If you are a grassroots community group based in Shepton Mallet, grants are available up to the value of £2,500 from the Somerset Fund.

Based at the Bath and West Showground, near Shepton Mallet, Somerset Community Foundation (SCF) manages the fund and is encouraging applications from smaller charities and community groups that run on less than £100,000 per year.

The grants will be unrestricted, which means they can be used to pay for ongoing running costs, also known as core costs.

Applications to the fund through SCF's website can be made from now until the deadline, which is Friday October 16.

Laura Blake, development director at SCF, said: "We created the Somerset Fund to bring local businesses and families together to support small, local charities.

"The fund offers a simple and rewarding way to give to good causes, with all donations matched by 50 per cent thanks to funding from Somerset County Council.

"We're hugely grateful to the local businesses and families who have chosen to give through the Somerset Fund so far.

"Thanks to our generous donors, since its launch in 2018, the Somerset Fund has already supported almost 30 good causes in the county, and awarded almost £27,000 in grants to local grassroots charities."

The Somerset Fund will support local people of all ages and a wide range of causes, including:

• giving the best start in life to the most disadvantaged children
• growing the life skills of young people
• improving the mental health of people of all ages
• increasing opportunities for better physical health
• supporting people with disabilities and life-limiting illnesses, and their carers
• combatting loneliness and isolation

Leader of Somerset County Council David Fothergill said: "The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the wonderful work that grassroots charities and community groups do every day.

"Support is vital and donations will reach charities and groups who would otherwise struggle to raise funds of their own and for whom small grants make a huge difference.

"We know that businesses receive huge numbers of appeals from charities every year, and that they sadly can't support every request.

"By donating directly to the Somerset Fund, businesses can be assured their donation is benefitting a wide range of charities and community groups and providing essential support in these challenging times. We are so grateful to those who have donated."

If you run a business and would like to find out more about giving through the Somerset Fund visit: https://www.somersetcf.org.uk/tsf, call Laura Blake on the number below, or e-mail: [email protected].

If you are involved in a local, grassroots community project and would like to find out more about how to apply for funding, you can visit: www.somersetcf.org.uk/somersetfund or call Somerset Community Foundation on: 01749 344949.

Any group wishing to apply for funding from the Somerset Coronavirus Appeal can visit the SCF website where they can find guidance on how to make an application: www.somersetcf.org.uk/coronavirus

SCF is passionate about doing as much as possible to support our communities, and is encouraging local people, businesses, charitable trusts and organisations who feel able to donate to the Somerset Coronavirus Appeal to visit the SCF website: www.somersetcf.org.uk/appeal or, if that isn't possible, call 01749 344949.

Community foundations are local champions, connecting people and organisations that want to improve their communities.

They invest in local people and organisations tackling some of the biggest issues facing communities today and supporting some of society's most disadvantaged people.

They provide help and advice to those who want to give at the heart of their communities, both now and in the long-term, by matching donors to important local causes.