual or entity based in the UK. These grants cannot be used to fund projects outside the UK.
When?
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Applications will be accepted from 09:00 on Monday 1st May 2023.
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If your initial application is shortlisted, you will be asked to complete an online Application Form.
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Application emails will be accepted until midnight on 31st May.
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Completed Application Forms must be submitted by 17:00 on Wednesday 14 June 2023.
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Trustee approval will take place at a meeting last week of June and successful applicants notified by 30th June.
How?
In the first instance, send an email with a brief outline of your idea and the amount you will be requesting.
The email must start with the words ‘My idea is innovative because….’ and be no more than 250 words long.
All emails will be reviewed by a group of our Trustees. For those applicants who pass the ‘innovation test’, we will invite you to complete a short, online application form which should take no more than 20 minutes to complete.
Our first programme of Cameron Grants attracted several hundred applications, and we expect this one to be similar. We therefore regret that we can’t respond to every unsuccessful applicant. If we wish you to follow-up your email with an online application, we will ask you to do this on or before Tuesday 6th June. If you have not heard from us by then, your request has not made the short list.
Some 90% of applications to our last programme were unsuccessful because the project or idea was not innovative.
BEFORE YOU APPLY, PLEASE ASK YOURSELF “IS MY IDEA INNOVATIVE”?
Only if the answer is YES, please send an email to innovate@camgrant.org.uk, starting the email with “My idea is innovative because…..” and do make sure it is less than 250 words long.
