Grants

Northaw & Cuffley PC Grants to Local Organisations for 2024/25

We are pleased to announce that we are again inviting Local Voluntary Organisations to apply for a Grant from the Parish Council. Grants will be for a minimum of £250 and a maximum of £5,000. A total budget of £10,000 is available for the financial year 2024-25.

Applications for grants may be made from 1st July 2024 onwards, they may be made by email or by post, marked for the attention of the Parish Clerk.

The e-mail address for all enquiries and completed grant applications is: clerk@northawcuffley-pc.gov.uk or can be posted to The Clerk, Northaw and Cuffley Parish Council, 7 Maynard Place, Cuffley, EN6 4JA.

Background

A grant by a Local Council can be described as a payment made by the Council to be used by an organisation for a specific purpose in the furtherance of the wellbeing of the local community, either generally, or for a specific purpose, which is not directly controlled or administered by the Council.

The Northaw & Cuffley Parish Council recognises the valuable role that voluntary organisations play in providing local services and underpinning community activities. We have for the financial year 2024/25 created a fund of £10,000 for the provision of grants to Voluntary Community Organisations who operate primarily within Northaw and Cuffley.

Eligibility for Grants

To be eligible for a grant the applicant organisation and its proposals must satisfy the following criteria:

• The organisation must be clearly not for profit, and not operating for personal gain.
• The organisation must be operating mainly to benefit residents of Northaw & Cuffley Parish and any project funded must be focussed in the area. National organisations are eligible to apply but they must be able to demonstrate a strong local presence.
• Grants will only be provided for initiatives or projects. We will not consider providing funding towards operational losses, administrative costs, or where the project will take more than the financial year to complete. Grants for repairs to buildings, plant or vehicles will only be considered where there is an element of significant enhancement which leads to additional usage or provision of additional services.
• Grants will not be given to projects already underway or contractually committed.
• The maximum grant will be £5,000 and the minimum £250 for any one project or initiative.
• An organisation with cash resources, as shown by its latest accounts, will not be eligible if its cash balance is in excess of ten times the grant requested.
• The organisation will be expected to have a clear and defined purpose and include written objectives and in most cases a constitution, with transparent and accountable governance which would typically include the organisation’s management board being elected at an AGM and being accountable to either the organisations members, or the local community or specific nominated stakeholders.
• An applicant organisation must be able to demonstrate that it is properly managed, able to run its affairs responsibly and have the capacity and competence to deliver the project proposed.
• An applicant organisation will be expected to have a bank account in its own name.
• Start-up organisations are eligible providing they already have a clear purpose, as set out above, and have a bank account in the organisation’s name.
• Only one application per organisation will be considered within each financial year (1st April – 31st March) but this application can cover several projects/requirements, for a maximum award of £5,000.

Rules for applications for Grants in 2024/2025

If an organisation wishes to apply for a grant, then it must submit a written application form which should include the following information:
• Full details about the organisation, including history, objectives, constitution, and management arrangements.
• Details of financial affairs including a copy of the most recent annual accounts, which should have been independently reviewed or audited by a suitable qualified person, normally for at least two financial years except in the case of new voluntary organisations.
• Description of the activities currently or recently undertaken, and how they have benefited the local community in the past.
• Outline of the proposed project/s or initiative/s including detailed costs and funding.
• Projected future community benefits arising from the project.
• Projected delivery plan including timescales and management arrangements.
The administration and accounting for the use of any grant will be the responsibility of the applicant organisation.
Applications will NOT be considered from any organisations intending to support or oppose any political party; to discriminate on grounds of race or religion; or from any organisation operating in the pursuit of some form of personal gain.

The Grants

Final applications must be sent to the Parish Council, by post or E-mail, for the attention of the Parish Clerk .

If organisations require any additional information, requests may be made by post, E-mail, or telephone to the Parish Council by email to clerk@northawcuffley-pc.gov.uk
All grant applications will be considered by Full Council at their next suitable meeting .
The decisions of the Council regarding the awarding of grants to voluntary organisations will be final.
The Parish Council may make a grant subject to such additional conditions and/or requirements as it considers appropriate and may make an award of less than the grant amount requested.
Grants will be awarded on basis of eligibility, and added value to the community, and has no obligation to award any grants, or utilise fully the available budget in any one year.

Application form

You can download an application using one of the two links below. This will open the document in a new window. Close that window to return to here.

There are two versions of the form, one is MS Word so you can edit it for your application, the second is a PDF version for non MS Word users.

In this case print it and fill it in and submit it.