Deadline: 31-Jan-23
The Leeds Community Foundation is pleased to announce an open call for the Bradford Fund’s Micro Grants program.
The Bradford Fund is the central offer in GiveBradford’s strategy to maximise funding and outcomes for the voluntary and community sector across the district. Through it they aim to maximise investment into the voluntary and community sector and to increase philanthropic giving from corporates and individuals. The Bradford Fund is built on their unique role as an independent distributer of funds to the voluntary and community sector and was designed by listening to the experiences of those communities, organisations and individuals who are tackling inequality.
This fund therefore is designed to cover the core costs of Community Organisations and encourage strategic development work alongside daily delivery. In developing The Bradford Fund in this way, they hope that it gives their sector the best chance of both delivering effectively – and surviving – in the years ahead.
Funding Information
- The grant request is between £500 – £2,500. The grant is unrestricted, but is intended to support organisations in their strategic development to increase resilience and give them the best chance of thriving in the future, for example by commissioning an evaluation or governance review.
What can the Fund support?
- This funding programme is designed to cover the cost of community organisations being able to take the time and space to step back from delivery and undertake strategic development work. It gives busy leaders and teams the support and resources to:
- Reflect on their successes and understand what makes them resilient
- Unpick challenges to understand root causes
- Identify priority development objectives to support long term resilience
- Plan and work towards achieving those objectives
- Learn and adapt throughout the programme
Types of activities that can be funded
- Developing/articulating the organisation’s mission, vision, values, culture.
- Dedicated time to increase awareness of the political, economic local and national context. Time to horizon-scan for challenges, threats and opportunities.
- Strategy and planning work, reviewing and rebalancing governance model/arrangements, training and development needs analysis, organisational restructuring.
- Mapping existing networks and opportunities, identifying and developing new partnerships and collaboration.
- Getting a grip on the organisation’s financial position, reshaping/diversifying the funding model, financial planning and budget-setting.
- Developing/changing delivery/operating models, adapting ways of working to increase sustainability, developing new services, training and development needs analysis and planning, staff restructure.
- Measuring activity and impact, demonstrating value, using monitoring and evaluation as a learning tool to drive future change.
- Alongside unrestricted grant funding, organisations receiving the microgrants will be invited to attend one action learning set at the end of the grant period to share their learning.
What can the Fund not support?
Grants will not be awarded to or for:
- For-profit organisations, statutory organisations (e.g.schools and hospitals) or overseas organisations
- Retrospective funding (activity and costs that have already taken place)
- Grant-making to other organisations and/or individuals
- Activity targeted at a particular group (ethnic, gender, religious etc.) without a good justification for this
- Activity that promotes a particular political or religious point of view
- Activity primarily for the benefit of animals
- Individuals
- Expeditions or overseas travel
- Capital appeals for building projects
Eligibility Criteria
- Community groups such as CIOs, CICs, charitable companies, community groups from the third sector that:
- May or may not yet be registered with the Charity Commission, Companies House or Mutuals Public Register (FCA)
- Have a constitution or other relevant governance document
- Have a management committee/board of directors/trustees of at least three unrelated people, none of whom have significant control
- Have a bank account under the name of the group with at least two unrelated signatories
- Are based in and delivering the majority of their work in the Bradford Metropolitan District
- Have an annual income of no more than £150k in most recent financial year.
- Have been operating for at least 6 months
- Have at least one paid or volunteer member of staff who can commit a proportion of their time to the strategic development work this programme will fund – this could be a current member of staff and the member of staff should be in post for the duration if the project.
- Charities that are registered with the Charity Commission but are not an incorporated structure can also apply. They must also fulfil the above bullet points. However, grants cannot be used to pay staff that are directly employed by the charity.
- Unincorporated, and/or unregistered groups can only apply if their annual income is less than £10,000, and if securing the grant does not take them above this threshold for the year. The grant cannot be used by such groups to pay any directly employed staff.
For more information, visit Leeds Community Foundation.