Staffordshire Local Community Fund

Staffordshire Local Community Fund

Supporting your organisation

Yourcounty councillor has £7,500 to spend on community projects in your area through the Staffordshire Local Community Fund.

Application Form 2018

Organisation Name
E-mail address (for correspondence)
Project Name
Name of your local County Councillor

Firstly, please read the entire form and the notes carefully and contact your local County Councillor to discuss your proposed grant application before completing, signing and sending your application form directly to them.

Your project must be in a position to be completed from 1April 2018–31 March 2019

A failure to complete all sections to include your signature and provide all the necessary information will delay the grant process.

General information about the Fund

The broad purpose of the scheme is to enable county councillors to use grants to promote the wellbeing of the inhabitants of their electoral divisions and in particular to support the delivery of the Council’s outcomes in respect of

Being able to access more good jobs and feel the benefit of economic growth
Being healthier and more independent
Feeling safer, happier and more supported in and by their community

The scheme begins 1 April 2018 and applications may be submitted after discussing your project with your local county councillor.

The deadline to submit applications to your councillor is 30 November2018.

However,if you wait until later in the year to contact your county councillor or to submit your application you might find that the county councillor’s money has all been spent or allocated.

Each councillor wants to support as many worthwhile community projects as possible with their £7,500 of funding available. The fund will be able to support a wider range of projects if the application is for only part of the costs – where you can match the funding from your own funds or from elsewhere. It may be that the councillor may only have funding available to part fund your application. Any additional funding required to allow the project to go ahead must be raised or available before an agreed grant will be released.

Grants cannot be paid retrospectively – make sure your application is in respect of future expenditure only.

Where the County Council has decided not to provide or commission a service requests for financial support may be considered. However, you will need to provide evidence of a well prepared business case showing ongoing sustainability of the proposed project.

This scheme is intended to provide one off injections of funding rather than year on year financial support for specific projects. Applications are not likely to be successful in consecutive years without there being exceptional circumstances.

The scheme is intended to support local communities in funding projects from community groups, not for profit organisations, local charities & volunteer groups. It is not intended to provide ongoing support for commercial activities giving financial gain to individuals or businesses

All applications supported by councillors are submitted for approval by the Council and all grants must be claimed and spent before 31 March 2019.

Some specific guidance to bear in mind –

The scheme is not available to support individuals.

Grants may be made for schools, but it is expected to be match funded and will not support the school’s ordinary curriculum, or routine purchases of school equipment or minor repairs to school buildings.

Grants may be made to parish councils, but must be in respect to and benefit the local community and wherea contributionof at least 50% will be madefrom its precept towards the cost of the project.

Grants may be made towards church repairs but not for items or projects that are for religious purposes. Other projects must be of benefit to the wider community.

Salary related costs cannot be supported by the scheme.

If you require any further assistance please contact Heather Collingwood on 01785 276019

or email

The contact details of your local County Councillor can be found on the link below.

Please use your organisation’s postcode when applying for funding to show the contact details of your local County Councillor.

Section 1 – Contact Information

a) Please fill in the following details about the person in your organisation who will be the main contact for your application. We will contact this person to discuss the application in more detail should we need any further clarification.

Name of main contact

Title / First name / Surname
Position in organisation
Name of Organisation / Charity No (if applicable)
Address for correspondence including postcode
Postcode

b) Please give the address of your organisation if it is different from 1above.

Address of organisation including postcode
Postcode

c) Please enter your telephone number(s) and e-mail address – note – Correspondence by email is preferred for swiftness.

Daytime
Telephone number
Mobile number
E-mail address

Section 2- Your local County Councillor

2a) Please give the name of your local County Councillor, the amount you are applying for and the date you need the funding by. If you are applying to more than one County Councillor for funding also list their names and the amount of funding applied for in the box below.

Name of county councillor(s) / Amount of funding applied for / Date funding is required by
2bPlease provide details of match funding, in kind contributions, fundsfrom other sources to be used in conjunction with this grantwhich will cover any shortfall in funding
towards the total project costs
Name of funding provider / Amount of funding applied for
to be confirmed / Amount of funding
Received
2c) Ifyou have applied to another Staffordshire County Council grant scheme towards this application -Please provide details and amounts of funds still pending or received

2d) If the work is being carried out by a County Council service - please provide the name and contact details of the person dealing with your project

Section 3Your Project

a) Please include full details of your project. Please describe how it will contribute to the delivery of the county council’s outcomes [described on page 3] and include who will benefit and how they will benefit *

b) Is this the first time that you have applied for funding for this project? Yes/No

If you have been successful in receiving a previous grant please include the year that your application was last successful, brief details and which councillor/s supported it.

Project location –cto h are required if project involves premises

c) Does your project involve improving any land or buildings? Yes No

d) If the answer to the question above is Yes, please include the name and address of the land or buildings involved in your project in the box below?

e) Has the owner given their consent to your project? Yes No

f) Who will be responsible for any continued maintenance of the project if required?

g) Have all consents, planning permissions been given to allow your project to proceed? Please provide details below to include any that are still pending waiting a decision.

List consents, building & planning permissions / pending / approved

Important If a church is involved you will need to include, with your application, a copy of a faculty or other permissions which you have obtained from the Diocese.

h) Please include a map which clearly shows the location of your project.

Section 4Cost of your project

4. a) Enter the total cost of your project below

b) Pleasedetail how the money you are applying for will be spent

e.g. a total of £1000 might be split as follows:-

Room hire - £185

Trainingworkshops - £515

Promotional leaflets- £300

If the actual costs are unknown then please include estimated costs

List of Items/services / Costs
Total Cost / £

Important:Items should not be purchased before any grant has been approved.

Projects are not funded retrospectively.

c) If you are applying for funding that is less than the total cost of your project, have you already raised the balance?

Yes -please provide details in section2B No

Important We will not be able to pay the grant until the balance has been raised or secured.

d) If you answered No to the question above, when do you expect the balance to be raised by?

Date balance is expected to be raised by

Note - All funds must be claimed and spent before 31st March 2019
Section 5Certification

5. Please read the following paragraphs carefully.

a) I certify that the project details given in sections 3 and 4 and the bank details given in section 7 are correct and that the proposed grant will be spent on that project.

b) I undertake on behalf of the recipient of the grant [the grantee] tocomply fully with all the conditions set out in section 8(general conditions)

c) DELETE one of the two following paragraphs option i) or ii)*

Your application will be returned to you for further consideration if this is not done. Immediate payment will not be made if any balance of funding necessary for the project to go ahead will remain outstanding.

i)I certify that the project will proceed immediately on payment of the grant and we apply for immediate payment.

ii)I certify that the project will not proceed until we have secured all the necessary funding for the project and that we will notify you in writing when payment is required, with evidence of the other funding we have obtained.

d) I certify that I am authorised by the grantee to sign this document on the grantees behalf and that the grantee will be legally bound by it.

Signature of applicant (whose name and address is given in section 1a)

______

Please ensure you have provided your signature above

Name (please print)______

Date ______

Section 6Your Publicity Plans

If you are successful in your application, you have a responsibility to proactively promote the funding you have received via the Staffordshire Local Community Fund. This means thinking about where to use our logo and how to gain positive media coverage.

At this point we just need to know what your publicity plans are as it is really important to keep the public informed about how effectively the county council is spending their council tax.

Please fill in the boxes below(just basic information is enough) and return with your application form.

This form does not affect whether your application is accepted or not. It is just for our information.

Name of organisation
Name of person responsible for publicity correspondence
Contact number
Amount applied for / £
Brief summary of project
When will you start using your grant money?
Where do you plan to use the Staffordshire County Council logo?

Please complete if you are applying for £1000 or more only

How and when will you involve the local media to gain positive press coverage?

Press releases? Photo opportunities?Publicity event? Please give details below.

Section 7Payment Arrangements

If a grant is approved payment will be made direct to the Bank or Building Society account specified below. Please complete all sections below

Name of Organisation
Contact name and address of Treasurer of organisation
Address
Post code
Phone number
Email address
a)Name of Bank
b) Branch address:
c) Name of account (this must be the Organisation name you have given on the front cover of this application form)
d)Bank Account number
e) Roll number
Building Society accounts only
f) Bank Sort Code
g) Names of signatories to account
Cost Centre and GL codes – where applicable

Checklist –to avoid delays in the application process

Please check you have completed all sections before sending your form to your County Councillor

Please read and retain the general informationon pages 3 & 4 and general conditionson pages 13 & 14
You have provided your Signature on page 9
You have completed sections 1 -7 of the application form
You have deleted the relevant paragraph in section 5 (c)on page 9
You have sent us the information we have asked for including a location map(where required) for your project
Remember – postal charges are greater for larger envelopes. Please fold your application and use a smaller envelope to avoid delays in delivery and additional postage charges

Section 8General conditions

a) The grant is non-transferable

b) Project costs incurred before the approval of the grant will not be accepted.

c) The grant is made on the basis that the project is able to proceed in accordance with the dates in the application

d) If it is established that the project will cost less than the grant awarded the grantee will immediately refund the difference to the Council.

e) The grant is made on the basis that the grantee agrees to acknowledge the support of Staffordshire County Council by using the council logo when producing any form of public material, including press releases, leaflets, posters and signage. If your project has a website, our logo must appear on the home page. Specific guidance and templates for all of the above are available.

f) The grant is made on the basis that the grantee will commit to pro-actively generate publicity that acknowledges the county councillor and the county council. This will include, but is not limited to the following publicity vehicles.

For recipients of all amounts of money:

We will supply you with a certificate to display that acknowledges the county councillor’s contribution
We ask you to use the county council’s logo on all new signage produced (guidelines will be given)
We ask you to use the county council’s logo on all posters and leaflets produced that publicises any events using funded facilities

In addition to the above list we ask recipients of amounts above £1000 to:-

Produce a press release and liaise with local press. You can find contact information for the local press in your area by visiting our website at Your county councillor must be invited for comment and to take part in any photo opportunities.

g) No part of the grant shall be used for the publication or promotion of any material which in whole or in part appears to be designed to affect public support for any political party or group or for the promotion of sex, alcohol or illegal substances.

h) The grantee shall not sell or dispose of any equipment or goods purchased with the grant without first receiving the County Council’s written consent. But this paragraph shall not apply to any equipment or goods which, through use, have reached the end of their economic life.

i) The grantee shall report by letter to the County Council on the expenditure of the grant and, if practicable, shall include in the letter appropriate comments on the success (or otherwise) of the project and the benefits derived from it.

j) After the expenditure of the grant the Council may request such information as it considers necessary to prove that the grant has been properly spent. This information may for example include copies of newspaper articles, photographs, receipts and inspection of any equipment purchased. The grantee shall keep all receipts and documentation relating to the project for at least six years after the receipt of the grant and will permit authorised representatives of the County Council to inspect them.

k) During the operation of the project the grantee shall adopt and maintain equal opportunity and anti-discriminatory practicesand must not promote or condone extremist ideology, activities or terrorism.

l) Your organisation name and the amount you have been awarded will be published on the Staffordshire Web at

Note: for some types of grant, especially those for the improvement of buildings, additional conditions may be necessary.

Please retain general information on pages 3 and 4 and general conditions on pages13 and 14

Calling all Voluntary Groups ……………….

Did you know that you could be eligible for the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service? This is the highest award given to local volunteer groups across the UK to recognise outstanding work done in your community. Any group doing volunteer work that provides a social, economic or environmental service to the local community and has been operating at a high standard for three years can be nominated for the award.

To qualify you must meet the following criteria:-

Your group must be made up of two or more people and provide a specific benefit to the local area. It may be affiliated to a larger regional or national organisation, as long as volunteers started and developed the initiative for the activity locally, and the group’s achievements go beyond what is expected of similar groups in the wider organisation’s network.
Your group may bring direct or indirect benefit. An example of indirect benefit is work to preserve the heritage or environment.
Your group must have been operating at a high standard for at least three years.
More than half of the people who work in the group must be volunteers and have the right of residence in the UK.
Your group has public liability insurance or other relevant insurance required for your work.
If appropriate your group satisfies requirements to safeguard children and vulnerable adults.

If you feel that your group meets all of the criteria above then why not visit The Queen’s Awards website for more information about the application process

You won’t be able to nominate yourselves for this award. The nomination should come from someone who has benefited from your group’s activities. You will also need two letters of support which should be made by people independent of your group. Nominations should be submitted by Midnight on 14 September 2018to make sure that your group is considered for an award the year after you are nominated.

If you need any advice on the Queen’s Award, contact Sean Whinray on (01785) 276805 or Sharon Dean on (01785) 276021.