Deadline: 24-Feb-25
The London Community Foundation is delighted to manage the Wimbledon Foundation Community Fund to benefit the community and provide support for local organisations to meet local needs in the boroughs of Merton and Wandsworth.
Aims
- Through their proposals, the WFCF encourages organisations to show how they will:
- Engage individuals and groups with the greatest social needs
- Assist their beneficiaries to become active citizens in the community
- Interact with the community and improve inter-community relationships and cohesion
- Build connections across the two boroughs, Merton and Wandsworth
- Sustain their project beyond any grant award from this Fund
- Provide potential progression routes for some or all of the project beneficiaries after the grant funding period has ended
Themes
- Applicant organisations should aim to achieve the above fund objective by addressing one or more of the following themes:
- Projects which engage local residents in community art projects
- Projects which improve mental health and wellbeing
- Projects which provide access to learning, training and employment skills
- Projects which improve access to advocacy, specialist support and advice for vulnerable groups
- Projects which encourage participation in the community
Funding Information
- Organisations can apply for a grant of up to £10,000.
Ineligible Activities
- The grant funds cannot be used for:
- Activities that promote religious or political views, purely commercial ventures (for profit),
- Spending that has already taken place (i.e. retrospective funding),
- Individual sponsorship or redistribution of a grant to individuals or other organisations,
- Activities where people are excluded on the basis of religion, sexual orientation, sex or ethnicity (unless the issue is group-specific).
- There must be no personal benefit attached to the grant.
- The organisation must not have two years of late submissions to the Charity Commission / Companies House within the last two completed financial years.
- The organisation must not have two years of net current liabilities within the two most recent completed financial years.
- Organisations where Trustees are paid are not eligible unless evidence of approval is provided from the Charity Commission and/or this arrangement is referenced in the governing document.
Eligible Projects
- Examples of creative projects that might be funded include:
- Textile workshops, celebrating garments from different communities
- Interactive events for vulnerable residents, highlighting history and diversity within the two boroughs
- Health and wellbeing events, looking at cultural practices to improve body, mind and spirit
- Examples of other projects that might be funded include:
- Projects providing activities and/or support for people with learning or physical disabilities
- Projects which encourage isolated individuals or marginalised groups to engage with the wider community or with other groups
- Intergenerational projects, such as social groups for older people supported by young people
- Projects supporting those who are, or at risk of becoming, homeless or in temporary housing
- Advocacy, and projects improving residents’ access to services
- Mentoring/counselling support such as vulnerable women’s groups
- Projects addressing food and/or financial poverty
- Community gardening
- Employment and training opportunities
- Befriending services, classes and activities for older people
- Education support to help children catch up following disrupted education during the pandemic
Expected Outcomes
- Improve community cohesion
- Support vulnerable people
- Reduce isolation
- Strengthening the resilience of your organization
- Celebrate cultural diversity within the local area
- Increase in beneficiaries’ access to services
- Increase employability
- Increase in beneficiary qualifications and skills
- Increase opportunities for creativity
- Improve health and wellbeing
- Increase participation in life-long learning
- Improve economic wellbeing
- Improve access to volunteering
- Reduce crime, violence & anti-social behaviour
Eligibility Criteria
- Please remember that they can only accept applications from organisations with a maximum income of £500,000 in this round.
- Eligible Legal Structure- There must be a signed governing document in place appropriate to the legal structure which includes an asset lock (or equivalent clause), and the purpose of all funded activities must be charitable (not for profit):
- Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO)
- Company Limited by Guarantee (CLG) – may also be registered as a Charity or a Community Interest Company Limited by Guarantee (CICLG)
- Trust
- Unincorporated Association
- Community Benefit Societies (CBS). Ideally, the CBS will also be registered as charitable with HMRC, however, this is not essential.
- They welcome applications from organisations supporting any groups facing disadvantage including:
- Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic groups
- Disability groups
- LGBTQIA+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, intersex, asexual, +)
- Young people
- People not in education, employment or training
- Older people
Ineligibility Criteria
- The following types of organisation are not eligible:
- Companies limited by Shares (including CIC limited by shares)
- Statutory organisations, such as local authorities
- NHS bodies
- Co-operative Societies
- Schools
Application Requirements
- Governance: You must have at least three unrelated members legally responsible for the governance of the organisation; Trustees/Directors/Management Committee as appropriate to your structure. Please note that this refers to the highest level of governance, a Management Committee that sits below a board of Trustees (e.g. charities, CIOs) or Directors (CLG or CICLG) does not count towards this.
- Bank account: A bank account in the same name as the organisation applying with a minimum of two unrelated signatories must be in place by the start of the grant.
- Safeguarding: You must have a safeguarding policy in place that has been reviewed in the last year and is dated. The policy must also meet LCF’s minimum requirements.
- Previous LCF funding: You cannot have any outstanding monitoring due for any previous London Community Foundation grants at the time of application. You can still apply if you have an open grant with the London Community Foundation as long as you are not overdue for any reporting requirements. If you are unsure about your previous London Community Foundation grant status or monitoring requirements.
- Registration: If the income for charitable purposes is more than £5,000 at the point of application, organisations must have submitted an application to register to Charity Commission or the relevant regulator (e.g., Companies House, CIC regulator or Financial Conduct Authority).
For more information, visit The London Community Foundation.