Worcestershire Community Foundation: Covid Impact Fund (UK)

Deadline: 16-Sep-21

Worcestershire Community Foundation is pleased to be partnering with Worcestershire County Council to offer the opportunity to support community services to apply for a grant to help support vulnerable households and families with children, particularly those affected by the ongoing impacts of the COVID pandemic where alternative sources of assistance may be unavailable.

Themes

The Covid Impact Fund is open to local organisations who provide a range of support services to Worcestershire residents meeting one of the themes and outcomes outlined below:

Theme- Example of a positive outcome
- Households experiencing, or at risk of experiencing, poverty– Risk of poverty is reduced, and family financial situation improved reducing household stress
- Individuals experiencing social isolation- Individuals are able to access and maintain new and existing contacts which enables them to maintain their mental wellbeing
- Individuals affected by domestic abuse- Support and appropriate signposting in place to contribute to reducing the risk of domestic abuse in a household
- Support to vulnerable households which include a person aged 19 to 25 with special educational needs and disability (SEND) and/or care leavers- Vulnerable households are supported to maintain their overall wellbeing and help reduce the negative impact of COVID (those who are disproportionately affected)
- Individuals and families whose mental wellbeing has been impacted as a result the COVID pandemic (low level support)- Services that support and promote wellbeing are easily accessible and individuals are supported to improve their mental wellbeing
- Addressing health inequalities- Individuals and families who are at risk of experiencing ill health, as a result of identified health inequalities, are supported with additional resources to improve their overall quality of life

Funding Information

A one off grant of up to £10,000. Please note they welcome applications for less than £10,000 depending on need.
Grants over and above £10,000 up to a maximum of £50,000 may be considered where a strong case can be made. This might include an application taking a strategic approach to addressing one or more of the key themes, or a collaborative bid by VCS partners working together to address one or more of the key themes. Or where an application makes a strong and valid case that greater funding is required and can be realistically utilised in the timeframe.
Applications for grants in excess of £10,000 will be subject to additional Council approval.

What can the Funding be spent on?

Approved grants will be treated as restricted funds and therefore must only be spent on expenditure agreed and any funds not spent returned;
Up to 10% management fee for running costs can be applied to your application;
Only capital costs that demonstrate direct positive outcomes for individuals or families will be approved;
Funding must be spent on one or more of the funding themes and demonstrate in the application form that positive outcomes will be achieved
The scheme is not intended to be used for the provision of general advice on managing debt and/or financial hardship.

Who can apply

Organisations who apply for funding should be one of the following:
- a voluntary or community organisation;
- a registered charity;
- a constituted group or club;
- a not-for-profit company or Community Interest Company;
- a school (as long as your project benefits and involves the communities around the school); or a statutory body (including town, parish and community council);
- a joint application from the above groups.
The following are not essential but if you are able to include either of the following in your application, WCF would welcome that:
- If your reach includes Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic communities, please state that in your application, as WCF are keen to monitor how effectively they are reaching these communities;
- If you have proactive ways to identify and reach families that are impacted by hardship for the first time, they would be keen to hear about how you are doing that in your application.