The London Community Foundation has launched the MOPAC Victims Fund 2021/22 to benefit victims of crime across London.

A large proportion of services for victims of crime are delivered by small voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organizations. The MOPAC Victims Fund is a small grants fund that seeks to improve cooperation and collaboration between services, with the ultimate aim of providing end-to-end victim services that run seamlessly and are led by the victim’s needs.

The Fund will build the capacity and maximize the potential of VCSE organizations to support the continued and improved provision of vital services that help victims of crime to cope and recover.

Objectives

The objectives of the Fund align with the commitments stated within the Police and Crime Plan 2017-2021 and include:

• VCSE capacity building for improved victims’ services in line with MOPAC ambitions;
• Targeting, but not limited to, organizations working with specific types of victims, for example, hate crime and crimes against young people (excluding VAWG). Applications for projects supporting victims of other types of crime will also be considered;
• Clear and achievable outcomes with appropriate measurement;
• VCSE support for developing partnerships/consortia with a view to deliver victims’ services in line with MOPAC ambitions.

Themes

Grants are available to organizations providing support to victims of crime to help them cope and recover from their experience.

Victims of crime are defined in the Code of Practice for Victims of Crime as: ‘a person who has suffered harm, including physical, mental or emotional harm or economic loss which was directly caused by criminal conduct; or a close relative of a person whose death was directly caused by criminal conduct.’

Funding Information

For individual organisations, grants of between £20,000 and £50,000 are available. All applicants should consider what their organisation’s core costs and capacity building needs are and include related costs in the application (up to 50%). Partnerships of two or more organisations can apply for up to £80,000.

Eligibility Criteria

Grants are available to cover any costs relating to work which helps victims of crime to cope and recover from their experience. This could include, but is not limited to:

• Practical support
• Emotional support
• Advocacy support
• Specialist support
• Counseling
• Restorative Justice

Applicants must:

• Be delivering the work they are requesting funding for in London and be able to demonstrate a track record of delivery and impact in London. Organizations can be based anywhere in the UK;
• Either be currently delivering services to victims of crime or be able to demonstrate a track record of having done so in previous years;
• Provide specialist support (or enhance existing support) to victims from specific localities/backgrounds that other victim services do not reach or reach as well;
• Provide specialist support (or enhance existing support) to victims of crime in line with the Police and Crime Plan 2017-2021 priorities, and the associated strategy such as the Knife Crime Strategy. Applicants will need to demonstrate how their grant application and proposed service delivery directly supports the strategy and plan above.

For more information, visit The London Community Foundation.