Deadline: 14-Jul-23
Vale of White Horse District Council has launched the Climate Action Fund that supports communities to take action on climate change.
They recognise the importance of the shared responsibility to protect the planet. The Corporate and Climate Action Plans detail the aims and targets to help the district thrive and tackle the Climate Emergency. They want to inspire and enable the communities to take action and have developed this fund to enable groups across the Vale to do so.
Focus Areas
- Projects could focus on areas such as:
- The natural environment
- Energy
- Waste and consumption
- Transport and travel
Funding Information
- The Climate Action Fund has grants from £250 to £5,000 on offer per project to help tackle climate change, with a total of £100,000 available this year.
Eligibility Criteria
- Town/parish councils and parish meetings
- Town/parish councils can collaborate with local unconstituted groups and apply on their behalf
- Local ‘not for profit’ organisations, this can include a company limited by guarantee which does not distribute any surplus it makes to its members, whose primary purpose is to benefit the residents of Vale of White Horse who can:
- Provide with their application a copy of a recent bank statement in the name of the organisation applying (no more than two months old)
- Provide on request a copy of the organisation’s detailed financial records e.g. income/expenditure/reserves for the most recent complete financial year– or projections for new organisations
- Provide on request a copy of their governing document (like a constitution, set of rules, articles of association etc) that demonstrates they are a ‘not for profit organisation’ and the project they are applying for matches the organisation objectives
- Confirm their organisation has named officers, members, or trustees on a management committee/board.
- To mitigate against any misuse of a grant or to the council’s reputation from this relaxed criterion to apply for a grant, officers will request the governance and financial documents mentioned above for every fifth application, and any organisations who have not received council funding in the last 12 months.
Rules of the Scheme
- Projects must take place within Vale of White Horse district for the benefit of Vale residents
- You can apply for revenue costs or capital items
- They can fund up to 100 per cent of the total cost of a project (budget permitting)
- The project must complete within 12 months of the award decision
- Any unallocated budgets at the end of the financial year will return to the council’s general reserves
- The 2023/24 scheme is anticipated to be open for one round
- A decision will be made within approximately ten weeks of the scheme closing
Ineligibility Criteria
- Other local authorities/public sector bodies (for example other district councils, NHS trusts). Please note: Town/parish councils and parish meetings are eligible to apply
- Schools, colleges, universities (please note however, eligible organisations can involve school groups and education settings in their projects)
- Groups who raise funds on behalf of or will improve/create facilities that will predominately benefit an ineligible organisation
- Individuals (this includes making any payments to individuals on behalf of community groups)
- Profit-based businesses (private businesses)
- Political and lobbying groups
- Organisations who operate a grant scheme of their own or who budget for giving grants/donations in their annual budget will be considered on a caseby-case basis. Please note: Town/parish councils and parish meetings are eligible to apply
- Nationwide organisations (except where they have a local constitution and/or local bank account. They may also make exceptions if a project clearly relates to a local hub/branch of the organisation)
For more information, visit Vale of White Horse District Council.