Charities in Wales who team up for a dream project could get up to £1,000,000 to make their idea a reality, thanks to a new funding pot now open for applications.

The Postcode Dream Trust, which is in its eighth year and is supported by players of People’s Postcode Lottery, is making £3,000,000 available for three ground-breaking projects in 2019.

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The Dream Trust funded the ‘Building our Dreams’ project, in the Gower Peninsula, Swansea in 2016. It was led by Valley Kids, an innovative community development initiative and supported by the Down to Earth Project, a social enterprise that specialises in working with disadvantaged and vulnerable groups through sustainable construction and land use.

The partnership’s ‘Building our Dreams’ project engaged the most vulnerable and disadvantaged young people in South Wales. It looked to help them build their own land mark residential center using the most sustainable building methods available. While taking part in the build the young people involved were able work towards qualifications.

Stage one of the online application process has now opened and will close on 31 August, 2018. The successful projects will be announced in January next year.

Joe Ray, People’s Postcode Lottery’s Social Investment & Innovation Advisor, has some good advice for those looking to apply. He said:

“We are looking for truly creative collaborations that come up with solutions to particular challenges.

“As part of the application process, we want to know how charities will work together and who will benefit from their project.

“This really is a fantastic opportunity for charities to team up and do something incredible for communities across Scotland, England and Wales.”

Mark McKenna, co-founder, Down to Earth, said: “The Dream Fund has enabled a dream to come true – a world where young people are supported and trusted to build something spectacular with their own hands, creating something which will benefit thousands of young people long into the future.”

Welsh charities are urged to apply for funding targeting the following five key themes; changing lives through early intervention, ending loneliness and social isolation, protecting Britain’s biodiversity, sustainable systems change or transforming society through sport.

Not-for-profit organisations are encouraged to apply, but the lead for the project must be a registered charity.

For more information, please visit www.postcodedreamtrust.org.uk