Minister for Civil Society Nick Hurd sent an open letter to the voluntary sector last week, setting out the government's objectives for the Big Society. He said: "The Big Society vision is based on the argument that we have given too much power and responsibility to government and have too little to show for it . . . We believe that the country will be stronger if we as citizens have more power and responsibility to improve our own lives, the communities we share and the public services we use."

To further the government’s plans, the Office for Civil Society also opened two new grant programmes last week – Community First for small, local projects and Social Action Fund for larger organisations. It has also started recruiting Community Organisers as part of its flagship Big Society initiative.

Launching these initiatives, Hurd said: "Community Organisers and Community First will allow local people to work together, take control of their lives and create the change they want to see. This is part of a much wider drive to help revive social action and build a bigger, stronger society.”

The £80m Community First fund provides small grants to community groups and local social action projects. A website has been set up to encourage people to set up and join local panels which will decide how the Community First money is spent. £30m will be available for small grants and £50m will be used to match private donations invested in community endowment funds to provide grants into the future.

The Community Development Foundation will be running Community First on behalf of the government. CDF’s chief executive Alison Seabrooke said: “By incentivising people to match funds through time and other contributions, Community First will catalyse community action to make local improvements to neighbourhoods.”

The supermarket chain Asda will provide publicity for the programme and charities can apply for matched funding from the Asda Foundation.

Meanwhile, the £20m Social Action Fund isoffering grants starting at £100,000 and rising to over £1m for charities, businesses and public sector bodies to run social action projects.It will be administered by Social Investment Business, which wants to encourage ambitious applicants that have a matched funding commitment.

Chief executive Jonathan Jenkins said: “We want to hear from people who perhaps run successful volunteering programmes on a small scale and know they could have a much bigger impact with additional funding.  Proposals for projects worth £1m plus are encouraged.”

The Fund is open to proposals relevant to its three main themes:

Social action in the community

Social action inspired by the Olympics and Paralympics legacy

Social action for all ages– projects that motivate people across all generations

Meanwhile, the Office for Civil Society has funded four organisations to research their members' views and experiences of the Big Society. Urban Forum, Voice4Change England, the Women’s Resource Centre and Community Matters will be finding out how voluntary and community groups are reacting to the government's initiative. Urban Forum, for example, has been given £60,000 to carry out research among small community groups in deprived areas.

Damning report says Big Society will fail unless civil service changes