Community Care Fund

Vote for your favourite community project!

Earlier this year, we invited people across the UK to nominate projects in their local community that required funding. From over 1,600 incredible nominations, our finalists have been chosen. Now it’s over to you.

Below you will find details of all 12 finalists from across the UK.

Vote for your favourite project. The three projects with the highest number of votes will receive £3,000 each. You can vote more than once and every vote counts!

Voting closes on 1^st September 2026

Vote now

Meet our 12 Finalists

EAST ENGLAND

Newmarket Open Door

Newmarket Open Door provides supported accommodation for vulnerable young adults aged 18–24 experiencing homelessness, instability or other challenging circumstances. The £3,000 grant would fund the redecoration and refurbishment of resident bedrooms at Portland House, an accommodation block in Newmarket, including bedding, soft furnishings and storage.

EAST MIDLANDS

Baby Basics Leicester (Church of the Martyrs)

Baby Basics Leicester, run by the Church of the Martyrs, supports over 100 families each month by providing essential items such as cots and pushchairs for babies and young children. The £3,000 grant would help expand their work to reduce the financial pressure on vulnerable families, improve family wellbeing, support child development and ensure children get a safe and healthy start in life.

LONDON

Food For Homeless Project

Based in Camden, Food For Homelessness provides refugees, asylum seekers, homeless people, and those facing mental health challenges with nutritious meals, emotional support, social connection and signposting to essential services. The £3,000 grant would help purchase essential kitchen equipment to provide meals to more vulnerable people and supply emergency hygiene packs and basic essentials for people living on the streets.

NORTH EAST

Caring for Carers Community Project

Parents and carers of children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) often experience chronic stress, poor mental health and emotional burnout, social isolation and limited access to appropriate support services. The Caring for Carers project aims to provide a dedicated parent and carer support network, offering massage, relaxation and wellbeing sessions in a calm therapy space. The £3,000 grant would fund the required equipment and furniture for a therapy room, to ensure the space is calming and inviting for carers requiring respite.

NORTH WEST

Autism Family Support

Autism Family Support helps families facing isolation and lack of access to safe, sensory-friendly environments where their children can play. Parents also often experience high levels of stress and have limited opportunities for wellbeing support. The £3,000 grant would help purchase equipment such as lighting and soft play items to transform the local community space into a dedicated sensory room for autistic children, along with a wellbeing room for women and mothers for relaxation and peer support.

NORTHERN IRELAND

St Malachy’s Hurling and Camogie Club

This community sports and social club is based in a socially disadvantaged rural area of Armagh and provides sporting activities and social events for local families, children, young people and older residents, many of whom experience rural isolation and limited opportunities. The £3,000 grant would fund essential portable equipment, including training gear, outdoor seating, and basic ICT equipment to improve member communication and support club activities, benefiting more than 150 people each week.

SCOTLAND

Maslow’s Community

Maslow’s Community is a Glasgow-based charity working with migrants, refugees and residents experiencing poverty, isolation and exclusion. It operates a Community Shop and Hub that more than 2,250 households rely on each year for practical support. It has been gifted two allotment plots. The £3,000 grant would fund tools, raised beds, compost, water equipment and basic storage to run gardening sessions for residents and anyone connected to Maslow’s Community to help strengthen local relationships and create more opportunities for participation.

SOUTH EAST

Fare Divide (Littlehampton Community Fridge)

The Littlehampton Community Fridge runs a local café as well as giving residents access to free surplus food. For the volunteers, this can be physically demanding, involving lifting, carrying, bending and moving of stock every week. The £3,000 grant would fund equipment such as a scissor lift table, crate dollies, platform steps and better shelving to improve safety and make daily tasks far easier. This would not only help the project run more effectively but also show the volunteers that their wellbeing matters too.

South East Fare Divide CIC Littlehampton Community Fridge

SOUTH WEST

Torquay United Community Sports Trust

The trust provides weekly sports and activity opportunities, including Walking Football sessions for men and women aged 40+, along with dedicated disabled adult and junior activity groups. These sessions help improve physical health, mental wellbeing, confidence, social connection, and reduce isolation. The £3,000 grant would purchase essential sports equipment, such as specialist footballs, portable goals, training equipment, disability-inclusive sports aids, bibs, cones, and agility equipment to expand and improve the quality, accessibility and safety of the sessions.

WALES

The Pinc Project

The Pinc Project is a community-led initiative dedicated to reducing loneliness, social isolation, and barriers to participation among local people with autism, learning disabilities, mental health conditions, and other complex needs. The £3,000 grant would be used to create a wellbeing hub that is welcoming and safe, including a sensory zone, gaming and TV area, and tables and chairs for arts and crafts. This would provide a space for people learn independent living skills and increase confidence, while making new friendships.

WEST MIDLANDS

Armada Football Club

Armada FC runs a community food bank and inclusive activity programme in Birmingham, supporting individuals and families experiencing food insecurity and social isolation. It offers accessible football and wellbeing activities, creating a supportive environment that improves both physical and mental health. The £3,000 grant would fund vital equipment, including storage, food handling resources, and distribution materials, to help expand capacity and deliver support more efficiently and safely.

YORKSHIRE & HUMBER

Spokey Dokey Badge Club

The Spokey Dokey Badge Club is launching Pedal Pals Club, an inclusive after-school cycling hub in York for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). Pedal Pals Club will offer children a place to experience freedom, joy, and independence – building friendships, learning skills, and feeling truly included in their community. The £3,000 grant would be used to purchase starter adapted bikes, making it possible for children of all abilities to take part in regular, supported cycling sessions.

Competition Terms and Conditions

The promoter of the Community Care Fund is Caremark Limited (“Caremark”).

The competition is open to UK-based community groups, charities, not-for-profit organisations, schools, pre-schools, and community-run or local authority–run projects.
Individuals submitting an application must be UK residents aged 18 or over and may apply on behalf of an eligible community project.
Applications must relate to a project that delivers a clear benefit to the local community.
Employees of Caremark, Caremark franchise owners, their immediate families, and anyone professionally connected with the competition are not eligible to enter.

Online: form on our website

Email: caremark@pmwcom.co.uk

Post:

Caremark’s Community Care Fund
C/o PMW Communications
Stane Court
Stane Street
Billingshurst
West Sussex
RH14 9HP

Each application must include:

Name and contact details of the individual (aged 18+) responsible for the project.
Name of the community group, local charity or not-for-profit organisation (e.g. school, community-run group or local authority).
UK region the application relates to: Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, North East, North West, Yorkshire and The Humber, East Midlands, West Midlands, East of England, London (including Greater London), South East or South West.
A short written statement including a short description of the project explaining how you would utilise the £3,000 grant and how it would benefit the community.
At least one photograph showing what the funding is needed for (e.g. a space, building, equipment or area requiring improvement).
All information submitted must be accurate, truthful and written by the applicant.

Photographs must:

Be original and owned by the entrant.
Not infringe third-party rights.
Not include identifiable individuals unless appropriate consent has been obtained.

The deadline for entries is 31st May 2026. No entries received after this time will be considered.

Shortlisting:

A judging panel at Caremark head office will review all eligible entries.
One finalist will be shortlisted from each of the 12 UK regions listed above.
Submission of an entry does not guarantee selection as a finalist.
The judging panel’s decision is final.

Public vote:

The 12 shortlisted projects will be announced on Caremark’s website and social media channels.
Public voting will be conducted on Caremark’s social media platforms, and this will determine the winners of the Community Care Fund.
Voting will open shortly after the shortlist announcement and close at 9am on 1^st September 2026.
Caremark reserves the right to monitor voting activity and to disqualify votes or entries where fraudulent, automated or unfair voting is suspected.
Three overall winners will be announced shortly after the conclusion of public voting. Caremark will notify the winners via the contact details provided during entry.
The decision of the judges and public vote is final. No correspondence will be entered into regarding the outcome of the competition.

Three winning projects will receive a grant of £3,000 each.
The prizes will only be paid into an organisational/registered not-for-profit bank account (e.g. charity, community group, school or club account). Payments to personal bank accounts will not be permitted.
After the winners have been confirmed, the prizes will be fulfilled subject to the provision of valid banking details.
The winners may be required to provide proof of organisational bank account ownership, such as a recent bank statement or official documentation, before payment is released.
Caremark may request photographic evidence showing how the grants were used after the payment has been made, which can be used for marketing purposes.
Prizes are non-transferable and must be used solely for the project described in the winning application.

Personal data supplied will be used solely for the administration of the competition and related publicity.
Caremark will handle all personal information in accordance with applicable data protection laws.

By entering the competition, participants grant Caremark a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to use, reproduce, and display the submitted entries, project names, regions and related images or updates for promotional purposes, including but not limited to social media, website content and printed materials.
Projects involving children or vulnerable individuals must comply with all relevant safeguarding and consent requirements.
Caremark reserves the right to disqualify entries that are inappropriate, offensive or do not meet the submission guidelines or these Terms and Conditions.
Caremark reserves the right to modify, suspend or cancel the competition in the event of unforeseen circumstances.
If any of the winning projects are unable to proceed as described, Caremark reserves the right to withdraw the prize and award it to an alternative shortlisted project.
By submitting an entry, applicants confirm they have read and agree to be bound by these Terms and Conditions.

For any questions or further information, please contact PMW Communications, who are managing the competition on behalf of Caremark: caremark@pmwcom.co.uk or call 01403 783400.