Community Chest

The scheme gives local organisations a chance to bid for funding.

The scheme gives local organisations a chance to bid for funding.

Our aim is to support voluntary and community groups and organisations to deliver activities which contribute to achieving the council’s ambition of maintaining and creating sustainable communities.

Hear from some of our previous winners below and find out how you can apply for funding here.

Ellington Brownies

Bedlington FC

Rothbury Pipers

Koast Radio

Howick Hall

Cramlington Youth Project

Learn more below about the latest grants.

Application forms and guidance

We are pleased to announce that the Community Chest Scheme for 2020-21 is now OPEN.

For more information, please contact: communitychest@northumberland.gov.uk

The aim of the Community Chest Scheme is to support community groups and organisations to deliver activities which contribute to achieving the Council’s ambition for Northumberland. This includes Help For You which aims to help young people under 18 to achieve an ambition (see below).

The Community Chest Scheme will support one-off initiatives that are:

seen as valuable to the area
are not able to secure mainstream funding from the council or other sources

They do this by giving one-off grants of up to £5,000, but not exceeding 75% of the actual costs, i.e. you will need to find at least 25% from your own or other sources. Please note that projects that specifically help the community to recover from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic may apply for up to 100% but the limit remains £5,000.00.

You are advised to read the guidelines carefully before applying. If you would like some ideas about the kinds of projects that have been successful, please see the list of successful projects for 2017-18.

Successful projects in 2017/18

To help the council decide between different applications, there are higher and lower priorities for the scheme.

Higher priority will be given to:

projects submitted by small community groups, defined as having an income of less than £10,000 per year and no paid staff
initiatives that will help community groups to become sustainable in the longer term
groups who have not received a grant from the community chest in the past

Lower priority will be given to groups who have received a community chest grant in the past two years and those that apply for projects similar to previous years.

Parish Councils can apply for the first time in 2020/21 for projects that help their communities to recover from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, including public realm works that complement the Council's Culture Fund. Up to 100% of costs may be eligible, subject to a limit of £5,000.00. To support parish applications, we require copies of the previous accounts and current budget.

If your group or organisation does not meet the priorities, then an application can still be made but is less likely to be successful.

	Deadline	Panel Meeting by
Round 1	Friday 02 October 2020	Friday 13 November 2020
Round 2	Friday 15 January 2021	Friday 26 February 2021

Please note that there will not be a separate budget this year for projects that benefit communities across the County.

If you would like to apply to the fund, please click on the form and guidelines links below. Some users may experience formating issues with the Word version, in which case plase check the pdf version to make sure that all of the sections are correct. Once your project is finished you will be required to submit a completion form and submit copies of receipts. You can also request a link to a bespoke google docs application form via the email address below. Unfortunately, we are not able to provide an online application form at this time.

NB If you submit paper documents, please do not use staples. All documents are scanned and the paper copies are then shredded.

Application form

Guidance and conditions

Sample completed application

Sample (PDF format)

Completion form

Help For You

Grants of up to £200 are available for young people aged under 18 to support them in pursuing a particular ambition. Applications must be submitted by a constituted body, such as a sports club, youth club, scouts/guides, community group, local charity, or a school. No more than two grants per year per organisation will be allowed. Applications must be made on the form provided below. Applications will be considered in Round 1 followed by a review of the scheme. Submitting Help For You applications will not affect applications to the main Community Chest Scheme.

The grant panel will be looking for demonstrations of leadership, sporting excellence or other endeavour, which will inspire other young people or project a positive role model for others to follow.

For further information, please contact:

Community Regeneration Team
Ecomony and Regeneration Service
Place Directorate
Northumberland County Council
County Hall
Morpeth
NE61 2EF
communitychest@northumberland.gov.uk

communitychest@northumberland.gov.uk

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