Government departments fund work that helps them to achieve their aims. Direct grant schemes represent a small proportion of central government funding however as most of it is channelled through contracts for public service delivery or through regional or local government. National programmes are often developed around new policy initiatives and tend to be time limited.
Some central Government departments and agencies run funding programmes for the sector and the best place to find out about some of these is through the website governmentfunding.org.uk . You have to register with the site to get at the content - this is free if your annual turnover is less than £500,000 but you have to pay if it is higher.
