Deadline: 20-Jun-25
The Chesterfield Borough Council is seeking applications for its Community Grants Fund to support local projects that help to build resilient, healthy, and safe neighbourhoods, as well as initiatives which will help reduce the borough’s impact on the climate and wider environment by promoting greener choices.
Through the Community Grants Fund, they would like to fund community led approaches to addressing local needs and aspirations, increase community infrastructure within the borough, increase resilience within the voluntary and community sector, and enable increased opportunities for volunteering. The main themes of the Community Grants Fund, and the types of projects they aim to fund are those which:
- Strengthen the sense of local pride and belonging.
- Build resilient, healthy, and safe neighbourhoods.
- Promote environmental sustainability: support for community-driven projects which aim to increase the environmental sustainability of their community through reducing emissions/environmental impact, creating positive benefits for the community and improving the quality of the local environment.
- Develop volunteering opportunities.
- Support work readiness and getting into work.
- Help organisations to expand their reach into different areas of the borough or new groups of people.
Funding Information
- There will be £220,000 funding available for 2025/26 which will be split into 2 separate tranches.
- In tranche 6, a minimum £60,000 will be earmarked for capital projects an additional amount has also been set aside for Climate related projects.
- Groups are able to apply for between £500 and £6,000 for revenue projects – there is no fixed amount for capital projects.
Expected Outcomes
- Types of outcomes could include:
- Development of 2 new training programmes for the community
- 12 new volunteer opportunities created.
- 70% of participants have a greater knowledge of a particular topic.
- 20 community events/meetings held.
- The project reached a wider and more diverse audience to further develop connections and 100 people from the local community met someone new.
- 50 people in the local community are upskilled to a level which empowers them to improve their own lives.
Eligible Projects
- Grant funding can fund both capital and revenue projects, although there are limited amounts of each kind of funding.
- Capital funding can be used to purchase new assets, or the significant refurbishment of existing assets. Assets are expected to have a wider community benefit and to have an expected lifespan of at least 5 years.
- Revenue funding can be used to put on events, performances and run activities, pay for training sessions, provide practical advice and guidance through workshops, equipment, small scale refurbishment, project activities etc.
Ineligible Projects
- They cannot consider applications for:
- Ongoing running costs for existing projects for example wages, rent, room hire (although extensions to existing projects will be considered)
- Proposals from organisations that are run primarily for private gain or to generate profits for private distribution, or any activities that general profits for private gain.
- Activities that don’t clearly benefit local residents. (Clearly means being able to demonstrate who will benefit and how this will be measured.)
- Activities primarily aimed at promoting religious or political beliefs.
Eligibility Criteria
- They welcome applications from your organisations if:
- You are a not-for-profit organisation.
- You have a constitution/written set of rules for the organisation.
- You have a bank account in your group’s name and at least two people (not related to one another) are required to sign any cheque or withdrawal from the account.
- You have a set of accounts and make these available for inspection.
- Your group can run the activity and complete the application form, even if you get some help with this. The contact for the grant and the person signing the form must be a member of the group or its management committee.
- Your activities begin and costs are incurred after receipt of the grant. You must also
- spend the entire grant and complete activities we have funded within 12 months of receipt of the grant.
- Your group or activity is open to everyone.
- The proposed activity is based in Chesterfield borough.
For more information, visit Chesterfield Borough Council.