Applications closed on 14 October 2026.

Many funders run the same grant every year, so check the funder’s site for a new round. The details below are what the funder published when it was open.

Ofcom (on behalf of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

Community Radio Fund

Government funding, administered by Ofcom for DCMS, for Ofcom-licensed community radio stations only. The Sustainability Stream funds core running costs through posts or projects (such as station management, fundraising, administration, community outreach and volunteer support), up to £100,000 per grant. Multi-year awards of up to three years are available in 2026-27. A new Equipment Stream gives up to £2,000 for studio, transmission and accessibility equipment to analogue stations that have been on air for 10 years or more. The 2026-27 fund totals £904,644 in a single round, which closes at 5pm on 14 October 2026.

Check the funder’s site

Open grants like this

Grants you can apply for now, for the same kind of work or place.

You could get: Up to £100,000
Deadline: Closed; the deadline has passed
Effort: Heavy; budgets, references, often several stages

Who can apply

Only the entity that holds an Ofcom community radio licence: AM/FM analogue community radio stations, or C-DSP stations licensed under the Small-scale Radio Multiplex and Community Digital Radio Order 2019
The station must be broadcasting on the date of application and expected to keep broadcasting throughout the grant period; online-only services do not count
Analogue licences need at least 15 months left from the closing date, or an extension application submitted by then
The Equipment Stream is only for analogue (FM/AM) services that have been on air for 10 years or more, cumulatively, when the round opens
Guernsey-licensed stations are not eligible
Licensees with several licences make one application
Grants are Minimal Financial Assistance subsidies, so the licensee must confirm it will not go over £315,000 in subsidies across this and the previous two financial years
Applicants must nominate a Designated Responsible Officer and hold a specified bank account in the licensee's name
The Panel may consider compliance with licence conditions and earlier grant agreements over the last five years
Previous grant holders must attach their final or interim grant report and, for past Equipment grants, evidence the equipment has been kept
Multi-year grant holders cannot reapply to the same stream during their grant period

What it funds

Sustainability Stream (up to £100,000 per grant): the core costs of running Ofcom-licensed community radio stations, typically through posts or projects that promote financial stability and long-term sustainability. These cover:

Station management
Fundraising (e.g. grants, commercial funding)
Administration
Financial management and reporting
Community outreach
Volunteer organisation and support
Grants can be one-off (up to 14 months), joint bids by two or more licensees (e.g. a shared post, up to 14 months), or multi-year bids of up to 3 years in the 2026-27 round (limited funding, needs full justification)
Equipment Stream (up to £2,000 per station per round, one-off): studio and transmission equipment, including accessibility improvements. Examples are:
Mixing desks
Video/audio recording equipment
Antenna equipment
Feeder cables
Playout software
Microphones and headphones
Server capacity
Compression/recording equipment
Equipment that helps volunteers and staff with accessibility needs

Stations may apply to both streams.

What it will not fund

Capital expenditure (Sustainability Stream)
Vehicle costs
Volunteer expenses
Building repairs, construction or maintenance
Programming or marketing costs
Utility bills
Rent and/or mortgage payments
Licence fees or copyright fees (such as PPL/PRS or software fees)
Fees payable to Ofcom, including application and licence fees
Retrospective grants (expenditure already incurred)
Costs of launching a radio station, including a new C-DSP service
Costs relating to another licence type held by the licensee (e.g. a small-scale digital radio multiplex)
Repayment of loans
Company directors' salaries or costs
Grant management or administration fees
Cost of a technical consultant
Costs reimbursed or to be reimbursed by other public authorities or the private sector
Interest payments (including service charges on finance leases)
Statutory fines, criminal fines or penalties
Corporation taxes (Equipment Stream)
Online-only services (not counted as broadcasting)
Stations licensed under the Community Radio (Guernsey) Order 2013
Applications relating to DSP licences that are not C-DSP licences

How to apply

Read the Guidance Notes (revised 4 September 2026) and the Panel's statements on previous rounds, which list past grants and average awards
Download the most recent application form from the Ofcom Community Radio Fund page (English or Welsh). Applications on an outdated form are rejected.
Complete the form: contacts, a person authorised to sign the grant agreement and a Designated Responsible Officer; company and licence details; the stream(s) and amounts; station background, income and expenditure, previous grants, compliance history (and Welsh-language effects for stations in Wales); then the Sustainability section (purpose, multi-year justification, sustainability case, costings) and/or the Equipment section (items with three quotes each, value for money, maintenance)
Sign the declaration and complete the checklist of mandatory documents
Email the form and supporting documents in Word, RTF or Excel format (not PDF) to communityradiofund@ofcom.org.uk by 5pm on Wednesday 14 October 2026
If successful, sign the grant agreement (usually through Adobe Sign), the DRO declaration and the MFA declaration, and give your specified bank account details. The grant is then paid by BACS; multi-year awards are paid in instalments after interim reports are approved.
Report as required: Equipment Stream, proof of purchase within four weeks of the end of the expenditure period (equipment must be bought within three months and kept for five years); Sustainability Stream, interim and final reports; plus a non-confidential final report for publication

Emails cannot include html attachments or be larger than 10MB; send supporting documents in separate emails if needed. If you cannot apply by email, contact Ofcom at least a week before the deadline.

No new information can be added after the deadline unless Ofcom asks for it. Contact the team (0207 981 3002, leave a voicemail) before deadline day if you have problems.

Have ready

Completed application form (latest version), signed and dated declaration
Latest company annual accounts/reports (or equivalent)
Operating budget
Final grant report from a previous Fund award, or interim report if still within the expenditure period (if applicable)
Evidence of retention of equipment from a previous Equipment Stream grant (if applicable)
Evidence of a licence extension application if under 15 months remain on the analogue licence (if applicable)
Sustainability Stream: budget showing a detailed breakdown of funds requested
Sustainability Stream: job description(s)/person specification(s) and workplan (if applicable)
Sustainability Stream: breakdown of costs for each year of a multi-year bid (if applicable)
Equipment Stream: evidence of three quotes for each item, obtained no more than one month before applying

For joint applications, both licensees must supply the mandatory documents. Documents should be in Word, RTF or Excel format rather than PDF.