Get InVOLved Innovation Fund - Frequently Asked Questions
What can the Get Involved Innovation Funding be spent on?
Award money can be spent on anything needed to run activities that attract or develop new volunteers. This could include equipment hire or purchase, session staff fees and expenses, venue hire, promotional materials, transport and supporter costs (either supplied by the organisation to help the beneficiary fully engage, e.g. assistance with literacy., or as personal care provided by a paid support worker).
What counts as volunteering?
Volunteering is when someone chooses to spend unpaid time doing something to benefit the environment, their community or people they are not related to. It can be a regular commitment or a one-off activity.
Whilst there is no financial benefit we know that volunteers benefit in lots of other ways, including developing skills and self-confidence, making new friends and contacts, improving wellbeing, feeling a sense of purpose and being part of a community. Research shows that volunteering impacts on better health outcomes.
When do I need to get my application in by?
There will be several deadlines between June 2025 and March 2027. These will be advertised on the Get Involved Innovation Fund page on Volunteering for Health | Get Involved Skills
What if I need help completing the application form?
The application process will involve you developing your proposal with the Volunteering Innovation Manager.
Can I apply more than once?
Yes, if you can evidence the success of your first activity and are unable to identify alternative funding you may apply for a new project.
Does my group have to be based in Norfolk or Suffolk to apply?
Not necessarily, but the activities will have to take place in Norfolk or Waveney.
How will you use my personal data?
We will only use the data you provide for the administration purposes and will not share your information without anonymising it.
What is meant by underserved groups?
Recent research has highlighted that residents and communities experience differences in health outcomes based on where they are born, grow, live and work. These differences are unfair and avoidable and working together we can take action to address them. Known as the Norfolk Core20Plus5, this represents the most deprived 20% of the national population plus those local population groups experiencing poorer-than-average health access, experience and/or outcomes. You can find more information here https://improvinglivesnw.org.uk/our-work/working-better-together/health-inequalities/
Why is this fund being made available?
Volunteering for Health is a £10 million programme being delivered in partnership by NHS England, NHS Charities Together and CW+, the official charity of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.
This is one of 15 partnerships across the UK to successfully bid for funding. It brings together NHS Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board (ICB), Norfolk County Council, Voluntary Norfolk, Community Action Norfolk, Community Action Suffolk, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (NNUH) and the Institute of Volunteering Research at the University of East Anglia (UEA). Volunteering for Health aims to maximise the benefits of volunteers as they play a valued part in delivering health and social care nationally and locally, whilst strengthening volunteering infrastructure.