Small community grants have been a key way of engaging and supporting the activities of unincorporated groups, charities and community business. The work of the partnership moving forward in the final legacy plan November 2021- March 2026 includes a small community chest that can help develop new ideas. To find out more about this, please contact our Community Development Lead, Barbara Slasor.
We felt it was important to leave the history of small grants for you to read and see who has benefited from local community investment. There is a section on how all of the small community grant money was spent, which has led to some larger project investment and development over a longer period of time to enable us to evidence the longer term difference these activities make.
We made further funds available to kick start some big ideas through small grants as part of our 2018-2020 plan.
County Durham Community Foundation (CDCF) continued to work with the Partnership with matched funding and support to manage the grants process again.
The partnership also made £15,000 available to be spent on activities identified by children and young people. 'Helping Hands' a new young people's forum that had been established with the support of a number of partner organisations. This group was a unique way for young people to have their voices heard about what matters to them across South West Bishop Auckland and for young people to make decisions about how to spend their own budget.
A further £60,000 was available for small grants over 3 rounds.
Background Gaunless Gateway Big Local Partnership is pleased to confirm that small grants are available to community groups and organisations in the Gaunless Gateway area, which includes all or parts of Cockton Hill, Henknowle, Woodhouse Close, Tindale Crescent, St. Helens Auckland and West Auckland. These projects MUST meet some, but not necessarily all, of the key objectives of the Partnership, which are:
1. Creating new jobs and enterprise including training and volunteering 2. Improving health and wellbeing 3. Addressing crime and improving community safety 4. Providing activities for children and young people 5. Bringing different generations together 6. Developing and strengthening our partnership
About our Small Grants Fund
The Partnership will support eligible organisations and projects with grants of between £300 and £3,000 for projects which meet the objectives above. There is no specific list of eligible activities – the Grant may be used for purchase of equipment, services, training or events among others, as long as the key objectives are met.
As with every fund, our Small Grants Fund comes with some criteria which you as an organisation need to meet to qualify. You must:
Be a not for profit, voluntary or community group, or a registered charity or CIC
Have a governing document, constitution or set of rules
Be located in or supporting people from within the Gaunless Gateway Partnership area. If you are unsure of this, please see the map on the next page or speak to us directly
In addition, your project must:
Meet at least one of the key Partnership objectives identified above
Resolve an identified need in your community and have a clear outcome
Support sustainability, ie add value beyond the initial grant allocation, if your project cost is for £1000 or more.
Preference will be given to applications that come from within the Gaunless Gateway area, have some match funding, either in cash or kind, and to first applications - second applications are welcome but will only be appraised once first applications have been considered.
Consideration will be given to organisations that can evidence that at least 60% of beneficiaries come from within the area, if activities are delivered elsewhere. Please speak to us about matching funds as we may be able to help. We have compiled a list of Gaunless Gateway postcodes if you are unsure.
If you think you and your project are eligible, please complete the following application form and return it to the Partnership. You will usually have a response between 4 and 6 weeks of submitting.
Exclusions: We do not fund
Individuals
Sole traders
Activities exclusively for the purpose of religious or political activities.
Once you've submitted your application, you'll normally be contacted with a decision within 4-6 weeks of the closing date.
Email:[email protected] (please note an e-mailed application will be taken as having the same authority as a signed hard copy)
Please note application forms will only be available for download during a current funding round. PLEASE NOTE WE CANNOT ACCEPT APPLICATION FORMS DOWNLOADED FROM THIRD PARTY WEBSITES (via google search) . TO ENSURE YOU ARE SUBMITTING THE LATEST VERSION OF OUR APPLICATION FORM PLEASE ONLY DOWNLOAD FROM OUR WEBSITE OR SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS
Application form- this will only have a live link during active rounds. Please ensure you save the form to your device BEFORE completing. The form will open in a new window.