How to apply for a Supporting Communities Grant

Applications for this grant are open until 31 October

Before you apply, please read through our guidance below, so you can be familiar with what is needed to help the application process go smoothly.

To help you prepare your application, you can see the application questions on our application help page.

How to apply for a grant

1. Check that your proposal meets the criteria below and that you are eligible to apply
2. Get confirmed costs to support the amount of grant you are requesting. This can be a quote from a supplier, or a cost taken from a website or catalogue, but make sure you include any VAT payable (unless your organisation is VAT registered, in which case you should not include any VAT you will be able to recover) and associated costs such as delivery or installation
3. To apply for ward funding, contact your ward councillors to explain your idea and find out whether they think it is appropriate for funding and if they have sufficient budget to support your request. Councillors will need to see a clear benefit to residents in their ward before agreeing to support an application so applicants should consider where they deliver services, or where people travel from to access their services when deciding which ward councillors to approach 
4. If your application is for a borough-wide project, you can apply without ward councillor support

You can check the different ward areas and the relevant contact details for ward councillors on our ward and polling stations page.

If the relevant ward councillors have already allocated all of their annual funding, you may be asked to apply again next year. 

If you need help with your application, you can ask a ward councillor for help or contact us using the details below.

You will be notified when your application and supporting documents have been received and told when a decision will be made, which will be within six weeks of the round's closing date. You may be asked to provide other documentation or information.   

Do not make any purchases unless you have received a formal grant agreement letter from us. 

Who can apply for funding

Any not-for-profit organisation that represents or works with a specific community or group of people within Rushmoor can apply. It will need its own bank account in the organisation’s name and be able to demonstrate that it is an organised group with stated objectives that are for the benefit of the community and has an agreed way of working. This could be demonstrated by a constitution, statement of purpose or an annual report. This document should be recent (or recently reviewed).

This includes: 

• Voluntary or community groups that represent a specific location or group of people 
• Not-for-profit organisations such as registered charities, Charitable Incorporated Organisations, Community Interest Companies, uniformed youth groups and sports clubs 
• Schools may apply if clear and sufficient benefit to the wider community is demonstrated. The wider community relates to those other than the students, parents/guardians, governors and staff. Funding cannot be used to supplement the curriculum or other statutory duties or to improve school facilities or provide equipment that will primarily be for the use of the school and not the wider community 
• Churches providing there is a clear benefit to the wider community other than the usual church congregation
• You cannot apply for these grants if you are an individual, for-profit-organisation, political party or organisation formed to campaign on a single issue

The grants are discretionary, and subject to the availability of funds. Being an eligible organisation does not give any automatic entitlement to a grant.

Where there is no external sponsoring organisation, ward councillors may apply for funding to help them achieve their local objectives.

What you can apply for

• The grant can be used for the purchase of items and any costs associated with their initial set up and installation or a one-off event. The money cannot be used to cover an organisation's core running or operating costs and funding will not be given to support the same item, project, event or activity year on year
• Your project must match at least one of the priorities from our Supporting Communities Strategy:
  • Connect communities
  • Improve physical or mental health
  • Provide aspirations for young people and increase their resilience
  • Help with economic hardship
  • Ease cost of living pressures
• You will need to explain how the funding will make a difference to people’s lives and help bring communities together. If what you plan to use the money for relates to one-off or time limited activities, you will also need to demonstrate an ongoing and specific community benefit
• You can apply for between £100 and £1,000 and this must be sufficient to cover the full cost of the item(s) or event unless you can show that you have other funds in place to cover the difference. We will not accept applications for contributions towards a larger fundraising total.
• As part of the application process, applicants will need to provide quotes to evidence costs that are of a reasonable value. These will be held digitally along with all documentation submitted
• You must make sure that any necessary permissions related to the purchase, installation, use and storage of the item(s) are obtained to carry out the funded work including such things as planning consents, or landowner’s approval before making the application. These must be in writing and submitted with other supporting documents. You must be able to maintain the funded item(s) without relying on future grants and any future maintenance, repair, renewal or replacement will be the responsibility of the organisation
• Any costs incurred prior to the date of the formal grant agreement will not be funded
• You must acknowledge the council’s support if a grant is provided and we will tell you how to do this
• We will not fund anything that contradicts the Council’s Climate Change agenda or anything with a negative environmental impact

We don’t want to be prescriptive about what the grants can be used for, as there are likely to be many different ideas, but we would expect to fund things like purchasing equipment or tools for community groups or activities to support health and wellbeing and aspirations for young people. We could also fund hiring equipment and other costs related to a community engagement activity such as a PA system or interpreter, or costs linked to a programme of activities or a one-off event such as venue hire or sessional workers (not employed staff) where a clear ongoing community benefit is demonstrated in the application.

What happens if a grant is awarded? 

You will be notified by email if we award you a grant. You will need to accept the terms and conditions as set out in the grant agreement which will be emailed to you separately and provide your organisation's bank details.

We will make the payment once you have signed the grant agreement and provided BACS details. You will then have up to 6 months to spend the grant and report back to us on the impact or difference the item(s) or event has made, using a form we will provide. We will ask to see photos of the purchased items in place/use and confirmation that council support has been acknowledged. 

We expect our grant funded partners to be open and inclusive to all people within their communities. The grant funded items should reflect this, and we welcome applications to support different members of the community including children and young people, families, older people, members of the LGBT+ community, refugees and asylum seekers, communities experiencing racial inequity and disabled people. Please consider this when providing your monitoring feedback and explain how you target and engage with the wider community to ensure maximum benefit of your grant funded item/event.

All grants will be published on this website. 

Help for your project

If your project involves young people aged between 1 and 25 years, Community Matters Partnership (CMPP) may be able to provide volunteers to help carry out your project. CMPP's Community Action Days are aimed at supporting local schools, youth groups, charities, colleges and not-for-profit organisations that work with young people in and around Rushmoor.

For more information or for an informal chat, please email hello@cmpp.org.uk or register your interest on the CMPP Community Action Day website.

Another source of funding 

Rushmoor Community Lottery is an alternative way of regular fundraising. For more information visit our Rushmoor Community Lottery page.