| |
The Gloucestershire Community Foundation has a regular programme of grant giving, both from the Foundation’s invested income and from a variety of small trust or special interest funds, such as the High Sheriff’s Fund.
In their autumn 2009 review, Trustees agreed an additional grant programme – the Sustainability Grant - to respond to the needs of voluntary groups faced with unprecedented funding constraints. The Foundation is therefore running 3 grants programmes in 2012:
- Main Grants
- Sustainability Grants
- Small Grants
Sustainability Grant
To enable hitherto successful medium to small voluntary groups to focus on maintaining their core work whilst:
- Reviewing their operations and exploring opportunities for collaborative working, or mergers, offering reduced costs through shared staffing or economies of scale, AND/OR :
- Developing new fund-raising / financial strategies.
A Sustainability Grant is a one off contribution to core costs and applications must justify the request by explaining how a grant would help them to become sustainable in the long term.
Application is a two-part process, with an initial Expression of Interest form (which can be submitted at any time) leading, where appropriate, to specific invitation to submit a full application.
Main Grant
The Main Grant will continue to run with its focus on new activity / project additionality that addresses disadvantage for people living in Gloucestershire.
Bids will be considered for grants of between £1000 and £10,000. However, it is only in exceptional circumstances that a grant in excess of £5000 will be awarded; the average Main Grant award will be £4000/£5000.
Main Grant and Sustainability Grant application deadlines:
- 1) February 2012 meeting –
Application deadline: 20 January 2012
- 2) MAy 2012 meeting –
Application deadline: 11 May 2012
- 3) November 2012 meeting –
Application deadline: 26 September 2012
Small Grants
Small Grants programme in 2012 will be managed as a fast track process. Applications can be submitted at any time and will generally be considered within two weeks. Bids of between £250 and £1000 will be considered.
|
|
Eligibility criteria
Detailed criteria and the assessment process are explained in the Foundation’s “Grant Giving Policy and Guidelines 2012’, which should be read before any application is submitted. The following minimal information is extracted from the Guidelines document: The Community Foundation’s mission is to “help overcome disadvantage in Gloucestershire’ and all applications will need to demonstrate a contribution to this objective.
You will also need to show that:-
- You are a registered Charity, Social Enterprise* or a voluntary or community group with a constitution, whose aims contribute to the alleviation of disadvantage in Gloucestershire.
- Your organisation/group is well managed and has recent, approved, accounts that can be made available to the Foundation.
- The activity for which you are making the bid is well planned and achievable within your stated timescale.
- Your grant is primarily for the benefit of Gloucestershire people.
* Social Enterprise is defined by Government as: “an organisation with primarily social objectives whose surpluses are principally reinvested for that purpose in the business or community, rather than being driven by the need to maximise profits for shareholders and owners.“
Exclusions
The Trustees will not consider bids that are:
- For individuals, animal welfare, party political activities, endowment funding, medical matters or financial advice (as distinct from debt advice or counselling services).
- Grants to local branches of national charities, unless there is clear evidence of a particular local need, together with local management and, preferably, own bank account.
- Grants to large local charities (eg those with £500,000+ unrestricted reserves).
- General appeals or asking for a contribution to a much larger ‘pot of money’.
- Cannot show any evidence of raising other funds for costly projects or activities.
- For core organisational costs, (ie salaries, rent, lighting etc.) but will consider these costs as part of a specific new project or activity – or within a Sustainability Grant application.
- Sport projects with no community or charitable element.
- Seeking retrospective funding - ie for an activity/work that has taken place before funding is formally approved.
- Major building projects
- For trips abroad
- Organisations that have been in receipt of a Foundation grant should not re-apply for at least two years unless they have been specifically asked to do so.
How to apply
The current application forms and the Foundation’s Grant Giving Policy and Guidelines for these three grant programmes can be obtained by contacting Jane Jarman, Grants Development Manager, on 01452 656386 or at Gail.mattocks@edf-energy.com. Please note that, whilst these documents can be e-mailed to applicants, they cannot be downloaded online from this website.
The Community Foundation staff will be pleased to discuss any project application with you.
<< BACK TO RECEIVING |
|
