Partnerships

Who can apply

We can fund a partnership (both new partnerships, and one that’s already been set up). They can be made up of the types of organisations we’ve listed below.

You can apply if you’re a:

• voluntary and community organisation
• registered charity or charitable incorporated organisation (CIO)
• group of organisations, as long as they're led by a voluntary or community organisation
• school
• statutory body (including local authorities, town, parish or community council)
• not for profit company including companies limited by guarantee and Community Interest Companies with two or more directors (see the bullet points below for CICs we can’t fund).

If you’re an unincorporated group
We might be able to fund you - but we normally expect the groups to use our funding to incorporate and, where appropriate, register as a charity.

We can’t accept applications from:

• individuals
• sole traders
• organisations based outside the UK
• anyone who’s applying for another organisation
• organisations that look to make profits and share these profits out privately. This includes organisations without the right asset locks. Or organisations that can pay profits to directors or shareholders – this might mean some CICs limited by shares
• organisations that don’t have at least two people on their board or committee who aren’t married, in a long-term relationship, living together at the same address, or related by blood.

If you’re not sure if you can apply
Contact us.

The projects we fund

When organisations work in partnership, they help communities to thrive - by focusing on the bigger picture, rather than just what their organisation can do on its own.

We’re looking for partnerships where everyone takes responsibility to work toward their shared goals together, while offering their own insights and perspectives. We call this 'generous leadership'.

We like to see projects that can test new approaches to issues in the community. And projects that are committed to equalities and the environment.

There are different types of partnership:

• cross-sector partnerships
• local place-based collaboration
• local and national organisations working together around a particular theme.

We're looking for projects that:

1. bring people together and build strong relationships in and across communities
2. improve the places and spaces that matter to communities
3. help more people to reach their potential, by supporting them at the earliest possible stage.

We're also looking for projects to be people-led, strengths-based and connected

People-led

We believe that people understand what's needed in their communities better than anyone. So it’s important to us that you involve your community in the design, development and delivery of the activities you’re planning.

You might want to ask yourself:

• Have I spoken to the people in my community?
• Have the people in my community told me what they need and what's important to them?
• Have I listened to them and used what they've said to create my project?

This short video explains it well. It might be helpful when you’re putting your application together.

Strengths-based

We’d like to support people and communities to build on the knowledge, skills and experience they already have, to make the changes they want.

You might want to ask yourself:

• What’s already working in my community?
• How will my project add to these positive things that are already working?
• How will my project make the most of any resources that are already helping my community?
• Have I spoken to other groups in the area that are doing something similar to my project?
• Have I thought about how we can all help each other?

Connected

We want to know that you’ve a good understanding of other activities and services in your community. We’d like to see how you’ll compliment these. So you can add value to what’s already there.

You might want to ask yourself:

• Have I spoken to other groups in the area that are doing something similar to my project?
• Have I thought about how we can all help each other?

We can fund:

• staff salaries
• project activities
• running costs (and your partners running costs)
• small-scale refurbishment
• equipment
• organisational development.

We can't fund:

• activities that make profits for private gain
• religious activities (but we can fund religious organisations if their project benefits the wider community and doesn’t include religious content)
• activities that replace government funding (for example, we can only fund school activities that happen outside of normal teaching hours)
• activities that benefit individuals, rather than the wider community
• political activities
• things you’ve spent money on in the past and are looking to claim for now
• loan repayments.