Grassroots Grants

The purpose of this programme is to support small, informal voluntary and community groups/organisations to develop their capacity and provide them with the ability to respond to their community's needs. The grants provided can support capital or revenue purchases.

Maximum grant: £5,000
Minimum grant: £250

29/06/09 Funding Update

Funding is still available from the Grassroots Grants scheme; however, any awards made after July 2009, will not be released until April 2010. Groups are encouraged to continue to submit applications, which, as we cannot fund retrospectively, should be for projects and capital or revenue costs for the financial year beginning 01 April 2010.

These will be assessed and presented to the panel for decision. You will receive an offer letter if you have been awarded a grant but the funds will not be released until April 2010.

If you have any queries please call the office on 0191 383 0055.

10/02/09 Amendment to Criteria

The Grassroots Grants scheme will now accept applications from organisations with an average income of up to £30,000 (previously the cut-off was £20,000 p.a.). We would strongly recommend applicants who have been previously rejected on these grounds to re-apply.

Organisations can apply for either a one-off payment or a grant spread over the three year period (2008 – 2011), but with no portion of that spread being less than the minimum grant amount.

What we will fund
Are you eligible
Apply for a grant

What we will fund

Purchase of equipment, like a computer, oven, furniture.
Costs of putting on a local event or workshop.
Staff costs to enable the employment of individuals.
Contribution to rent costs (related to activities/service delivery).
The cost of attending a conference or event.
Training for volunteers.
Additional activities to expand an existing funded project.
Activities that support community activity.
Activities that meet an identified need in the local community.
Funding to support an organisation to achieve a quality or other standard relevant to their activities.

Are you eligible?

Please click here to read our full guidelines to ensure you are eligible to apply for a Grassroots Grant. We strongly recommend that you read these guidelines before submitting an application.

Groups must:

be a not-for-profit, third sector voluntary or community group, active in their local community for not less than 12 months prior to 31 December 2007
have an evidenced income of less than £30,000 per annum, taken as an average income for the last three financial years (or over the life of the group if it is less than three years old), and net of any grants received through the Grassroots Grants programme
be volunteer led (i.e. with largely volunteer based input)
be connected with and/or meeting the needs of the local community
have a governing document that has as a minimum the name, aim/purpose, objects, a dissolution clause for the organisation, a list of Trustees/Committee members, and Trustees/Committee member signatures.

Groups and organisations do not have to be registered charities.

Apply for a grant

Step 1. If you haven't already please download the full guidelines to ensure you are eligible.
Step 2. Please fill out an Expression of Interest Form (Choose and click on one of the buttons below). You can do this in two ways: by filling in our online form or by downloading a pdf version to fill in and post to us at:

County Durham Foundation
Jordan House
Forster Business Centre
Finchale Road
Durham
DH1 5HL

Step 3. Sit back and wait to hear from us. We will look at your Expression of Interest form and if we feel that your project meets the criteria we will then request that you complete a full application. This system will ensure that you do not spend time completing a full and detailed application for a project that may not be supported.

Click here to view Grassroots Grants panel dates and application deadlines.

Click on the button below to view our range of sample group documents including environmental policy and full cost recovery guidelines.

If you have any problems using this area of our website please fill out our feedback form and let us know.

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