Community Foundation for Greater Manchester
Small Grants Programme

Guidelines and Notes

Delivered in partnership with:

• Oglesby Charitable Trust, Bruntwood Estates & Hogben Family Trust
• Bardsley Community Fund
• Dedicated Micros Community Fund
• Sage Community Fund
• Ask Community Fund
• Bank of New York Mellon Community Fund

For maximum grants up to £2,000

If you need advice or support to complete your application form, please contact one of our Grants team who will be happy to discuss your project or idea.

Please be aware that organisations that have an outstanding End of Grant Form relating to previous funding from us, will be unable to submit any new applications for funding until you have returned the information requested and CFGM are satisfied that the terms of the grant offer have been met.

Telephone: 0161 214 0940 Fax: 0161 214 0941

Email: enquiries@communityfoundation.co.uk or visit www.communityfoundation.co.uk .

Address:
The Community Foundation for Greater Manchester
Beswick House
Beswick Row
Manchester
M4 4LA

We are pleased to bring you news of Community Directplus from The Co-operative Bank which offers community and voluntary groups free banking with no strings attached - which means there are no charges for cheques, standing orders, direct debits or cash deposits/withdrawals.
Please see the enclosed leaflet or call 0800 783 4741 quoting reference 32711

Please read this information carefully before completing the application form.

What fund are you applying to?

The Community Foundation’s Small Grants Fund is a partnership between the Community Foundation, The Oglesby Charitable Trust and Bruntwood Estates. This is also a generic application form which will be used by us to assess and submit your request for consideration to the most appropriate funding partner in our portfolio of more than twenty funds which contribute to our Small Grants Programme.

This means that you only need to complete one application form and your project will have the chance of being considered from various funds.

Our Priorities

The Small Grants Programme’s current funding priority is to encourage and support grass-root community activity. This means small, community-based and locally controlled groups that manage themselves, encourage active participation from volunteers, have minimal cash reserves and limited access to funding support.
We DO NOT support larger, more sophisticated organisations that have a track record of attracting funding, particularly when such groups have a turnover of more than £50,000 a year.

There are other funding opportunities available for such groups and organisations from local Councils for Voluntary Services who can provide advice. Further details on your local CVS can be found on our website: www.communityfoundation.co.uk .

Who can apply?

The application form can be used by community groups and organisations aiming to improve circumstances for people in communities within one of the following boroughs: Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford and Wigan.

How much can you apply for?

The maximum grant request that will be considered is £2,000.

Fast Track Applications

Requests for grants up to £500 for genuine emergencies or time critical projects only. Applications will be processed within twenty working days once all the required information has been received. Please note that this is a very limited funding stream that has been designed to react swiftly to time critical emergency requests only. You must telephone the team on 0161 214 0940 prior to submitting a fast track application.

What we can and cannot fund

Priority is given to projects that:

• Are run by local volunteers who wish to improve the circumstances of individuals and communities in economically/socially excluded and/or deprived areas of Greater Manchester.
• Do not have access to a professional fundraiser and experience difficulty in attracting funding from other sources.
• Encourage involvement of local residents in improving, designing, identifying and implementing community activities.
• Promote voluntary participation and social inclusion as well as community involvement and self-help.
• Meet and demonstrate an emerging or immediate need and serve to build the community’s awareness.
• Do not duplicate an existing provision or service. (If the project resembles an existing provision, you will be expected to explain why your services are needed in addition to existing provision or clarify how they are different).
  

Who and what cannot be funded?

• Individuals
• Organisations who have less than three people on the Management Committee
• Organisations and projects outside the Greater Manchester area.
• Organisations trading for profit or intending to redistribute grant awards.
• Major capital requests, i.e. building and construction work.
• Requests that will replace or enhance statutory provision.
• Academic or medical research & equipment.
• Overseas travel.
• Primary purpose of request is to promote religious or political beliefs.
• Retrospective Grants (i.e. Projects/activities that have already taken place or have already been paid for).
• Sponsorship or fundraising events unless profits are to be put back into the organisation.
• Contributions to larger/major appeals.
• Holidays, trips and social outings. (Except in cases of specific disablement or proven benefit to a community or group of people)
• Local branches of national charities unless locally managed, financially autonomous and not in receipt of financial support from the national body.
• More than one application at any one time for the same project
  

How to complete the Application Form

Please complete all sections of the application form, even if you are enclosing supporting or corresponding information, as this speeds up the assessment process. If your application is incomplete this will delay the processing of your application and may be returned to you.

Contact Details

Please give all your contact details accurately as we aim to keep our records as complete as possible. If the person completing the form is not a member of the Management Committee, you must provide either the Chairperson or Treasurer’s contact details as the second contact person. We often try and communicate via the telephone to ensure the swift progress of your request. Having the ability to contact two representatives from your organisation can help us to process your application more effectively. If there are certain times in the day when it would be best to contact you, please indicate these.

About your organisation

In this section you will help us understand the structure and purpose of your organisation. You can tell us what you actually do and who is involved. You may wish to enclose leaflets and other information that illustrate your activities, but please keep these to a minimum.

About the project/activity

Please describe the project your organisation is proposing and what exactly you are planning to do once the grant has been received. It is also important to show how the need for the project or activity has been identified within the respective community, that members of that community have been involved in the process and that they will be involved in delivering the project or activity.

Project Outcomes

If your application is successful, you will be required to monitor and evaluate the project or activity. In this section please give details of how you will monitor the project and evaluate its success. This may include; taking attendance registers, questionnaires, or photographs. We also ask you to indicate which of the outcomes listed your project contributes to. If you are unsure, please contact the office. In your grant award letter we will ask you to collect certain information to show how the selected outcomes have been achieved.

Beneficiaries and Timescale

We would like to know how many people are going to benefit from your project and what age range your proposed project/activity will cover. It is also important to indicate when the project/activity will start.

Please be realistic about the speed at which we can provide you with a decision. Unless you are applying through our ‘Fast-Track’ process (Emergency Grants up to £500), it can take up to sixteen weeks before we can inform you of a decision. We try to turn around all requests as quickly as possible. However, we have to adhere to agreed procedures with our donors and, therefore, you need to take this period into account when planning your project/activity and apply well in advance.

Cost of the project

In this section you are asked to provide a clear idea of how much money you need for your project/activity. Please give as thorough a breakdown of costs as possible using the table provided on page ten of the application form. Should your project/activity cost more than the maximum you can apply for, please tell us how you plan to raise the remainder of the funding you require.

Finances of your organisation

We ask you to provide a brief summary of your income and expenditure within the application form. Organisations that have been established for more than twelve months will need to provide a copy of your latest annual accounts or a financial statement showing your annual income and expenditure. If you are a new organisation established for less than twelve months, you will need to provide copies of your organisation’s three most recent consecutive bank statements.

If you have no banking arrangements in place, we will ask you to find another organisation that is willing to accept the grant into their account for you. You will need to ask this group to sign and complete the relevant statement on the application form.

Please note that we cannot make cheques payable to individuals

Referee Details

We can only process your request once the required information has been received. This includes your referee completing and signing your application on page twelve to confirm that they have read the application. Please read the notes on page twelve of the application form relating to Referee Details. Should you need further advice on who can act as your referee, please contact our Grants team on 0161 214 0940.

Quality Standards for Funding

The Quality Standard for Funding is a unique initiative, introduced by the Community Foundation, which recognises good practice in grant management and reporting by voluntary and community groups. The Quality Standard will recognise groups who have managed a grant effectively and provided timely and high quality information about how they have used the money.

The benefits of the scheme are that the group will be identified as an effective grant recipient to other funders and will ensure the group has systems in place to handle funds and deliver and measure a project.

All voluntary and community groups applying for funding from CFGM will have the chance to opt in to be assessed for the Quality Standard once they have received a grant from us. The application form and your grant award letter contain an opt-in box for you to tick if you wish to be considered for Quality Standard.

If you have received a CFGM grant since 1 September 2007 you are also eligible to apply for the Quality Standard. You can access an application form from our website: http://www.communityfoundation.co.uk .

What Happens Next?

1. Return your completed application form to the Community Foundation. Please remember to include any supplementary information requested.
2. Your application will be checked to make sure your request fits the funding criteria.
3. We will contact you to confirm receipt of your application & advise if further information is required, or we will confirm the date that your application will be submitted to a panel.
4. Following receipt of all information requested and subsequent assessment by CFGM Staff, your application will be passed on to an independent panel for consideration. The panel will decide if your request can be funded.
5. The Community Foundation Trustees must then approve any decisions taken at panel before we can contact you.
6. We will then advise you on the panel’s decision in writing and issue a grant-cheque.
   

The following items are included in this application pack:

Grant Application Guidelines (see above)

A Grant Funding Application Form (This includes a checklist of information that you will have to provide)

Please send your completed application pack to:

Community Foundation for Greater Manchester
Beswick House
Beswick Row
Manchester
M4 4LA