Grant FAQs

Is there a clear need for your activity?
Are you able to effectively deliver the activity?
Are there other organisations already providing the activity/service that you could work with?

Most of our grants are made to organisations with charitable purposes. However, some of our Funds can award grants to individuals and if this is the case it will be made clear in the criteria. If you are applying as an individual, please get in touch with our grants team on [email protected] or 01743 291010.

Registered charities
Charitable incorporated organisations (CIO)
Constituted community groups
Companies limited by guarantee with charitable aims
Community interest companies (CIC)
Co-operatives – registered community benefit societies (CBS) and
registered industrial and provident societies (IPS)
Social enterprises

Funding given to CICs and other non-charities may include conditions restricting funding to charitable objectives only. Please check the relevant fund factsheet for specific details.

CICs and social enterprises must be able to demonstrate they have clear charitable purposes and that their work has a defined social benefit. There must be at least three unrelated directors in place, with board meetings attended by at least three directors to ensure robust financial procedures are followed.

CICs must be registered with Companies House and able to provide a registration number and a copy of the Memorandum and Articles of Association with applications.

Grants will not normally be made to the following types of organisations:

Animal welfare
Political groups or activities promoting political beliefs
Religious groups seeking to influence people’s religious choices
Sports groups with no community or charitable element
Organisations that are statutory bodies (such as a local authority, primary care trust, schools, parish councils and hospitals) or private/commercial businesses, including sole traders, unless wider community benefit is demonstrated
Larger or national charities that are based outside the area
Individuals
Medical research
Organisations with substantial reserves

Whilst promotion of any religion is not an activity which will receive grant funding from Shropshire Community Foundation, faith-based organisations may still be funded provided that the grant benefits the wider community and is not intended to influence people’s religious choices or to promote a particular belief system.

We give priority to local organisations whose work benefits people in Shropshire. However, consideration will be given to local branches of national organisations who have their own bank account and management committee if the grant is for the benefit of local people.

We will only award funding for school-based activities which are outside the scope of statutory provision and wider community benefit is demonstrated. We will not generally make grants for purchases or activities which fall within an existing statutorily funded budget, even where that budget may be insufficient to fund the school’s ambitions.

The types of activity or item a group can apply for will depend on the grant programme to which the application is submitted. Each of the grant programmes the Foundation manages has its own criteria and maximum grant award. The relevant guidelines can be found on the grant programmes page.

General and major fundraising appeals
Arts projects with no community or charitable element
Individual projects
Mainstream activities of schools and colleges
Organisations whose work does not benefit people living within Shropshire (including the borough of Telford & Wrekin)
Religious activities
Medical research, equipment or treatment
Animal welfare
Political activities promoting political beliefs
Direct replacement of statutory funding
Sports projects with no community or charitable element
Retrospective grants
Contribution to endowment funds, payment of deficit funding or repayment of loans
Overseas travel or expeditions
Funding for projects taking place overseas
Sponsored or fundraising events, or groups raising funds to distribute to other causes
Contingency or unspecified expenditure

We firstly check if your organisation has a reserves policy which it is operating to (or if not, why not), and that your income level is £500,000 or less.

If your organisation is holding significant financial reserves you will need to make it clear in the application why the reserves cannot be used to cover the cost of your activity.

Groups can apply to more than one fund if funding is needed for multiple activities, or more than one aspect of a single activity. However, we discourage the submission of duplicate applications to multiple funds.

We require you to upload a copy of your:

Directors’ name and address, indicating which have bank authorisation (at least three unrelated directors are required).
Written constitution, articles, or set of rules.
Most recent annual accounts or financial records showing your organisation’s balance of funds, income, and reserves.
If you do not have financial records that cover a full year, then you will need to provide what records you have currently and/or a cashflow forecast.
A bank statement from the last 3 months.
A copy of your safeguarding policy (see below for further details).
A copy of your equal opportunities policy
Quotes for capital items over £300.

If these documents are too big to upload, they can be posted to us, or scanned and emailed to us.

We can award grants toward such projects. However, your group must have the majority of necessary funding secured or you will need to demonstrate a realistic plan for securing the rest of the funding shortly after our grant is awarded.

Groups working with children or vulnerable adults must have a safeguarding policy. We may request you to send us your policy, this is part of the due diligence process and will determine if you are shortlisted or not.

We look for the following in your safeguarding policy:

Definitions and signs of abuse, and reporting procedure in case of disclosure
The name of the person responsible for child protection
All staff, volunteers and trustees that are working directly with vulnerable adults and/or children have the appropriate checks
It is good practice for all staff, volunteers and trustees who do not work directly with children and young people to be trained on safeguarding
Risk assessments should be carried out to ensure children and young people in your care are safe
A description of how abuse is different for adults (in a Vulnerable Adults Policy)
An annual review date

If your application is unsuccessful at a Grants Panel, you will be notified by email of the reasons for this, within two weeks.

You are able to apply again and do not have to wait 12 months to re-apply, if you can fully address all feedback provided.

We are able to consider variations and/or extension requests and these must be made in writing to us by email or letter. We need to know the reason for the extension/variation request, when the funding will be spent by and you should submit a new budget together with the planned outcomes (for a variation).

Shropshire Community Foundation must be recognised as a donor and the grant recorded as restricted funds in your accounts. Our logo should be used on any appropriate literature or website relating to the project. Please contact us for logo use.

Once a grant is awarded, your group name, the amount awarded and the overall purpose of the grant may be published on the Shropshire Community Foundation’s website and social media platforms. If appropriate, the Foundation may also use your project for other publicity purposes.

We would also welcome case studies, photos and video materials from your project that we can share with the donors who have supported your work.

We are looking for you to tell us:

what was delivered
where it was delivered
the number of individual people benefitting
the difference the grant has made

Wherever possible you should evidence this, including any challenges you have had delivering the project, any unintended or unexpected changes and also provide a short case study and (where appropriate permissions are in place) we welcome photos and video clips of your project to share with donors.

You should plan to collect information about the difference you are making (your outcomes and the impact) routinely from the start of your project. This will help you learn as you go, and help explain to your participants, staff and supporters how successful your project is, as well as enabling you to complete your end of year grant reports and strengthen future applications for funding from many sources.

As part of your report to us, we will ask you to account for how you have spent the money we have awarded. While we do not request receipts for evidence of spend, you will be expected to complete and return a schedule of expenditure detailing how funding has been spent in the online monitoring form. All evidence related to the spending of the grant must be kept by your organisation and be made available to us should you be selected for an audit of project expenditure. We request that you keep receipts for no less than 24 months from the end of your project activities, however you may be required to keep your receipts and evidence of expenditure for longer depending on the regulatory requirements relevant to your organisation. We may select your organisation to check that you have complied with the above as part of a visit to discuss your project.

There are 47 accredited Community Foundations in the UK’s national network and we have built very good relations with many of them , especially those in our neighbouring counties.

Whilst we work towards accreditation by UKCF (the national membership organisation for community foundations),we have an agreement with The Community Foundation for Staffordshire to support us is in the administration and distribution of any national/statutory grant funding.