large community capital grant £10,000 – £20,000
We invest in our communities every day, by maintaining homes, building new homes, supporting diverse customers and by funding various activities and projects.
We are giving organisations the opportunity to apply for grant funding between £10,000 – £20,000 to support community investment programmes and to deliver innovative projects that put our customers on a pathway to improving their lives.
We welcome applications for projects that meet one of our key themes:
- Health and wellbeing: improving mental and physical health as well as building the confidence of individuals
- Employability and training: including volunteering and other upskilling activities
- Increasing household income: activities including debt and benefit advice, feeding families and employing people
- A greener, fairer future: by reducing, reusing and recycling
- Tackling inequalities as a result of Covid-19.
Projects must include both capital and revenue elements and a minimum of 30% of beneficiaries need to be a believe housing tenant to satisfy the criteria.
In each community, the key themes may need to be addressed in different ways. We will give priority to those projects and activities which we believe will best achieve our key themes with special consideration being given to those which support the development of sustainable communities and new projects and activities with limited resources.
All projects must be deliverable within, and adhere to, current coronavirus (COVID-19) government guidelines.
The total grant fund available for the 2022/23 round is £120,000, funding a minimum of 6 projects. The grant allocation will be spread equally across central Durham, east Durham and west Durham where believe housing have properties. Please see the list below for the breakdown of our areas.
Each round is likely to be oversubscribed, so please consider all the criteria carefully before applying. It is important that your application demonstrates a Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely (SMART) approach and contains a clear and concise account of your proposal. We have included prompts and examples in the application form to assist you.
If you would like to discuss your project idea before submitting your application, we would welcome the opportunity to talk to you about your project idea. You can contact the Community Investment Team by email: communitygrant@believehousing.co.uk or call us on 0300 1311 999.
what does the large community capital grant support?
Capital
Capital costs can include either new assets or the refurbishment of existing assets. These are expected to have community benefit and to have an expected lifespan of at least 5 years.
Examples include:
- New buildings and repairs/refurbishment to existing buildings
- Outdoor space including play areas, gyms, gardens and allotments
- Assets for community/village halls e.g. PA and audio/visual systems or broadband routers, cabling and installation
- Vehicles
- Artwork for public display/enjoyment.
Revenue
Revenue funding can be used where there is no lasting asset.
Examples include:
- Setting up classes/sessions/activities/events for the community
- Travel costs which are integral to an activity
- Buying equipment for a community-based activity
- Marketing and promotion to increase participation in activities
- On-costs of the project (e.g. staff time, equipment and resources required to deliver the project).
If you are unsure as to whether your proposal includes eligible costs, please contact us to discuss this with us so we can advise prior to submitting your application.
our locations
All projects must be deliverable in either central Durham, east Durham or west Durham where believe housing have properties. Please see the list below for a breakdown.
central Durham areas
Bearpark |
Belmont |
Bowburn |
Brandon |
Brasside |
Carrville |
Claypath |
Coxhoe |
Crossgate |
Croxdale |
Elvet |
Esh Winning |
Framwellgate Moor |
Gilesgate |
Gilesgate Moor |
High Pittington |
Kelloe |
Langley Moor |
Littletown |
Ludworth |
Meadowfield |
Merryoaks |
Nevilles Cross |
New Brancepeth |
New Durham |
Newton Hall |
Pity Me |
Quarrington Hill |
Shadforth |
Sherburn |
Sherburn Hill |
Sherburn Road |
Sherburn Road Estate |
Ushaw Moor |
West Rainton |
Witton Gilbert |
east Durham areas
Blackhall |
Castle Eden |
Dalton-Le-Dale |
Easington |
Easington Colliery |
Haswell |
Hesleden |
Horden |
Hutton Henry |
Milldale |
Murton |
Peterlee |
Seaham |
Seaton |
Shotton |
South Hetton |
Station Town |
Hawthorn |
Thornley |
Trimdon Station |
Wheatley Hill |
Wingate |
|
|
west Durham areas
Billy Row |
Bishop Auckland |
Coundon |
Coundon Grange |
Crook |
Eldon Lane |
Escomb |
Fir Tree |
Frosterley |
Howden-Le-Wear |
Hunwick |
Leeholme |
Middlestone Moor |
Rookhope |
South Church |
St Helens Auckland |
St Johns Chapel |
Stanhope |
Sunnybrow |
Tindale Crescent |
Tow Law |
Wearhead |
West Auckland |
Westgate |
Willington |
Witton-Le-Wear |
Wolsingham |
|
Not all people living in these areas will be believe housing tenants. We aren’t able to provide address lists but if you would like to see a more detailed breakdown of street names prior to application please request this by emailing: communitygrant@believehousing.co.uk
who can apply?
We welcome applications from:
- Registered and exempt charities
- Community groups
- Schools
- Social enterprises
- Voluntary groups
- Community interest companies.
- Town, parish or community councils
- Faith groups/venues.
who can't apply?
Unfortunately, we are unable to accept applications from:
- Individuals
- Party political groups
- Those whose objectives and ethos do not meet believe housing’s charitable objectives.
what information is needed to make a large grant application?
To help you prepare to make a large grant application please consider some of the following questions:
- What are you wanting to do, where and when will it happen and who will take part?
- How do you know there is a need for your project? Do you already have a waiting list of people or do you have more demand for your service? Have you found a gap in services for the people you support? Have people come to you asking for this support? Do you work with other organisations who will direct people towards your activity? How do you know people will access your project?
- How will you ensure at least 30% of your beneficiaries are believe customers?
- What are your project milestones? These are the key stages in your project and could be planning, marketing and publicity, purchase of resources, delivery of events, recruitment of volunteers etc.
- What are your targets? How many people will benefit from your activities? Targets should be specific and outline how often an activity takes place – for example, we will deliver weekly craft activities over 40 weeks, 25 people will attend overall with an expected average weekly attendance of 10-12 people.
- What are the outcomes of your project? These are the difference your project will make in the long term. Do your outcomes reflect our priority themes?
- What are your project costs? These should be detailed and give us an idea of how you have calculated these costs. For example, staff costs should show the hourly rate for the member of staff and the number of hours they will be working.
- What is the long-term impact of your project? If it is to continue beyond our funding period, how will this happen?
- How could believe staff volunteers support your project?
your project timescales
It is expected that projects would last between 6 – 12 months. Priority will be given to projects that are sustainable and have long-lasting impact.
Projects need to start within a month of receiving the first payment instalment, this can include planning time.
You need to identify any required permissions, for example, building regulations, leaseholder permission, planning permission, prior to submitting your application.
is there anything that the grant wouldn't support
- Items that are purchased on behalf of another organisation
- Applications to develop the financial reserves of the organisation
- Ongoing running costs of an organisation
- Religious, party political or lobbying activities (non-religious and multi-faith activities that are open to all may be funded)
- Loans or debt repayments
- Projects/activities for personal profit.
how much funding can I apply for?
A total fund of £120,000 is being made available for projects to start delivery in 2022/23. Organisations can apply for grants of between £10,000 – £20,000.
The grant allocation will be spread equally between central, east, and west areas of County Durham where believe housing have properties. Please see the locations list above for the breakdown of areas.
how are grant awards decided?
Once you have submitted your application, we will contact you to acknowledge receipt of this application within five working days.
Your application will then be reviewed and be part of a shortlisting process. We may contact you if any additional information is required.
If your application is shortlist, this will then go to a grant panel for a decision in June 2022.
If shortlisted, we will invite you to attend the grant panel for a 10-minute time slot – 5 minutes to talk about your project and an additional 5 minutes to answer any questions the grant panel may have regarding your application. The grant panel will take place virtually via Teams and you will be advised of your time slot one week prior to the grant panel taking place.
If shortlisted and you are unable to attend the panel, we can accept a 5-minute video about the project you are applying for.
Once a decision has been made, we will then contact you to advise you of the outcome. We aim to inform your of a decision within eight weeks of the grant closing date.
You may be asked to provide additional information prior to a final decision being made.
if I'm successful, what happens next?
If your application is successful, we will contact you to agree the payment schedule and reporting dates. You will need to provide us with:
- a copy of the organisation’s bank statement dated within the last 3 months
- relevant paying in bank details (Name of bank, account name, sort code, account number and business address)
- policies and procedures that will support your project. For example; safeguarding, equality and diversity, health and safety etc
- a copy of your constitution or relevant document.
We may also request quotes for items over £5,000.
Once initial checks have been carried out, you will then receive an agreement letter which is a contract between your organisation and believe housing for the project delivery. We will also discuss the details of publicity and quarterly reporting requirements, these include:
- evidence that the purpose for which the grant was awarded was achieved including a written update detailing progress against targets, milestones and outcomes. It should also include case studies and photos where possible
- records of attendance
- data from participant surveys (the details of the survey will be agreed at your start-up meeting)
- a detailed statement of expenditure including receipts and/or evidence of spend e.g. invoices or staff wages claim form.
Grant funding will be paid via BACS in instalments.
what are the full terms and conditions customers need to be aware of before applying
If believe housing agree to award a grant to help fund your project or activity, then you will be required to agree to the following terms and conditions:
- believe housing’s liability shall be to make a payment of the grant to the organisation in accordance with the Payment Terms, subject to the organisation fulfilling its obligations under these Terms and Conditions. All other liabilities or claims are the responsibility of the organisation receiving the grant.
- All grant funded projects/activities must be carried out under the complete control of the organisation awarded grant funding.
- The signatory of this acceptance letter will have delegated financial power to accept money into the organisation detailed above and can authorise or request payments on behalf of this organisation.
- Organisations must have an up-to-date constitution or similar documentation and their own bank account, with at least two unrelated signatories. Proof of bank details and a copy of the constitution is required before funding can be released.
- It is the applicant’s responsibility to make sure all required insurance and permissions are in place for any projects awarded.
- In using the grant your organisation should at all times:
- conform to the principles of inclusion and must comply with equalities legislation;
- ensure it has and complies with any necessary safeguarding policies and procedures;
- comply with all necessary health and safety obligations;
- have in place sufficient insurance to protect it against any risks which can be insured against; and
- comply with all appropriate laws and regulations.
- Projects should demonstrate that appropriate child and adult protection policies are in place together with any necessary health and safety arrangements. If the project involves work with children, young people or vulnerable adults (‘vulnerable people’), you will take all reasonable steps to ensure their safety.
- The grant is allocated for this project/activity only and the grant must be spent only on the purpose for which it was allocated unless believe housing agree in writing that it may be used for another project/activity. Where grant money is spent on another purpose without believe housing’s consent then the full amount will become immediately repayable to believe housing. The grant shall not be spent to meet liabilities it has incurred before the date this letter is signed and returned to believe housing.
- The organisation will deposit the grant in an interest-bearing account and keep a detailed record and official proof of all transactions relating to that account, which will be provided to believe housing on a quarterly basis.
- The organisation will provide believe housing, within 5 days of the date of this agreement, with bank account details to enable a BACS transfer to take place in accordance with the payment timescales detailed in the Schedule, except where you have forwarded this information to us in advance.
- The grant is the total amount payable and no further funds will be available. Organisations must ensure that the project/activity can be completed within budget.
- Monies must be spent within a period which does not exceed 12 months from the date of approval.
- If actual project costs incurred are less than the grant awarded, the surplus will be repaid to believe housing.
- The organisation will, at any time, if requested:
- provide information or copies of financial records as may be required by believe housing.
- make projects/activities delivered/developed available for inspection.
- The accounting arrangements/transactions will be subject to audit scrutiny by believe housing.
- If you have to raise funds from another source to enable your project’s success, you will need to show how you intend to do this. If match funding is not secured, we will contact you for further information. If you are successful in applying for community investment funding where match funding is essential, believe housing will not release any funds until confirmation is received from the alternative funder.
- Applications for retrospective funding will not be considered.
- The organisation shall commence the project/activity within an agreed time frame, no later than 1 month of receiving the grant payment, or where the grant is paid in instalments the first part payment. If the project/activity is delayed for any reason you must write to us to request an extension and agree this in writing with the Community Investment Co-ordinator.
- The organisation will achieve the milestones detailed in their application form.
- The organisation will achieve the targets detailed in their application form.
- During the project the organisation will provide quarterly reports and an end of project report to include:
- evidence that the purpose for which the grant was awarded was achieved, including a written update detailing progress against targets, milestones and outcomes. It should also include case studies and photos where possible.
- records of attendance.
- data from participant surveys (the details of the survey will be agreed at your start-up meeting).
- a detailed statement of expenditure including receipts and/or evidence of spend e.g. invoices or staff wages claim form.
- If set reporting dates and requirements are not adhered to, we may delay further scheduled payments and/or request that funding is repaid to believe housing unless agreements have been put in place prior to the reporting deadline.
- We appreciate the need for flexibility within projects in order to achieve the desired outcomes, therefore we will consider reasonable requests to adjust the timescales and proposed activities where possible. Any requests to change the project, including changes of personnel, must be agreed in writing with your Community Investment Co-ordinator.
- Groups with successful grant applications will be required to consent to any publicity and marketing that believe housing may require. This may include, but is not limited to, press and online activities of both funds being awarded and the outcomes of approved projects. Should you carry out future promotion of the outcomes of your grant application, you must reference believe housing (using relevant brand guidelines and logo(s) where required), with approval via the Community Investment Co-ordinator.
- Any organisation receiving a grant will acknowledge the support of believe housing in all publicity material and will liaise with believe housing’s Marketing and Communications Team to obtain their advance agreement to publicity proposed.
- If a project is turned down for funding the decision is final and there is no appeals process.
- We will use the information you give us during the application process and during the lifetime of any funding for administration, analysis and research purposes. We recognise the need to maintain the confidentiality of vulnerable groups and their details will not be made public in any way, except as required by law. The management of all personal information you collect will meet the requirements of the Data Protection Act 2018.
- It may sometimes be appropriate to add additional conditions to an individual grant to take account of particular circumstances. These will be included in the grant offer letter. Any additional conditions will be agreed by both believe housing and the applicant before the award of a grant.
- If an organisation does not meet the terms and conditions of the grant they will be unable to apply for further funding.
match funding
Our grant may be used in conjunction with other funding sources e.g. Lottery funding, Prince’s Trust, etc. If you have to raise funds from another source, you will need to show how you intend to do this. If match funding is not secured, we will contact you for further information.
If you are successful in applying for a believe housing grant where match funding is essential to the success of a project, the believe house grant fund will not be released until match funding is confirmed in writing by the other funder. We must be notified of any changes to match funding. The Large Community Capital Grant may not be used to enable fundraising for another organisation or body.
safeguarding
If you are working with vulnerable adults or children, it is your responsibility to have appropriate safeguarding policies and procedures in place. We may ask to see these. If you are working in partnership with other organisations, it is your responsibility to ensure they also have appropriate safeguarding policies and procedures in place.
governing documents
A governing document sets out in writing how your organisation operates, what your organisation is set up to do and how it does it. It can be a constitution, memorandum and articles of association, set of rules or trust deed.
Schools, health bodies and town or parish councils are statutory bodies, while charities (both registered and exempt) and companies are regulated, so we do not need to see their governing documents. However, we need to check all other organisations’ governing documents to make sure we wish to fund them.
All governing documents must be completed correctly and be up to date. Organisations applying for the grant must have an up-to-date constitution and their own bank account, with at least two unrelated signatories. Proof of bank details and a copy of the constitution will need to be provided if applicable.
publicity
Groups with successful grant applications will be required to agree to any publicity and marketing that believe housing may require. This may include things like press and online activities giving details of grants given and outcomes achieved. Should you carry out future promotion of the outcomes of your grant application, you must liaise with believe housing giving us, where possible, at least two weeks’ notice before the date the publication or promotion is to go ‘live’.
data protection
believe housing is a data controller for the purposes of the Data Protection Act 2018 and we seek to take care of the personal information you provide and deal with it in accordance with the Act. Your personal information will only be used by us so we can consider and process your application and any funding awarded. It will not be shared with other organisations unless we are required by law to do so. To find out how we process your personal information please read our privacy notice.
Any group who has received our £500 or £1,000 community grant will still be eligible to apply for our large community capital grant within the same financial year.
If your application is approved for funding, you will be asked to sign a contractual agreement between your organisation and believe housing.
apply now for the large community capital grant
Click the button below to complete the application form for the large community capital grant fund .
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