Plymouth VCSE (POP+)

Plymouth VCSE (POP+), founded in June 2016 as a registered charity, serves as Plymouth’s infrastructure body for the voluntary, community, and social enterprise (VCSE) sector. Its mission is to strengthen, connect, and represent grassroots organisations, building their capacity, resilience, and voice to drive collaborative action and system change for social justice, particularly in deprived and excluded communities. Guided by values of participation, collaboration, openness, equity, and learning, POP+ champions relational, low-barrier funding via lotteries and participatory panels, rejecting competitive processes and heavy reporting in favour of trusting community knowledge and shared decision-making.

POP+ funds initiatives tackling social exclusion, disadvantage, wellbeing, community resilience, social justice, and environmental improvements, prioritising minoritised communities, young people, health challenges, and those furthest from power. Key programmes include the ‘250-a-POP’ micro-grant for unexpected costs like equipment or training, and ‘POP Collectives’ for collaborative projects such as community kitchens, mental health support, refugee aid, or climate arts—also offering peer networking, mentoring, capacity building, seed funding, and systems-change work.

Eligible applicants are Plymouth-based community groups and social enterprises with income under £100,000 (prioritising micro/volunteer-led ones); ‘250-a-POP’ requires POP+ membership. Applications via simple online forms are accepted rolling, with monthly lotteries (four £250 grants) for micro-funds and continuous participatory assessments (up to £5,000) for collectives, decisions in 2-6 weeks. No religious restrictions apply. Distinctively, POP+ amplifies local voices in strategic partnerships, nurturing community-led ecosystems over mainstream philanthropy, with unrestricted project funding focused on equity and rapid local impact.