Show Me The Money! Grants & Funding - Practical Tips & Support

Revised: February 2026

Hello wonderful innovators,

This month’s featured headline has to be the TechFirst initiative — a flagship £187m government programme building a pipeline of UK tech talent from school age right through to PhD level. If you’re thinking long-term about skills, recruitment, training, or positioning your organisation in the tech economy, this is one to understand and share widely.

If you’re a micro-enterprise based in the West Midlands and you want both support and a little pot of cash to move something forward, the Social Economy Growth Programme (with a £1,000 grant) is a standout — especially for early-stage organisations, delivered by Aston Centre for Enterprise & Entrepreneurship.

Across the newsletter you’ll see place-making, frontline workforce development, climate action, children & families, and heritage restoration — alongside several national programmes offering capital, capacity-building and R&D support.

This Month’s Superheroes:

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This Month’s Super(s)heroes: a special shout-out to some of the Social Economy Drive pioneers we celebrated at the Winners Lunch hosted by NatWest at their Birmingham Accelerator — Rebecca Stone (Jericho), Daina Anderson Mpunzi (Open Lens Media), Dr Mona (Purple Mind Community Service), Katie Washburne (Ordinary Magic), Dr Birgit Kehrer (ChangeKitchen CIC), and Kloe Avon (Redihomes). Honoured to be involved in iSE work that recognises great people doing great things.

And don’t miss the West Midlands Business Festival running for two full weeks from 2–13 February 2026 — loads of free events, connections and practical learning. 

If someone you know isn’t receiving the newsletter, ask them to check junk folders — sometimes we arrive a little too enthusiastically.

Signup to receive this free Show Me The Money newsletter every month to your inbox:

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If you or anyone you know has signed up to this newsletter & are not receiving it, check your junk folder, it may have snuck in there. 

Stay amazing, stay courageous

Drew

Drew Currie

Founder, hibretOne CIC

Interim CEO, initiative for Social Entrepreneurs (iSE)

Top Tips for New Subscribers:

●      If a grant or programme is not in your region, many funds listed are for the W Midlands. Google search the keywords within the grant, as the programme may be running in your area, under a different name.

●      Use AI, or speed read till you find something of interest, as some of the grants have a short window for applications & you may miss out.

Sign-up to this Show Me The Money newsletter, or share with anyone needing support in these times of opportunity & change:

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Big Thank You to these supporters….

E&OE

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•     Items added in the order I found out about them, not importance.