Cambridge City Council: Community Grants Programme (UK)

Deadline: 18-Sep-2024

The Cambridge City Council is inviting applications for the Community Grants Program to reduce social or economic inequality in Cambridge.

Funding Priorities 

• Your activity needs to meet one of the following priority areas:
  • Promoting active lifestyles
  • Arts and cultural
  • Community development
  • Reducing poverty
  • Employment support

Funding Information

• You can apply to the over £5,000 Community Grant fund.

Outcomes

• Primary Outcome: all applications must demonstrate how the funding will reduce social and/or economic inequality for City residents with the greatest need.
• Social and economic inequality – they want their funding to reach City residents who are disadvantaged through low income/poverty, unemployment, and other barriers to accessing community, art, culture, sport and recreational activities.
• As well as the primary outcome, your activity must achieve one or more of the following strategic outcomes:
  • Reduce poverty
  • Improve skills and confidence to gain employment
  • Improve general health and wellbeing
  • Communities come together and bring about change
  • Stronger voluntary sector in the city

Activities

• Examples of activities they would consider funding with appropriate outcomes are set out below:
  • Promoting Active Lifestyles 
    • activities focussing on improving physical activity levels for those currently inactive (tackling sedentary behaviour)
    • swimming for children and adults who cannot swim more than 25m unaided
    • informal sport and recreation
    • approaches to tackling obesity
    • reducing inequality in opportunity to be physically active for example: through low income, disability, gender, cultural need
  • Arts & Cultural 
    • They have a broad and open definition of arts and culture including music, drama, visual art, film, and other creative activities:
      • activities for groups of people who face barriers to accessing art, enabling participation
      • inclusion activities which bring people together to improve mental and physical wellbeing
      • targeted projects to improve access to the arts including activities for minority ethnic groups, people with disabilities, and those on low income
  • Community Development 
    • Activities which bring people together:
      • to improve wellbeing (this does not include clinical health activities)
      • from different communities to improve and develop cohesion and integration
      • to reduce inequality, particularly through low income
      • to have a voice and influence services which affect them
      • to reduce social isolation
  • Reducing Poverty 
    • activities to support people on low income to maximise their income and minimise their costs, such as: debt, financial and benefits advice and support to reduce energy and water costs
    • activities that promote and signpost sources of affordable finance and can demonstrate the accessible, affordable offer available
    • activities focusing on raising skills and employability for people on low incomes which are not the remit of others and have clearly defined and measurable outcomes
    • activities that combat digital exclusion for people on low incomes. The development of digital skills to access services and benefits, communicate with friends and family, or to develop basic and higher-level digital skills needed in the workplace
    • activities to support people experiencing food poverty
    • activities to promote volunteering by low-income residents
    • activities to improve physical and mental health outcomes for people on low income such as those that focus on promoting physical activity, healthy diets and healthy lifestyles; and outreach advice services for residents experiencing mental health issues associated with living in poverty or on a low income (They will not fund clinical activities for residents with physical or mental health needs)
    • activities to address specific barriers experienced by groups of people more likely to experience poverty and social isolation, namely: older people, children and young people, low-income families and individuals, disabled people, people from minority ethnic communities, LGBTQ+ people, people with low skills levels/long term unemployed
  • Employment Support 
    • activities for those who face particular barriers participating in the City’s economy for example poor mental health and physical disability
    • activities for those who have lost confidence
    • activities which directly relate to pre-employment
    • support, advice and guidance for unemployed people to gain motivation, skills and confidence to engage in employment

Eligibility Criteria

• You should be able to answer ‘yes’ to every statement to be eligible.
  • Governance 
    • Your organisation:
      • is independently set up for charitable, benevolent or philanthropic purposes and does not operate for private, commercial or personal profit/gain
      • is not a statutory organisation or was not set up by a statutory organisation, or is not managed wholly or partly by a statutory organisation
      • has a legal structure that is appropriate to the size and nature of the organisation, with a governing document, e.g. constitution, memorandum of association or set of rules, which sets out the aims and rules governing the organisation
      • decides policy and overall management practice through a committee of a minimum of 3 unrelated, elected, unpaid volunteers (by unrelated they mean people who aren’t family members, such as siblings, parents and children; married couples or civil partners; or people living at the same address)
      • has systems and structures in place to manage the affairs of the organisation efficiently and effectively e.g. holds regular, quorate meetings, plans and monitors activities, keeps minutes and circulates information to group members
  • Your organisation:
    • demonstrates good financial management and sustainability by:
      • keeping proper and adequate financial records to explain all transactions, the organisation’s financial position and audit trails of decisions made
      • preparing statutory accounts meeting legal requirements and complying with any external scrutiny required by law or the organisation’s governing document
      • preparing budgets and monitoring them at least quarterly and preparing revised financial forecasts based on actual spend
      • presenting regular reports on the organisation’s financial position to the management committee
      • preparing a reserves policy detailing the level of reserves held and an explanation and calculation of why they are held and updates this annually
      • ensuring that effective financial systems and procedures have been established, are being consistently followed and are in line with best practice and legal requirements
      • reviewing internal financial controls to ensure they are adequate and being complied with to provide a robust system for managing financial risk and all expenditure has dual authorisation and is documented accordingly
  • General 
    • Your organisation:
      • does not promote any political parties, is not involved in party politics, or does not promote political views
      • will provide any information required to support their application
      • has returned satisfactory monitoring and evaluation, accounts or other information requested in connection with any previous funding from the Council on time

For more information, visit Cambridge City Council.