Deadline: 7-Nov-22
The Oxfordshire Community Foundation is seeking applications for Community Capacity grants that aims to create the conditions for people to connect with others and thrive, promoting independence and prevention.
Resourcing and retaining the community activity developed during the last two years ensures that new infrastructure, connections, and expertise forged through the pandemic are not lost. These grants are funded by Oxfordshire County Council, Adult Social Care, promoting the Oxfordshire Way.
Types of Activity
- Community capacity grants will prioritise activities that:
- Support the wellbeing of the whole community to stay well, live independently and reduce individual isolation
- Address inequalities and improve quality of life
- Act sooner to promote increased mental health and physical activity to address preventable conditions and reduce demand on services
- Are aligned to the Oxfordshire Way and NHS social prescribing and are neighbourhood-led
- Fill gaps and therefore increase the options available to community connectors and social prescribers
- Increase volunteering and opportunities for mutual aid
- Provide social opportunities, including for people who may traditionally be excluded
- Are innovative e.g. help mitigate digital exclusion; work across different generations; unlock value in use of space and place
- Work with local businesses and partners for environmental, economic and social benefit, getting the best from collective resources.
Funding Information
- Amounts available: £5,000-£20,000
- Group annual income: Under £1,000,000.
Eligibility Criteria
- To be eligible to apply for funding from Oxfordshire Community Foundation (OCF), your group must:
- Be a registered charity, constituted group or social enterprise/CIC
- Be based in Oxfordshire and/or have beneficiaries in Oxfordshire
- Have at least three trustees or committee members who are not related to each other
- Have a bank account in its own name with at least two unrelated signatories, open for three months or more
- Be open to people of all religions and political affiliations, and must not proselytise.
Group Criteria
- Income under £1,000,000.
- Status: charity / CIO / registered company with charitable status / social enterprise / community group.
- The online application form will require you to supply specified documentation showing evidence of good governance, as well as an appropriate referee. This includes bank account signatories, a bank statement, and audited accounts of most recent financial year. If the most recent year is not yet available, please submit management accounts or income/expenditure document.
- Your organisation needs to have minimum one year of operation; if you have been constituted for less than one year but have been active for longer, please demonstrate this activity.
- Reserves are expected to be a minimum of three months running costs, and if they are more than 12 months, it would be helpful to explain why.
- You will be asked to provide a safeguarding policy as part of your application. They need this as there is a high likelihood that you are working with individuals who are at risk or vulnerable, or you are working in a way that puts you in a position of trust in the community. Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility, and they would expect individual policies to be proportionate to the activities they undertake. In some cases, this is being aware of the appropriate safeguarding board contact numbers should you have a concern, or being aware of the safeguarding lead in a partner organisation to escalate to if a concern arose. For services doing lots of direct work with vulnerable people, they’d expect more.
Project Criteria
- The beneficiaries must be people, not an individual. Not animals or the environment e.g. trees.
- They will fund ongoing running costs, one-off events or a programme of events.
- Number of people participating will be considered (proportional funding).
- Project budget needs to be itemised, well costed, indicating where other funds have been secured if appropriate.
- Project must be completed by 31st October 2023.
Ineligible
- The following types of group/project are NOT eligible:
- National charities (or financially integrated branches)
- Public bodies or statutory organisations (including parish/town councils)
- Charities where the beneficiaries are solely animals
- Individuals
- Projects that are the purchase of buses or other vehicles
- Large-scale construction projects (including fixed structures e.g. playgrounds)
- Projects where the costs have already been incurred.
For more information, visit https://oxfordshire.org/ocf_grants/community-capacity-grants/?dm_i=1OSY,81YOZ,20G194,WYJN2,1