Meridian Water: Community Chest Large Grant Fund in the UK

Deadline: 23-Dec-21

The Meridian Water is now inviting bids for a share of this new large grant fund to help fund Edmonton focussed community projects. The fund will provide grants to organisations to support community-led projects in the three Edmonton Wards.

The Meridian Water Community Chest Fund is a new fund that has been set up to help improve neighbourhoods closest to Meridian Water in the wards of Upper Edmonton, Edmonton Green and Lower Edmonton.

These three Edmonton Wards in Enfield are amongst the most deprived in the UK and to help bridge the gap towards other parts of the Borough, the Council wishes to ensure that residents local to the Meridian Water development are the primary beneficiaries of the benefits brought about by the investment into the area.

The Meridian Water Community Chest Fund can be used to help deliver a wide range of projects (both capital and revenue) and they want to fund projects that will make a real difference to the lives of local people and communities.

Funding Information

The fund is open to bids from not-for-profit external stakeholders to the Council (such as faith groups, schools, community groups and charitable organisations).
The fund will be split as follows: Around 90% of the fund will be allocated to ‘large’ grants from £10,000 to £60,000

Eligibility Criteria

To be eligible, your proposed project must meet the following criteria:

Bids must exceed the minimum funding threshold of £10,000
There is no upper limit for how much applicants can bid for but any application for over £60k should ideally showcase both match funding for the purposes of delivering this project and demonstrate a sustainable legacy for the project, either by something in a built form, a physical project, or setting out how the project delivery will continue once the grant expires.
The delivery of this project is contingent on funding from Enfield’s Meridian Water Community Chest Fund.
No Council departments can apply. Projects must not directly benefit individual councillors.
An individual or for-profit businesses will not be considered.
Organisations or groups submitting bids must be constituted and registered with a regulatory body (e.g. Charities Commission or Companies House).
Organisations or groups submitting bids must be able to demonstrate sound financial performance and management. This will be reviewed if your application is successful.
MW Community Chest cannot be used to fund the same project twice.
You must have public liability insurance (though can be purchased through your application if successful).
Whilst the fund can cover project related overheads, salaries or rent, the proposed project should not have significant ongoing financial/revenue implications, such as long-term maintenance or ongoing retained staff costs (except where it can demonstrate how on-going running costs can be funded from other sources). General running support costs, to enable the project to function, must be limited to 25% of your overall budget.
Must propose a project that delivers a clear community benefit within one, two, or all three of the Edmonton Wards of Lower Edmonton, Edmonton Green or Upper Edmonton.
Must address at least one of the following themes from the 2020 Enfield Poverty Commission Report “All things being Equal”:
- Improving a physical area within a community
- Improving opportunity for local people, particularly around employment & skills
- Improving life chances for young people
- Addressing health inequalities
Any application proposing work with young people will have to prove safeguarding is in place.
Must be a not for profit organisation andmust be formally constituted with a business (or equivalent i.e not a personal bank account).