Deadline: 22-Aug-2024
Applications are now open for the Vital for Berkshire Fund to support charities, community groups and projects that work to tackle the most salient and pressing issues within Berkshire’s communities at any given time.
Berkshire Community Foundation offers a variety of funding streams to support charities, volunteer groups and other non-profit organisations working to improve people’s lives in Berkshire.
Funding Information
- Grants up to a maximum of £5,000 will be considered, subject to funding availability.
Eligibility Criteria
- To be eligible to apply for a grant, your charity, community group or voluntary organisation must be improving the lives of disadvantaged people in Berkshire and fit the following criteria:
- Be a not-for-profit, voluntary or community group, social enterprise/CIC or registered charity
- Have a Governing Document (Constitution/Set of Rules)
- Have a Management Committee/Board of Trustees
- Have a bank account in the name of the group, with a minimum of two unrelated cheque signatories
- Be able to provide up-to-date accounts
- Have returned evaluation forms for any previously received grants
- Have safeguarding and equality policies which comply with current legislation
- Be helping the disadvantaged and provide a benefit to the community with clear and achievable outcomes
- Provide evidence there is a need for your work and must not be duplicating the work of other groups and organisations
- Have an itemised budget
Criteria
- They invite applications from charities, community groups and projects that support vital needs in Berkshire, such as (but not limited to): physical and mental health, supporting young and vulnerable people or groups, combating isolation, tackling poverty and disadvantage, offering equal opportunities for all, and more.
- Applications are also invited to enable groups to fund their essential resources in order to secure services for their beneficiaries in the current cost of living crisis.
- When reviewing applications, the following is taken in to consideration
- Project matches the fund’s criteria
- Amount of funding received in the previous 12 months
- Project timelines
- Outstanding monitoring reports.
Ineligible
- Your group isn’t eligible to apply if:
- It’s a regional or national charity – unless it has a local branch in Berkshire
- You have significant unrestricted funds
- You are applying for a capital project – this includes the purchase of vehicles or property
- Funds are for promoting religious or political issues
- Your activities are aimed at people outside Berkshire
- The money is required retrospectively
- You plan to use the grant for medical research
- You are applying for sponsorship
- You are looking for a grant for an individual over the age of 18 (or aged up to 25 with learning or physical disability)
- Funding is for the conservation of plants or animal welfare
- Funding is for overseas travel
- Funding is for one-off events (unless the outcomes are clear and achievable and the event addresses a key issue picked up in the Vital Signs research)
For more information, visit Berkshire Community Foundation.