Guidance on how to complete the online application form for the Charnwood Community Grants can be found below.

It is important you have all the information and documents to hand before you start filling in the online application form; you will not be able to save the form and come back to it and it will ‘time out’ at midnight.

It is therefore strongly recommended that the application form preview below is read and all required supporting documents and answers to the questions are prepared before the application is started.

It is important not to exceed the number of indicted characters (including spaces) and not to use special characters in your answers e.g. ! “ £ % & * ( ) @/? #.

Please plan to complete your application with enough time for us to help with any questions / issues. We can’t guarantee to be able to help if you contact us less than two days before the deadline.

You may find it easier you can draft your answers on a word document and then copy and paste the responses into the online application form.

The application form consists of 8 pages, the first page is a guidance page with links to the relevant webpage guidance.

Below are the other headings for the other 7 pages and details of the questions.

Documents to be uploaded

You will not be able to proceed with your application until you have uploaded the documents detailed below.

If this is the first time you have applied for a Community Grant, you will need to upload copies the following documents:

  • A copy of your governing document e.g., constitution / terms of reference / memorandum of articles.
  • Copy of your latest audited or independently examined accounts or for organisations less than 12 months old a twelve-month income and expenditure statement.
  • Two most recent bank statements from ALL accounts.
  • A safeguarding policy relevant to your organisation including if you are working with children / adults at risk.
  • Equality & Diversity Policy.
  • Health and Safety Policy (if you employ five or more staff).
  • Please note, If you are preparing and servicing food to your service users / beneficiaries or the general public, you will need to register as a ‘food business’ with Charnwood Borough Council’s Environmental Health Department to be eligible for a grant.

If you have previously applied for a Community Grant you will need to upload copies of the following documents:

  • Two most recent bank statements for ALL accounts.
  • A safeguarding policy relevant to your organisation including if you are working with children / adults at risk.
  • Equality and Diversity Policy.
  • Health and Safety Policy (if you employ five or more staff).
  • Please note, If you are preparing and servicing food to your service users / beneficiaries or the general public, you will need to register as a ‘food business’ with Charnwood Borough Council’s Environmental Health Department to be eligible for a grant.

Guidance on uploading documents to our online forms

 Applicant Details

  • Name of contact for the Application
  • Position in Organisation
  • Phone number
  • Email address
  • Would like to remain on or be added to the VCSupport email information service to receive updates on funding, events and training opportunities, and if so which email address you would like us to use.

Organisation Details

  • Name of the Organisation
  • Type of Organisation (pick from the list or describe if 'other')
  • Registered Charity Number if applicable
  • Main aim of the Organisation as stated in your governing document (Max length 500 characters)
  • Number of staff, volunteers, beneficiaries / service users accessing Services
  • How many beneficiaries live outside the borough of Charnwood
    • Brief summary of the Services normally delivered by your organisation and what the main objectives are  (Max length 1,000 characters). Please include:
    • The types of service users you support
    • If your Organisation supports people from a specific ward / area in Charnwood
    • What specific issues you aim to address through your services
  • Which ward is your organisation located in?

Your Project

  • Project Name
  • Amount of grant being requested
  • Brief description of the project (Max length 1,000 characters)
  • Who will deliver the project? e.g., staff, volunteers, facilitator and their qualifications if applicable. (Max length 500 characters)
  • Number of volunteers involved in the project
  • Who will benefit from the project? (Max length 500 characters)
  • How many people are expected to benefit from the project?
  •  How many of the Projects beneficiaries live outside the borough of Charnwood
  • Explain how your project will support people specifically affected by the cost-of-living crisis including who they are and what challenges they are facing (Max length 500 characters)
  • Where will the project take place? location i.e. Address / building type / indoors or outside etc. (Max length 250 characters)
  • (Where are there beneficiaries of the project predominantly located? tick list). Click here to view the ward map.
  • A brief description of what service /activities will be provided by the project: (Max length 1000 characters)
  • How long will you work with your beneficiaries? e.g., number and structure of sessions / time frame. (Max length 500 characters)
  • Details of any organisations you are working in partnership with on this project. (Max length 500 characters)
  • Explain how you have identified the need(s) for your project, including: Consultation with beneficiaries / stakeholders / the wider community i.e., how you have identified demand. If you have a waiting list for support, how long are people waiting?   (Max length 1,000 characters)
  • How is your project different from other similar provision? i.e., what is your Unique Selling Point. (Max length 500 characters)
  • Planned Project Outcomes - tell us about your project outcomes which will meet the following Charnwood Borough Council’s corporate aims: (Max length 250 characters per aim; you can add as many as you need to) Applications should fulfil at least one of these aims:
    • Homes and Communities
    • Environment and Climate Change
    • Economy and Growth

Our corporate strategy

Financial Information

Please create an individual entry for each cost by using the 'Add another cost' button for the whole project and provide a breakdown to show how you have arrived at the cost e.g. Salary - 2 hours per week for 48 weeks at 15 pounds per hour equals 1440 per annum.

Please note the Total Project Costs in section A must be equal to the Total Project Income in section B.

A) Project Costs - Here you add the costs for the whole project including a brief description of each cost. Please ensure you group the costs by type and provide details, you can add as many as you need to. E.g. wage/salary costs could be one entry/group and should include a detailed breakdown by roles. Resources or materials might be another entry/group (Max length 150 characters per cost description).

B) Project Income - Here you add the anticipated income for the whole project if the is any; including contributions from reserves, and potential / confirmed grant funding from other sources, you can add as many as you need to. (Max length 150 characters per income description)

Note: the form will automatically add in the Community grant figure you are applying for to the anticipated total income and check the total income equals the total costs. (The totals must match).

  • How will you cover the shortfall if you are not awarded the full amount being requested through the Community Grants scheme?  Or can the project go ahead with the shortfall and if so, explain how? (Max length 250 characters)
    • Bank Account Balances - Here you will need to add in some information for each of the organisation's bank accounts so that we can see how much surplus, i.e. - undesignated funds you have. For each bank account you will need to add:
    • Account Balance
    • How much of the Balance is 'reserved' i.e., for the organisations running costs
    • How much is restricted funds i.e. Can only be used for specific things such as from other grant funding.
    • How much is ring-fenced expenditure i.e. For future running costs or building maintenance

Project Timescales

Here you add an outline timetable for the project by adding the intended milestone dates with a short description of each milestone; including the project start date and end date (Max length 150 characters per milestone; you can add as many as you need to).

Declaration

  • The name of the person competing the form and their position/role in the Organisation
  • You will then be asked to confirm you accept the below statements before submitting the form.
    • I confirm that I am authorised to make this application on behalf of the organisation and that, as far as I am aware, the information submitted is true and complete.
    • Should we be awarded a grant we will make Charnwood Borough Council aware of any potential changes to the project as soon as we become aware of them.
    • The application is made on the understanding that, should our application be successful, the grant will only be used for the purpose(s) specified in the grant offer letter.

Once submitted the form will show you a confirmation page with the reference for you grant application that should be used in all future communication. 

A confirmation email with the reference number will also be sent to the email address supplied on the 'Applicant Details' page.

The Grants team can also email you a copy of your completed application form in PDF format for your records on request

Apply for a Charnwood Community Grant

Last updated: Mon 3rd March, 2025 @ 09:25