General Grants Rounds 2022

Round 3: Opens 1st November 2022, deadline 30th January 2023

The General grants round offers grants of up to £5,000 to eligible Voluntary Sector organisations (see eligibility criteria below).

With regard to General Grant applications, CFFC will prioritise applications which contribute to the Foundation’s strategic priorities, these are:

  • Homelessness and Housing
  • Poverty and Disadvantage
  • Mental Health and wellbeing
  • Community Cohesion.

Grant applicants will be expected to show how their proposals will contribute to these priorities. Please note that there will be particular emphasis on Poverty and Disadvantage during this round. This is due to the impact of the rise in cost of living on Calderdale residents. 

CFFC is especially interested to understand how proposals will help the communities of Calderdale recover form Covid and keep Covid safe. We will be looking for information about this in your application and will score higher those applications which make this clear.

CFFC is especially keen to support applications from Calderdale communities that have been particularly affected by the pandemic and the lockdown.

Grant applications for under £1,500 can be made using the online application form: https://ukcf.secure.force.com/forms/Generalupto1500

Grant applicants for over £1,500 can be made using the online application form: https://ukcf.secure.force.com/forms/Generalover1500

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

You can contact the Grants Team for further information and advice on 01422 349700 grants@cffc.co.uk

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
  • Schools (except private, fee charging schools), whether part of the Local Authority or direct funded in some way, to apply for grants for activities which are clearly extra-curricular. NB Schools must be able to provide the documentation required.

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, i.e. have demonstrated that previous funding has been acknowledged and that required post grant monitoring, including evidence of spend, has been completed and received to CFFCs satisfaction.

Additional Criteria for Community Interest Companies (CiCs)                                                  

CFFC recognises that other kinds of organisation may also carry out activities which 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 which are charitable and have a clear public benefit.

We will only support such organisations where:

  1. There is demonstrable public benefit and clear protection against private benefit
  2. The organisation has a minimum of three 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 which are both charitable and like the CIC

We are unlikely to award a grant of more than £5,000 to CICs or social enterprises which allow for payment to members of their governing body.

General Grants

  • new organisations wanting to set up,
  • and/or wanting to pilot/trial new ideas and projects;
  • to develop new projects
  • continue existing projects (with clear development and additionality)

Funding Priorities for all general grants   

We will prioritise applications which will contribute to our strategic priorities, these are:

  • Homelessness and Housing
  • Poverty and Disadvantage
  • Community Cohesion
  • Mental health and Well Being.

These priorities are reviewed on an annual basis.

Please read the tops tips for applying on this page.

What We Cannot Fund

  • General appeals
  • Retrospective applications (i.e. the funding of activities that have already taken place or the repayment of money that has already been spent)
  • Projects that would normally have been funded from statutory sources (e.g. Calderdale CMBC, the local Education Authority, Social Services or Central Government).
  • Religious activities or projects that promote religion, although we may fund activities carried out by faith groups for wider community benefit.
  • Political activities.
  • Projects where the main beneficiaries are animals.

Documentation needed:

  • Constitution or set of rules/Governing Document
  • Safeguarding policies (vulnerable adults/children) 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
  • Conditions of grant aid signed
  • PR protocol signed

When will I get a decision?

The maximum period from application to decision is up to twelve 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 twelve weeks we will contact you.

Monitoring and Evaluation

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

The link for the online form is sent in the grant confirmation email. Reminders are also sent.

Monitoring and Evaluation is very important for us to be able to show to donors and partners the impact of grant making and to also highlight great practise 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 grants monitoring has been completed.