Small grants

The Francis C Scott Charitable Trust awards over £1 million in grants every year to charitable organisations operating in Cumbria and the very north of Lancashire.

We recognise that a small, one-off grant is sometimes as appropriate and beneficial as a multi-year revenue grant. For example for smaller capital items, piloting a new initiative or project or for newly established organisations. We therefore have a slightly different process for the consideration of small grants which is designed to give applicants a quicker decision – usually within 3-4 weeks of applying.

The criteria for small grants is exactly the same as for larger grants and the staff and Trustees go through the same process of due diligence in assessing the merits of each application. Projects requiring either capital funding (e.g. equipment) or revenue funding (e.g. running costs) are welcome to apply.

Applications for grants of less than £4,000 will be considered at Small Grants meetings every 3-4 weeks.

We are particularly interested in effective approaches to addressing the needs of children, young people and young adults (up to 24 years old) by: *raising aspirations and supporting personal development *inclusive practice *improving wellbeing and mental health *improving sector effectiveness

The majority of our grants are multi-year revenue grants for project or core costs. We encourage including full costs in your application (including a percentage contribution to indirect costs) if applying for project costs. Trustees will also fund capital projects that make a tangible difference to a local community.

Applications from national organisations will only be considered where the beneficiaries and project workers are based within our beneficial area.

Please note that Trustees prefer to fund small to medium-sized organisations and it is therefore unlikely they will support applications from charities with a turnover in excess of £1m. We would encourage you to seek guidance from the staff if you are unsure.

Some recent examples of small grants that have been awarded are: *pilot youth work training programme across Cumbria *school based counselling in Morecambe *bereavement support for children in West Cumbria *nature based personal development programme for young people from Barrow

Whilst we prefer to fund organisations that are registered charities, we will consider offering grants to organisations who are pursuing charitable objectives and make a demonstrable contribution to their community, providing their aims and constitution are clearly not-for-profit. Additional checks and questions will be asked of organisations applying for funds who are not registered charities.

As with all applications to FCSCT it is worth phoning the team for advice and guidance before filling in the application form. Once you have sent in your FCSCT APPLICATION FORM and accounts, the Grants Officer will be in touch often with a few questions to better understand your project and/or to arrange a visit.

Following the meeting of the Small Grants Committee, we will be in touch by email, letter or phone to let you know the outcome of your application. If successful, a cheque will usually be sent out within a week. All we ask after this is that you fill in our two-page Evaluation Form after a suitable time has passed and that you keep us informed of your progress.