Councillors’ Grant Fund

Deadline for applications is Sunday 26 April 2020.

The Warwickshire County Council Councillors’ Grant Fund is aimed at community and voluntary organisations. It provides each of our 57 Councillors with a pot of £6,000 to support small-scale projects within their division.

A coordinated effort across the voluntary and community sector in Warwickshire is making a tremendous difference to isolated and vulnerable people, and those in most need of help. Local people are also stepping up to put new projects together to make a difference in their communities.

The COVID-19 Support Fund has been set up to help keep this happening and will replace the first round of the County Councillors’ Grant Fund this year.  The Support Fund is designed to provide rapid and flexible funding to support communities to do their bit and to make sure the voluntary and community sector continues to thrive now and after the crisis.

Each County Councillor has funding to support voluntary and community groups in their area to be resilient, safe, and connected. No match funding is required. 

• Read the full guidance notes (PDF, 161 KB)
• Download the full list of questions on the online form (PDF, 185 KB)

In Warwick District, County Councillors will use part of their funding usually reserved for the Community Forum Grant Fund. Please see the guidance notes to see the amount of funding each Warwick District Councillor has made available for the COVID-19 Support Fund.

Funding can be used by

1. NEW voluntary or community groups to support community activity that helps:

   • people self-isolating or in quarantine
   • the community to be resilient against the wider impact of COVID-19
   • develop community networks to support either of the above

   This stream is for groups that have come together. Individuals working on their own cannot be funded.

2. EXISTING voluntary or community groups to:

   • keep activity running that is supporting people through the COVID-19 crisis
   • keep running - such as if they have experienced a loss of income through a lack of participants and still need to pay overheads.

   Groups applying to this stream will be asked to evidence why they need this money.  This stream is not available to commercial enterprises. For applications to this funding stream, overhead costs must only be for the period from 1 April to 30 September.

3. We will also accept non-COVID-19 applications that support one or more of the following priority categories:

   • Improve community assets and their sustainability
   • Improve access to services
   • Improve financial capability
   • Reduce loneliness and isolation
   • Improve health and wellbeing

Who can apply?

• Constituted ‘not-for-profit’ community organisations in Warwickshire
• Non-constituted or new ‘not-for-profit’ groups working in Warwickshire that can be supported by a mainstream service or community group willing to administer the funds through an organisational bank account
• Warwickshire Town and Parish Councils

Who cannot apply?

• Groups or organisations that have failed to meet the conditions of previous award agreements from Warwickshire County Council’s Community Safety and Locality Working Service
• Party Political groups
• Individuals
• It is unlikely that applications from statutory organisations will be supported, with the exception of applications from town and parish councils

What will not be funded by the grant fund?

• Projects that promote religious or party political beliefs
• Projects for personal profit
• Costs relating to items purchased or work already carried out before the grant has been awarded
• Loans or debt repayments
• Activities that are part of statutory obligations
• Running costs of an established group or activities which are that group’s main service
• Existing contractual arrangements with WCC

All projects must follow national legislation, guidance and good practice in relation to equality and diversity, health and safety, safeguarding and the current COVID-19 guidance.