Evening Hill Grassroots Fund

Grants to groups to enable them to continue or expand their work in advocacy, community voice, and service provision for local people throughout Cumbria.

Donor Private individuals

Priority will be given to projects which:

• support groups and organisations benefitting children & young people • improve the quality of life for elderly people • support the priority age group within disadvantaged communities in Cumbria • supporting disadvantaged people where this grant will make a difference to their lives • projects along the west coast, high deprivation areas

Examples of projects supported:

• improvements to a community building • education and building life skills • woodcraft classes for older people in a rurally isolated area • IT classes in a rural area

What the fund will not support in addition to our normal exclusions:

• individuals

How much can you apply for?

Grants will normally be around than £1,000 over one year; however, there is no minimum or maximum award amount.

What we will fund:

• Projects where the majority of people who will benefit are disadvantaged
• Groups working with children where the majority are disadvantaged or have special needs
• Groups with 12 months or less running costs in unrestricted reserves
• Groups operating within the county of Cumbria (Except Beckburn Windfarm and Cumberland Building Society Community Fund – please refer to the fund pages for the full area of benefit)
• Groups with a registered address and/or local voluntary management committee or Board of Trustees in Cumbria (Except Beckburn Windfarm and Cumberland Building Society Community Fund – please refer to fund pages for the full area of benefit)
• Core costs and overheads for your organisation
• Salaries and equipment purchases
• Capital projects that meet our fund criteria

What we won’t fund:

• Animal welfare
• Contact boxing, except where donor-advised
• Businesses and personal profit
• Deficit funding
• General large appeals
• Medical research and equipment, except where donor-advised
• Activities that are normally the responsibility of central or local government
• Awards from the same fund in a 12 month period
• Projects which duplicate an existing service in an area
• Fundraisers and fundraising events
• Advancement of religion including buildings solely for religious purposes, except where donor-advised
• Party political activities
• Retrospective funding unless through a disaster appeal
• Purchase of vehicle, except where donor-advised
• Groups or individuals who have not returned their monitoring form
• Beautification projects, except where donor-advised

National organisations that do not have a local presence within Cumbria Safeguarding relates to the actions taken to promote the welfare and wellbeing of children, young people and vulnerable adults, and to protect them from harm, abuse and neglect.

The trustees of an organisation have the primary responsibility for safeguarding beneficiaries, staff and volunteers, and must take all the necessary steps to ensure that their organisation is operating in a safe and secure environment. This includes staff and volunteers receiving appropriate training and support to prevent safeguarding issues arising, or to spot signs of abuse; robust procedures for reporting abuse in a timely and objective manner, and clear accountability structures, including a named contact for any safeguarding issues.

Cumbria Community Foundation takes the safeguarding of children and adults at risk seriously and we expect organisations applying for our funding to have a safeguarding policy that is up-to-date and relevant to their beneficiaries.

Who can apply?

• Groups who are supporting disadvantaged people, especially those supporting children, young people and the elderly

We make grants to a wide range of organisations. We are particularly keen to help grassroots community groups and small-to-medium-sized voluntary organisations. We do not normally make grants to large UK-wide charities, but we might do so where there are strong relationships in our area and the proposal has the potential to achieve a substantial impact.

You do not have to be a registered charity to apply, but the work you ask us to support must be legally charitable.

Volunteer-led organisations, registered charities and CIOs must:

• Have a management committee with a minimum of three unrelated members
• Have a bank or building society account in the name of the organisation/group, with a minimum of two unrelated bank signatories.
• Have charitable aims, evidenced by the governing document.
• Provide evidence of good governance practices and sound financial management including being registered with the Charity Commission, Community Amateur Sports Club (CASC) or other governing body, depending on the size of the organisation, annual accounts.
• Register with the Charity Commission if your charitable organisation is based in England or Wales and has over £5,000 income per year.

Social enterprises, Community Interest Companies (CIC) and other companies must:

• Have a management committee with a minimum of three directors, or four directors if two are related. The majority of directors should be unpaid. Directors should have equal voting rights.
• Have a bank or building society account in the name of the organisation/company, with a minimum of two unrelated bank signatories.
• Have clear charitable purposes and a defined social benefit, evidenced by Articles of Association and community benefit statement. Please also supply your CIC 34 report (if this has been made available).
• Provide evidence of good governance practices and sound financial management, including having a recognised status (e.g. a company limited by guarantee), and be registered with the necessary relevant body (e.g. Companies House, CIC regulator, annual accounts.
• Ensure an Asset Lock body is named and has objectives both charitable and similar to the CIC, ensuring benefit to the community.

NB: We will ask you to provide evidence of the above as part of your funding application For most funds, you can apply whatever your income level. Some funds may have more specific requirements about the size and type of organisation eligible.

Please note if you have previously had a grant from us we will not consider any new application unless you have submitted any outstanding end of grant monitoring reports.