Aim

“Calderdale Council’s vision for Calderdale in 2024 is for a place where you can realise your potential, whoever you are. Whether your voice has been heard or unheard in the past. We aspire to be a place where talent and enterprise can thrive. A place defined by our innate kindness and resilience. Also, by how our people care for each other, are able to recover from setbacks and are full of hope.

Calderdale will stand out, be known, and be distinctive. We want it to be a great place to visit. More than anything, we want it to be a place to live a larger life.”

It does this by awarding one-off grants of up to £3,000 from a total fund of £65,000 to groups and projects that meet the most outcomes from our Vision 2024 Priorities:

• Strong, Thriving Towns, and Places
• Reducing Inequalities
• Climate Action

Two funding rounds

This year’s 2023/24 scheme will have two funding rounds and the budget will be split equally between them. The funding comes from Calderdale Council and CFFC manage the grants process.

First round – Autumn

•  The deadline for applications is Sunday 10th September 2023, 11:59 pm.
•  The Small Grants Panel will meet in October 2023 and we expect awards to be issued shortly after.

Second round – Spring

• There will be another funding round launched in the new year.

Vision 2024 Priorities:

Strong, Thriving Towns and Places

The outcomes we are looking for are:

•  Improving the strength of our local communities.
•  Support for job creation and skills, mainly through volunteers.
•  Growth of the community and social enterprise sector.
•  The role of community enterprise is clear in a varied economy.
•  Key projects are economically resilient and viable.

 Reducing Inequalities

The outcomes we are looking for are:

•  Increased volunteers in regions of greatest need.
•  Community groups are supported to deliver projects and build local capacity.
•  The voluntary and community sector is supported to deliver high-quality health and well-being events.
•  Improving equality and social cohesion.
•  Improved access for deprived communities.

Climate Action

The outcomes we are looking for are:

•  Projects and activities to save energy.
•  Projects and activities to introduce clean transport options.
•  Improving our local environment.
•  Promoting healthy, affordable, sustainable, and local food.
•  Boosting community involvement and volunteering in associated activities.    

Each outcome met scores 1 point.  The more outcomes proposed to meet, the higher the score.

CultureDale and Calderdale’s Year of Culture 2024

Next year is Calderdale’s Year of Culture 2024. Over the years the Small Grants scheme has supported a wide range of cultural groups and activities, however to support the Year of Culture specifically we will also be awarding 2 additional points to any  applications that are for cultural activities.

Culture includes many things: arts & crafts, food, heritage, natural environment, sports and more!

Priority Groups

The scheme also has priority groups, and these will be given an additional 5 points:

• Small groups, defined as those having an income of less than £20,000 per year and no paid staff.
•  Groups who have not had a Small Grant from the Council in the past three financial years.

These applicants will be given a lower score (-3 points each):

• Groups who had a Small Grant from the Council in the last financial year.
• Groups with a free/unrestricted income of over £100,000 a year.

 Exclusions

1. The fund is not for individuals, schools or businesses.  It is for voluntary community, social enterprise sector groups ONLY.
2. Anything that primarily benefits people or causes outside of Calderdale.
3. Anything that promotes religion or support for a political party. (Faith groups can be funded for their community work).
4. We will not give a grant to repay money that has already been spent.
5. Personal equipment – any equipment bought with the grant must remain the property of the group. We will not fund sports equipment for use by one player, which would not be available to other members. (For example, in a football team, we would not fund football boots. We would consider funding for balls, nets, team strips and similar.)
6. We will not fund overnight stays or meal costs.
7. We will not fund ‘food’. Light refreshments (like tea and coffee at events) can be funded.

 Application Guidance and Assistance

You can get assistance with the completion of application forms from the VSI Alliance by contacting info@vsialliance.org.uk

The Council and CFFC will accept applications by video on request from applicant organisations.

The Council and CFFC see this as a reasonable adjustment to make our processes more accessible.

If you would like to apply for a grant by video you can call or email CFFC’s Grants team by Telephone 01422 349700, or email grant@cffc.co.uk, outlining why you would like to apply by video, and answering the questions below:

•      Name of group
•      Name of contact
•      Why do you think applying by video as a reasonable adjustment is appropriate for you and/or your organisation

You can contact the CFFC’s Grants Team for further information and advice on 01422 349700  or grants@cffc.co.uk and also advice on applying for a grant via video see guidance here https://cffc.co.uk/support-for-your-grant-application/

Eligibility Criteria

The criteria below apply to most of our grants. There may be additional criteria for some of the programmes we manage for other grant-making bodies, in which case, those additional criteria are shown at the bottom of the page alongside the name of the programme on our website and publicity material at www.cffc.co.uk .

Who can apply?

• Constituted voluntary, community and faith groups run for and by local people (Note: Individuals cannot apply)
• Registered charities and groups with charitable purposes working in Calderdale, (including Charitable Incorporated Organisations, IPS etc)
• Community Interest Companies (CICs) who do not, and cannot, pay dividends (see below for further criteria for CiCs and Social Enterprises)
• Community Amateur Sports Clubs (CASCs) whose Governance documents include a clear community benefit clause, open membership and an asset lock

Financial Due Diligence

We expect that the groups we fund will be those:

• Whose governing body is entirely voluntary (although out of pocket expenses may be paid), (some exceptions, e.g. CiCs, see below).
• Whose members do not receive any financial benefit, (some exceptions e.g. except CiCs see below)
• Whose income and assets are used for exclusively charitable purposes (and any remaining assets are transferred to a charitable organisation)
• That do not pay any dividend or distribute any surplus to shareholders or members
• Those whose Constitutions/Governing Documents contain a “Dissolution Clause/Asset Lock” which states that in the event of the Organisation closing, its assets will go to an organisation with similar community benefit aims.
• That groups governance set up meets the 7 principles of Good Governance (https://www.charitygovernancecode.org/en/about-the-code-1)
• We expect organisations whose previous years income is in excess of £5k will be registered as Charities, CIOs, CiCs or will have some form of other appropriate legal status. This is a legal requirement. If organisations apply to CFFC who have had an annual income of more than £5k but have not registered, then this will be a requirement before a grant is awarded.

We carry out due diligence on any applying organisations financial situation.

• This includes looking at accounts to ensure that the applying organisations is a going concern and that there are no financial worries or any indications that this is the case.
• We will check registered charities, CICs etc with the Charity Commission and Companies House, as appropriate, to ensure that their returns to the appropriate authority are in one time, and where this isn’t the case, we will approach the applying organisation for an explanation.
• If the explanation for a late return is not felt to be reasonable a grant award will not be made, and applications will not be considered from that organisation until the situation is rectified.

Previous applications history

CFFC will check to see that applying organisations complied with publicity and monitoring requirements from previous Council’s previous Community Small Grants Scheme awards and previous CFFC grant awards, i.e. have demonstrated that previous funding has been acknowledged and that required post-grant monitoring, has been completed to the Council’s and CFFC’s satisfaction.

Additional Criteria for Community Interest Companies (CiCs)                                                  

The Council and CFFC recognise that other kinds of organisation may also carry out activities that are charitable. This may include Social Enterprises, Community Interest Companies, and Companies limited by guarantee. 

This policy sets out the guidelines we will apply to organisations that do not fully meet the not-for-profit criteria above but do carry out activities that are charitable and have a clear public benefit.

We will only support such organisations where:

1. There is a demonstrable public benefit and clear protection against private benefit
2. The organisation has a minimum of three, non-related directors, the majority of whom are not paid employees
3. The salaries and benefits of any paid directors must be approved by most non-executive directors and must be reasonable and proportionate to the work they do and the financial position of the organisation
4. CICs must have an asset lock body with objectives that are both charitable and like the CIC

Documentation needed:

• Constitution or set of rules/Governing Document
• Safeguarding policies (vulnerable adults/children) if appropriate
• Volunteer Policy, if appropriate
• Equalities Policy
• Copy of audited/inspected accounts
• Bank statements
• Committee members contact list (for assurance purposes to demonstrate that a Committee of local people is in place. This information is not kept by us once it has been reviewed)
• If the organisation is a CiC or similar, we require a statement confirming that they meet the “Additional Criteria for Community Interest Companies (CiCs)”, see above item 3

Grant Applicants need to agree to abide by the Terms and Conditions of the Grant.

The Terms and Conditions are downloaded via link on the application form, and the Applicant confirms their agreement by ticking a box.

When will I get a decision?

The maximum period from application to decision is up to sixteen weeks to make a decision. However in general the process takes much less time. We will let you know if you have been awarded a grant or not or if the application has been deferred. If we think your application might be suitable for a particular fund but this will take more than sixteen weeks we will contact you.

Monitoring and Evaluation

All organisations who receive a grant from Calderdale Council, via CFFC will be expected to complete a monitoring and evaluation form online at the end of the agreed spend period.

Here you can view a sample Monitoring Form so you can see the sort of information to collect

Monitoring and Evaluation is very important for us to be able to show donors and partners the impact of grant-making and to also highlight great practice in the Voluntary Sector in Calderdale.

Please note that Grant applicants who have neglected to complete Monitoring and Evaluation for previous grants will not be awarded any more funding until previous grant monitoring has been completed.

How to apply 

Open for applications – Monday 14th August 2023

Deadline for applications – Sunday 10th September 2023 11.59 pm

This fund is now closed for new applications.