Connect Community Trust

Community Assets

Connect Community Trust
  1. Funding
  2. Funding programmes
  3. Community Assets

Grants from £10,000 to £1 million to create strong and resilient communities through assets.

Area
Scotland
Suitable for
Voluntary or community organisations
Funding size
£10,000 to £1,000,000
Application deadline

4 October 2019

Image credit: Image credit: Connect Community Trust, an example of a project funded for similar work under Medium Grants Scotland

What’s it all about?

Community Assets is closing to new applications on 4 October 2019. This will be your last date to make an initial enquiry and start the application process. Please see our blog for a full timeline and more details

Through Community Assets we are focused on helping local communities to address specific inequalities or disadvantages through ownership of an asset.

Applicants will need to show us clear evidence that they have consulted with their communities, considered various options to meet their needs and selected the best option to address this.

We also want to fund work that is people-led, strengths-based and connected. Further information about understanding these ‘three approaches’ is available, including case studies.

We’ve found that talking with applicants earlier in the process can lead to stronger applications. Because of this, there is no application form. The first step is to talk to us about your idea so we can give you advice on whether or not this funding is right for what you want to do. If we think your idea potentially fits with Community Assets we will then normally arrange to visit you.

Contact us at advicescotland@tnlcommunityfund.org.uk or on 0300 123 7110 to discuss your idea, or for any other questions about this funding.

The success rate for this funding is 44%. This is based on decisions made in the 6 months period up to 30 September 2018. Please read our blog for more information on success rates.

Our blog has information on the requests we are less likely to consider for funding.

Community Assets has been informed by research carried out on its predecessor, Growing Community Assets.

How do you apply?

What types of activity will we fund?

Through Community Assets we are looking for strong applications which:

  • are rooted in the community, are genuinely community-led and give the community a stake in local decision-making
  • are connected to other organisations and services in the community
  • show clearly the changes that will take place and why this is the best way to deliver these changes
  • show the developments will be economically sustainable once our grant has ended.

We want to focus our funding where it will have the most impact so we will prioritise applications that address disadvantage and inequality.

For some real-life examples, you can find case studies of community asset projects we have funded on our blog.

Who can apply?

You can apply if your organisation is community-led, has open membership and has a social purpose.

Your organisation must have a governing body such as a committee or board. Your governing body must have at least three unrelated people on it and a written governing document, such as a constitution. The governing document should be clear that the organisation has:

  • a social purpose – the organisation must have a clearly stated purpose which benefits your local area in some way
  • open membership – everyone living in your area should be able to get involved in your organisation and the work that it does
  • community control – the majority of people serving on your governing body should be from the local area and make the decisions.

If your organisation doesn’t meet the above criteria but you feel it is representative of the people in your area, we are still interested in hearing from you.

We can’t accept applications from one organisation applying on behalf of another. Existing The National Lottery Community Fund grantholders can apply, but you can only have one Community Assets grant at a time.

What can you apply for?

We want to provide longer term funding that offers community-led organisations stability to deliver great work, so you can apply for up to five years funding. You can apply for capital funding (such as building or refurbishment costs), revenue funding (such as salaries and running costs) and the cost of acquiring an asset.

Although we encourage match-funding in applications, we can fund up to 100% of activity costs, including staff, training, volunteer expenses, equipment, premises costs, evaluation and overheads.

You may also be interested in what we’ve learned from groups doing community asset transfer projects, which could help in developing your project.

The National Lottery Community Fund is a living wage friendly funder. This means that we encourage our applicants to pay their staff the UK Living Wage.

Please visit our Living Wage page for more information

Related documents

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