Community Grants

Community Grants: A quarterly programme for grants up to £10,000. Applicants are strongly encouraged to have at least 20% of project funding from another source. Applications are approved by an external Grants Committee, made up of Community Representatives and Trustees.

Introduction:

Milton Keynes Community Foundation is an independent charity providing grants and encouraging philanthropy across the borough of Milton Keynes.

Our Vision is for a thriving Milton Keynes where everyone contributes to their community.

Our Mission is to connect people with resources, skills and ideas to enrich lives and create positive growth for Milton Keynes. We achieve our mission through the themes of:

• Supporting: to support the growth and development of our voluntary community and cultural sector.
• Inspiring: to inspire giving to our communities through philanthropy and other social action
• Leading: to take a lead in connecting and growing sustainable communities.

Our grant making is guided by our Vital Signs research, which aims to collect the most up to date information about the issues affecting Milton Keynes; our impact goals and feedback from the local community, particularly the Voluntary, Community, and Cultural Sector.

Assessment Criteria:

All applications are assessed and scored by assessors and panels against all the following criteria (unless otherwise stated):

• Need and Demand
• Reach and Impact
• Sustainability
• Partnership
• Diversity & Inclusion
• Group profile (an assessment of the strength of an organisation’s governance and track record of delivering projects of quality.)

Guidelines around these criteria can be found in Appendix 1. The pass criteria vary depending on the size of the grant and is reviewed annually. All grants and bursaries are assessed individually on their own merit, without reference to other applications under consideration. However, they may be prioritised on score depending on availability of funds.