The Community Event Fund is now closed.
What is Community events funding?
This is a grant scheme that’s available to groups throughout the city, offering support for large scale celebrations, development of existing events and support for sustainable practices.
We aim to support events that reflect the cultural aspects of our city and celebrate diversity, enhance Manchester’s global reputation and make the city a better place to live in.
Applications are invited from fully constituted groups that run on a not-for-profit basis. Your event should reach out to all of the community and you'll need to show how the funding can support city-wide social and economic benefits beyond your neighbourhood.
The fund is available to large scale events (e.g. at least 5,000 attendees/participants) so we’d expect applicants to demonstrate a track record in event delivery and community engagement on such a scale, and demonstrate the citywide impact from any previous events.
As an example, these community events have previously received funding:
- Caribbean Carnival of Manchester
- Chinese New Year
- The Irish Festival Parade
- Manchester Mega Mela
- St Georges Day
Funding for smaller events with a more localised focus may be available through the Neighbourhood Investment Fund, We Love MCR Fund, National Lottery and the Arts Council.
Making your event sustainable:
Manchester has a target to be a Zero Carbon city by 2038 at the latest. In line with this, we want any events we fund (or host) to be as sustainable as possible. Our Sustainable Event Guides give checklists for event organisers, suppliers, service providers and venues on how to improve the sustainability of events. The Sustainable Event Guide should be used to help plan your event.
At the point of application, we ask you to commit to supplying further information about the measures you will take to reduce your event’s carbon footprint in the areas of Energy, Travel, Waste, Food and Drink and Water.
Further details will be requested from you once your application has been processed.
Application notes:
- Funding is generally available for up to 20% of the total event cost.
- Grants are available up to £20,000 per annum.
- The activity should take place between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026.
- The deadline for submission is 3 February 2025.
- Please see our terms and conditions
- Check your eligibility