Tips for filling in the application form

Please read the whole form before filling it in.

Name of applicant or organisation

If the grant is for an individual insert their name. If it is for an organisation use the full name of the organisation. If the name of the organisation is very long it would be helpful to insert the name by which the organisation is usually known. For example our full title is Greenham Common Community Trust Limited but we regularly go under the name of Greenham Common Trust. This name should match the name of the bank account to which the monies shall be paid if successful - not the project name which can be used in the detailed section.

Any application from a school should be submitted by the Parent Teacher Association or similar body and endorsed by the Head Teacher (on page 3). This will confirm that the purpose is approved by both school and parents/guardians of the children.

Registered Charity No. (if applicable)

The Trust can only give money for charitable purposes. If the organisation seeking the grant aid is a registered charity then the Trust can be confident that the money will be used for charitable purposes.

Website address

The Trust is happy to provide links to the websites of organisations and projects that it supports from its own website.

1) What does your organisation do?

A brief description of the purpose of the organisation.

2) Please describe in 20 words or less what the grant will be spent on

This is a short description of what the funds will actually be spent on. We ask for this to be filled in a very short form so that the applicant for grant aid is actually deciding how the application should be described in a small number of words. If you do not fill the form in using 20 words or less then we have to try to précis what the grant is for and of course we are not in a position to do that as effectively as the people making the application. Be specific here rather than the general charitable aims which you can expand on in section 6. Try and avoid generic phrases like ‘Providing opportunities for widening participation of young people’.

3) Please indicate how many people will benefit from the grant?

Please indicate in one box only how many people are likely to benefit from the project or items the grant is funding.

How much grant aid are you applying for?

Every year the total of grants sought far exceeds the amount available for distribution. If the application is for a complicated project or for a much larger grant you may be asked to provide further information which is proportionate to the size of grant or the complexity of the project. You may also be required to give a short presentation to the distribution committee. In the case of applications for major grant aid only it may be appropriate to send some additional information on the project. If that is the case then it should be restricted to a modest amount of additional information supplied in a form that is easy to photocopy using a black and white photocopier for circulation.

4) Please provide a breakdown of what the grant is for (include VAT where appropriate)

Breakdown of capital and revenue costs associated with the project for which you are intending to use the grant to pay for.  This does give an opportunity to breakdown the project costs and if the Distribution Committee decides it can’t fund the project in its entirety it may still be able to fund it in part. This gives you an opportunity to provide more information about what the grant is for. Again this should not be used for a detailed description of the project. That should be in section 6 which should include why the grant aid is needed and how the project will benefit the local community.

Multiple applications

Some organisations have proposed a number of different projects as different applications. This has tended to make the grant allocation much harder and multiple applications are discouraged. It is suggested that multiple purposes are put on one form and the breakdown section on the first page will indicate the separate elements of a project.

5) Eligilbility of grants:

Greenham Common Trust Funds – West Berkshire and the northern villages of North Hampshire

Local Strategic Partnership and West Berkshire Council Funds – West Berkshire only.

Which geographical area does the organisation/project serve?

The Trust can only give grant aid in relation to projects that are for the benefit of Newbury and the surrounding area. The surrounding area is not limited by any Local Authority boundaries and clearly includes the northern villages of North Hampshire. Please state briefly the area in which the organisation operates. Grant aid from WBC resources will generally be limited to things for the benefit of West Berkshire.

It is important to consider this carefully. For example, you may be holding an event in Victoria Park in Newbury which may attract visitors from across the district and not just Newbury residents. Also consider the constituent parts of your organisation users, members, volunteers, staff etc.

6) Describe in detail what the grant is for and why it is needed.

How will it benefit the local community?

We expect clear and succinct details about what the project is about. Try to be concise using bullet points and summaries rather than long paragraphs. Please also indicate what benefits the item/s/project/service will bring to the local community and if appropriate how long the benefits will last. This section is also for providing further financial information which you believe is relevant to the project/item/s/services. We do not require full annual accounts and reports but we welcome relevant excerpts from reports where they support the grant application. E,g if you are asking for a grant to support the building of a new facility you would need to demonstrate a plan to engage users and make full use of the capacity of the facility. Do not put other sources of funding in this section please. They will go in Section 15. 

7) Major grants

Major grants will be considered (up to a maximum of 50% of the total reactive grant round pot). The Trust will not exclude organisations which are seeking funding for more than this but they will not be considered through the reactive grant round application process. They should approach the Trust separately and we would be more than happy to discuss their ideas. The total grants available for each reactive grant round in 2011/12 will be £170,000.

8) What do you aim to achieve and how will you measure this?

Think about the outcomes and aims and objectives of your project. For example a local group wants to teach young children instruments and needs a venue to perform and instruments. Its aims and objectives would be have 50 members (doubling its membership) by the end of the year and put on three live concerts.

9) How will you ensure that your organisation obtains the maximum benefit from the goods/services provided?

Provide evidence here that you are creating the maximum benefit for the local community by including details of tendered quotes to obtain the best value for the services and or Items paid for from your grant. You should also demonstrate a recovery plan if things go wrong and your organisation has to close. What will happen to the equipment for example? Will it be past to a similar charity.

10) What is the timescale to your project?

Generally projects will not be funded retrospectively. Ideally the funding should be for items to be purchased or projects to take place within a reasonably short timescale. Include project development dates. The Trust recognises the worth of ongoing work.

11) Matched funding

Greenham Common Trust does not require matched funding to release a grant. However, it welcomes applications where a Trust grant can lever further funding from another grant maker. Consider if the grant sought would enable the project to proceed or is other funding required? There is no objection to committing funds to kick start a project but we will need to be certain that the project will proceed before the funds are released.

12) Has your organisation been previously funded?

The Trust welcomes new and repeat applications regardless of whether you have applied or been successful or not in receiving a grant for capital or revenue projects before.

Please indicate where funds or grants related to the organisation and any other funding have come from over the past few years. For example funds may have been provided by the Local Authority. Also indicate if the funds are continuing or if they have been withdrawn or revised.

13) What funds do you currently have?

General Funds – What is your bank balance? This is intended to establish the overall resources of the organisation.
Reserves – the amount set aside for known bills, running costs and contigencies.
The Charity Commission sometimes requires charities to hold reserves of at least six months of running costs.

14) What other funds have you set aside for this project?

The total amount you have raised so far for this particular project out of your own funds and separate sources of funding. This is intended to establish if the organisation has committed its own reserves to the proposal.

15) Other sources of aid – list names of providers and amounts.

This should be a list of other sources of funding that the organisation has access to or that are currently being applied for. For example grants from Local Authorities, the Lottery Commission or income from any other source.

Remembers to distinguish between funds you have applied for on Column 1 and the funding you received or have been promised in column 2). Also include in this section money you have raised through fundraising events and collections and private donations. The Trust encourages organisations to seek alternative sources of funding rather than being solely reliant on the Trust for funding. That doesn’t exclude applications for 100% of funding.

16) West Berks Local Area Agreement Outcomes and West Berkshire Sustainable Community Strategy Priorities

The Trust’s grant application form also allows the applicant to apply for West Berkshire Partnership (LSP) funding, West Berkshire Council (WBC) small grants scheme (grants up to £1,000) and Vibrant Villages funding (matched funding for capital rural community projects from the Trust and WBC for grants up to £8,000 out of a total pot of £140,000 - £70,000 each).

Please indicate which of the outcomes or priorities will be supported by this project. The funding provided through the LSP will be targeting these. If the project does not support any of the priorities this is not a bar to funding as the by Trust funding is not restricted to supporting these outcomes and priorities. There is a summary of the West Berkshire Priorities available at http://wwww.greenham-common-trust.co.uk/forms/