Show Me The Money Grants and Funding - June 2026
May 29, 2026 1:35 pm
Show Me The Money! Grants & Funding - Practical Tips & Support
Revised: June 2026
Hello brave innovators,
Tech Nation NextWave pitch final was off the hook last month! 20 companies 80% non-London based pitched. 7 were awarded £2.25m in investment! 1 in every 3 unicorns in the UK have attended a Tech Nation programme. If you’re a tech founder you know what to do!
June is still the month for pitching. FounderCatalyst and FundMyPitch take FirstLook 2026 is running regional roadshows in Bristol, Belfast, Birmingham, Newcastle and Glasgow with a guaranteed £50,000 investment. The NatWest Accelerator Pitch Live Final is in Oxford on 18th June. And Immerse: Live at Lloyds on 31st July has a £5,000 grant for founders. If you're pitch-ready, there's a stage for you somewhere this month.
I'll be presenting a Show Me The Money session at the Black Business Forum in Birmingham on 20th June. The SMTM initiative has helped founders access over £8m in grants and over £60m in venture capital. I'm currently on a run, 7 of my last 9 grant applications have been successful, the last one in April was for £210k! I'll share tips and tricks of how you can start and scale your business without winning any grants. You just need to know where the help is. Limited free passes available, use code BBF26CUR at checkout.
Featured Hero’s & (s)heros from left to right: Steve Rigby - CEO of Rigby Group, one of the UK's largest wholly-owned businesses and among the world's 500 largest family-owned companies. Steve is on a mission to strengthen the UK and West Midlands economy to create more opportunities for everyone. Not sure why he hasn't been Knighted to be honest, he does that much.
Bayo Adelaja - Founder and Chief Executive of Do it Now Now. Delivering social good is in Bayo's blood! Both grandfathers were honoured by the late Queen in the Honours List for their contributions to social service.
Diane Vernon MBE FIEP - Founder and CEO of EmployabilityUK, set up National Employability Week. Dedicated to creating equitable opportunities for young people across the UK through social mobility.
Charlie Blakemore - Award-winning business leader, named CEO of the Year at the West Midlands Business of the Year Awards. In a brief conversation with Steve Rigby and myself, Charlie said something that stuck years later. To paraphrase: ‘We're all business leaders as business owners. We can't leave it to governments or councils to make a change. We've got to do it!’
Across this month's edition there's strong funding for women's organisations, young entrepreneurs, heritage, farming innovation and community spaces. Rosa's Stand with Us Fund closes 22 June with grants of up to £28,000 for organisations addressing male violence against women and girls. The Young Women in Mind Fund is offering £200,000 to £500,000 for mental health support, also closing 22 June. And Reed has launched a fund giving £20,000 each to young entrepreneurs aged 18 to 26. Don't sit on these.
When applying for grants, a massive tick box is measuring your social or economic impact. Pro Bono Economics are delivering free workshops and selected applicants can access free support from their in-house economists. If you've always wanted to quantify the difference you make but haven't had the resource, this could be the answer.
Featured Grant or Programme: Rosa's Stand with Us Fund - One-year grants of up to £28,000 for women-led organisations delivering frontline services addressing male violence against women and girls. Applications close 22 June 2026.
If someone you know isn’t receiving the newsletter, ask them to check their junk folder — sometimes we arrive a little too enthusiastically. Signup to receive this free Show Me The Money newsletter every month to your inbox:
Stay amazing, stay courageous,
Drew
Founder, hibretOne CIC
Top Tips for New Subscribers:
● If a grant or programme is not in your region, many funds listed are for the W Midlands. AI search the keywords within the grant, as the programme may be running in your area, under a different name.
● Use AI to search this document, as some of the grants have a short applications window.
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