UKSPF community grants: what we fund

For this round of the Community Grants, there is £120,000 revenue funding and £63,000 capital funding available (please see the ‘Types of funding’ section below for more information).

Each application can request between £3,000 and £20,000. Applications can be for revenue funding only, capital funding only, or a mixture of revenue and capital funding.

Individual and joint applications

Applications may be made by individual organisations, or jointly between two or more organisations.

In a joint application, a 'lead organisation' should be nominated who will be the designated representative for the project. They will complete the application form, receive and hold the grant funding, submit reports and be legally responsible for the project.

A priority for this round of the UKSPF Community Grants is to encourage joint projects, especially where they haven’t worked together before. The level of project cooperation demonstrated in an application will be considered by the assessment panel.

However, this should not stop you from submitting an individual application, especially if you are addressing an area of need with your project that is not currently being delivered.

Please note, if you are applying for funding to develop a feasibility study or pilot project (see the ‘Funding priorities’ section below), we will only accept applications from individual organisations.

Funding priorities

The Community Grant programme has been set up to deliver funding to North Somerset communities through the UKSPF intervention objectives. Community Grant applications must demonstrate how their projects will deliver in response to one or more of the following UKSPF interventions:

Each intervention contains a selection of outputs (something your project will do; for example, holding 20 events) and outcomes (the result of your project's outputs; for example, improving local engagement). Your project must meet at least one output and one outcome for each UKSPF intervention your project falls under. 

For more information on the interventions, outputs and outcomes, please read the guidance notes and the Monitoring page.

The UKSPF Community Grant can fund the whole of your project or be used in combination with other funding ('match funding'). You can tell us on your application form if you are combining this funding with other sources and state what those other sources are.

There are two types of funding available for Community Grants projects in this round: Revenue and Capital. 

It is up to you what combination of these funding types you apply for. Your project can be only revenue, only capital, or a mixture of both, as long as the total grant amount you ask for is no less than £3,000 and no more than £20,000.

What can revenue funding be spent on?

Revenue costs include:

• training, including participant costs
• resources 
• marketing and publicity costs
• staffing or volunteering costs
• contractors or consultants procured to deliver project activities or undertake a feasibility study
• venue hire
• project start-up costs
• transport 
• purchasing small items of equipment or material items (usually expected to cost under £1,000)
• overheads (which cannot be more than 10% of your overall UKSPF grant costs, or 15% of your project staff costs).

What can capital funding be spent on?

Capital costs include:

• acquiring land or buildings
• building and construction
• any staff costs and professional fees associated with building and construction
• plant and machinery
• larger value items of equipment (items costing over £1,000 – either individually or when combining together a series of items (e.g. a selection of kitchen equipment)).

What can’t be funded?

UKSPF Community Grants funding cannot be used for any of the following costs:

• VAT: If you are able to claim back VAT (i.e. your organisation is VAT registered), then VAT must not be included in the project costs you list in your application.
• lobbying or other activities intended to influence or attempt to influence Parliament, government, or any political body
• political or religious groups, or activities promoting political or religious beliefs
• gifts or donation (or payments made for gifts or donations)
• payments for any work or activity which North Somerset Council or your organisation have a legal duty to undertake
• setting aside money to protect yourself against a potential future liability (for example, a future lawsuit)
• payments to shareholders
• debt payments or the costs of winding up your organisation
• expenses regarding litigation, unfair dismissal, or other compensation

Costs towards setting up and contributing towards private pension schemes (this does not include standard employee pension schemes).

Capital funding will also be available through the second round of the Rural England Prosperity Funding (REPF) programme. Applications for REPF are expected to open in Spring 2024.