What is Good Practice?
Attend a Community Development grant workshop before applying for a grant – these are held each year in October/November.
Read the guidance notes for the grant you wish to apply for to ensure that your project meets the funding criteria.
Have all your supporting documentation ready to upload before you start your application
Prepare your project budget profile in line with the funding criteria outlined in the guidance notes
If your application is successful:
- Make sure you read and understand the information detailed in your Letter of Offer
- Keep a record of all project information including, a copy of the application form, the letter of offer, and receipts for all spend and bank statements to ensure you can comply with all monitoring requirements detailed in your Letter of Offer
What grants can I apply for?
Small Grant
Seeding / Insurance Grant - To support groups in the early stages of development to cover essential set up, insurance and administration costs. Applicants must demonstrate why they have been established and the needs that they intend to address through their existence. Only groups which have been in existence for less than 18 months are eligible to apply for a Seeding Grant.
Activity / Insurance Grant - To support groups to plan and deliver activities on a small scale and support associated insurance costs. Groups can only apply for a Small Grant if they are not applying for a Community Outreach and Involvement, Premises, Summer Scheme or Technical Assistance Grant in the same financial year. However, groups can apply for a Small Grant and a Festivals Grant in the same financial year.
Premises Grant - To contribute towards running costs for groups that provide community development activities in their own premises. The premises operated by the group must be considered essential to the delivery of the programme to be considered appropriate for this grant.
Groups can apply for this grant for a three-year period.
Premises grants awarded may be extended to cover a three-year period. Groups who wish to avail of this option will be required to confirm, on an annual basis, that all details contained in the original application remain valid. ** Please read the specific Premises Grant criteria detailed on the guidance notes for this grant.
Community Development Grant
Outreach and Involvement - Provided for groups that deliver a yearlong service/programme (or a project that is part of a yearlong programme) for the benefit of the community, engaging with those who might otherwise be isolated or detached from community life and introducing new or additional activity where there is a demonstrated need.
Summer Scheme - Available to groups who want to provide five, or more days activity over the summer period from June to September 2021.
Technical Assistance - To support groups to take part in training programmes, to develop actions plans, feasibility studies and relevant research project/festivals which support the development of their group’s activities.
Associated Insurance Grants
Buildings and Contents Insurance costs are only eligible to groups running a facility –groups should provide information on support requested within the finance section of the Premises Grant application.
Public and Employer’s Liability Insurance costs – If applying for a Premises grant you must include the costs for Public and Employers insurance within the finance section of the Premises Grant application. For all other Community Development grants, you must use the separate insurance tab to apply for your Public and Employer’s Liability Insurance costs – the insurance will be allocated against any one successful grant in the Community Development category above.
Insurance costs can only be awarded once per group per year.
Festival Grant - The Festivals Grant Programme recognises the potential contribution that festivals can make to communities, to the local economy and wider Government policy priorities by providing direct grant aid to local groups for eligible events. The Programme seeks to improve the capacity of groups in organising and running community festivals and make them less reliant on public funding by providing support and training. This Fund enables community organisations to celebrate their cultural identity, and in the process to strengthen community relations generally. If you are applying for funding for more than one festival/event you should include all dates/events in a single application. You are only allowed to submit one application to the Festivals Grant Aid Programme per financial year. Groups applying for a Festival grant should (if required) include insurance costs for the festival(s) within the finance section of the Festival Grant application. Please Note: groups can only apply for the additional insurance costs associated with running festival events.
What grants are available?
The Community Development grants currently available are detailed here; www.antrimandnewtownabbey.gov.uk/grants
Can we apply if we are a new group?
New groups may be eligible to apply for our grants however we would advise groups to read the guidance set out for specific grants to ensure they are able to comply. Groups who do not hold a full set of accounts can submit a recent bank statement in place of a full set of accounts.
Only groups can apply to the grant aid scheme. The group must:
- Be comprised of at least six members
- Be properly constituted to include decision making processes and aims and activities acceptable to Council
- Be democratically accountable through regular public meetings and hold an Annual General Meeting (AGM)
- Be managed by a publicly elected committee with minimum office bearers of Chairperson Secretary and Treasurer
- Demonstrate that their aims and objectives are in accordance with Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act (1998)
- Demonstrate that proposed activities are not a duplication of other activities
- Produce an annual statement of independently verified or certified accounts or a bank statement for new groups
- Agree to Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council’s monitoring, evaluation, and training procedures.
We are not registered with the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland; can we still apply?
Groups who have not registered with the Charity Commission can apply for a grant, however, please read the guidance notes for specific grants to ensure that your group is eligible to apply.
I do not understand the guidelines, can you help?
You can contact the Community Development Team if you require any clarification of the grant guidelines.
How much can I apply for?
Our grants have differing funding levels. Please review the guidance notes for each of the available grants.
What projects will the Community Development grant fund?
Each grant type has specific eligible and ineligible spend. Please review the guidance notes for the specific grant you wish to apply for.
Generally, Council will not normally fund:
- Festivals/projects operating outside the Borough
- Festival/projects which are the responsibility of another statutory organisation
- Retrospective expenditure
- Applications received after the closing date/time
- Salary costs
- Unrelated professional fees
- Bank charges, loans, deficits, or fines
- For profit enterprises
- Costs already covered by other funding sources
- Organisations able to share profits to individuals, members, or shareholders
- Charity or fundraising events
- Individuals
- Costs that are not linked to the project
- Projects that provide no benefit to the Borough
- Projects that duplicate what already exists
- Projects that are not in line with Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council policies
- Individuals involved in the delivery of the project, that is, staff, volunteers, or board members of the group cannot be paid for the provision of goods or services from the grant
- If you have previously received a grant from us that was not managed in accordance with the terms and conditions of the Letter of Offer
- Arts, culture, or sport, unless the applicant can clearly demonstrate that the project meets community development eligibility criteria and that the programme is of a community development nature
- The purchase of flags and bunting without prior approval
- Alcohol.
Where can I get an application form – how do I apply?
Applications are submitted online by logging onto the Council website at www.antrimandnewtownabbey.gov.uk/grants
If this is your first time applying for a Community Development grant you may find the following guides useful:
On-line Grant Application Guide
Grant Guidelines
You can apply for a Community Development grant by clicking on the relevant grant on the website.
You can work on your application over a period of time, by saving online and returning at another time to update further, complete and submit.
Once you submit your application you cannot make any further changes.
All supporting documentation, such as your (signed) constitution, accounts, and relevant policies, must be uploaded to your application form and submitted as part of the assessment process. Supporting documentation should be scanned and uploaded as a PDF. Your application may be deemed as ineligible if you have not uploaded the supporting documentation correctly. ** Please note that all supporting documentation should be in the same name as the applicant organisation.
Community Development grants currently open are detailed here;www.antrimandnewtownabbey.gov.uk/grants
Can I post or email my application?
Our grant applications are on-line and cannot be emailed or sent by post in a hard copy format.
You can complete and submit an on-line application by logging on to www.antrimandnewtownabbey.gov.uk/grants
Can I get help with completing my application?
You can get advice and support for your grant application by contacting a member of the Community Development team. See contact details below.
Are there deadlines for the applications?
All grant applications must be submitted by the date and time detailed for the individual grant. Late submissions will not be accepted.
What documents do I need to supply?
For Community Development & Festival grant you will need to upload the following documentation:
- a copy of your constitution (signed and dated)
- your latest set of independently audited or verified, signed, and dated, accounts
- a copy of your latest AGM minutes (within 18 months)
- bank statement (within 2 months)
- a copy of your insurance schedules
- all relevant policies
- a copy of your lease (Premises Grant)
- a copy of your risk assessments
For Small Grants you will need to upload the following documentation:
- a copy of your constitution (signed and dated)
- a recent bank statement (within 2 months) in place of annual accounts
- a list of your committee/board members
All relevant supporting documents must be submitted with the application. Applications that do not have the relevant supporting documentation submitted will be rejected.
All supporting documentation should be scanned and uploaded as a PDF via the upload document section of grant manager and submitted as part of the application process. Your application may be deemed as ineligible if you have not uploaded the supporting documentation correctly. ** Please note that all supporting documentation should be in the same name as the applicant organisation.
How do I upload documents?
If you already have your documents saved on your computer, you can upload them directly from Grant Manager. If not, you will need to scan your documents either using a scanner, an iPad, or a smart phone and save to your computer. You can find out how to use your iPad or smartphone as a scanner here. Your application may be deemed as ineligible if you have not uploaded the supporting documentation correctly. ** Please note that all supporting documentation should be in the same name as the applicant organisation.
When will I know if my application has been successful?
Community Development and Festival grants are scored in January each year. The outcome of the scoring process is reported to Council for consideration in February/March and groups are notified of the outcome of their application at the beginning of April.
Small grants are on a rolling programme and we would expect the process to take approx. 8 weeks from submission to notification.
What happens if I am unsuccessful, can I reapply?
If you have been unsuccessful in your application for a Small Grant, then you will be able to apply again subject to availability of funding.
For all other grants, you will not be able to reapply until the following financial year, unless Council decides to open a second call.