Application criteria

Organisations would need to meet the following criteria to apply for an investment from the Communitybuilders Fund:

Seeking to become more financially independent and less grant dependent through activities that have community relevance and social value

• Need to be seeking a robust income, generating sufficient surpluses to repay the loan element of any investment
• Need to be seeking long term financial viability and sustainability and planning to generate unrestricted/earned income and move away from grant dependency. This can be through a combination of trading, enterprise activity, public service delivery, local fundraising, gift-aid or legacy income, in-kind contributions such as increased volunteer input or corporate support or any other appropriate activity leading to improved financial sustainability.
• An anchor would normally operate from a building in their neighbourhood that acts as a centre for community activities and the provision of services to the neighbourhood. (Most community anchors will be based in such a building and others already located in the neighbourhood may want to obtain a building or improve their base through Communitybuilders in order to improve their impact and effectiveness).
• Most community anchors will be able to demonstrate how surpluses generated by trading or other income generating activity have or will benefit their neighbourhood.

Be based and working in England

Operating for the benefit of a defined neighbourhood

• An organisation’s sense of place, locality and purpose (this would normally be shown in the organisation’s governing documents)
• Applicants will be asked to define what they mean by their neighbourhood. For example it might be a ward, a super-output area, a parish, an estate or simply a few streets as it is likely to mean different things to organisations based in urban areas to those based in rural areas. It will to some extent be defined by those that live there but there are likely to be multiple neighbourhoods within a local authority area.
• There will be geographical limitations to the definition of a neighbourhood. An organisation with an area of benefit that is national, regional or across a county or local authority will generally not be eligible for Communitybuilders funding.
• There may also be a distinction between the area of benefit of the organisation and the area in which they trade, which may also be wider. Where trading is taking place outside the neighbourhood any income generated by that trading must be invested in the neighbourhood it serves.

Locally controlled with local people or representatives of local groups making the spending, staffing and other decisions around priorities

• Organisations will need to be independent and community-led, and not controlled by the private or public sector.
•  Have a clear majority of local people or representatives of local groups on their Board, or otherwise demonstrate control is exerted by local people and groups on the direction of the organisation in several of the following ways:
  • Some local people on their board
  • A membership drawn from their area of benefit
  • A number of local groups and/or local volunteers running services and activities
  • Accountability to their community through newsletters, public meetings, open days, etc
  • A well attended AGM at which local people and groups can steer the organisation
  • Examples of recent local consultation influencing their services or direction
• It is important that organisations are independent and community-led but we will also expect them to be able to demonstrate good partnerships with other local bodies such as local authorities, where appropriate.  

Multi-purpose - providing or hosting a number of different activities and services

• Service must be broadly in the areas of social welfare, education, recreation (including culture and sport), environmental activity, economic or vocational services, voice and advocacy services, or trading for social purpose.
• A multi-purpose organisation should host or deliver services in at least 3 of the above categories. Examples might include managed workspace, childcare provision, and a café for local people, sport or dance, elders’ groups, evening classes, training and conference facilities.
• The organisation should be able to demonstrate that they are multi-purpose (through published documents such as governing documents, business plan or strategy document) or that they are aiming to change these accordingly.
• Organisations that are single purpose are not automatically excluded from applying for Communitybuilders funds but they will need to show that they have a genuine intention to develop into a multi-purpose organisation evidenced by a robust plan to do so; milestones would be set to show progress (for example, amendments on governing documents being approved and agreed by the Charity Commission if a charity). Plans would need to be delivered within a 2 year period from the point when an organisation makes an application to the programme.
• Projects should, wherever possible, reinforce local and national priorities.

Organisation should work inclusively within their community, including marginalised groups.

• All recipients must have services and facilities that are open to everyone in their neighbourhood and the recipient should demonstrate how they will be inclusive and engage with a wide section of the community. This should include current practice or plans to:
  • Work with and coordinate activity with other community organisations in their neighbourhood
  • Demonstrate an inclusive approach to individuals from diverse communities within their neighbourhood and work collaboratively with those groups seeking to meet the needs of these communities.
• We recognise that services provided may include ones that are specific to particular sections of the community.  Such services will need to ensure they encourage different groups within the community to use the facilities as well as interact with the other groups – making the organisation truly inclusive and cohesive.

Show how they empower, or plan to empower, their community through multi-purpose community development and stimulating community led action.

This could include some of the following:

• proactive in engaging the community and stimulating local participation in activities or campaigns
• led by local people in the development of any new activities and services
• hosting and supporting the development of local groups and enterprises
• responsive to local concern in voice and advocacy work, empowering the community to speak for itself, while adopting an approach promoting equality and social justice. Examples of this activity might include:
  • involvement in local forums or networks
  • championing local people, groups and community action
  • providing space, resources and support to communities to organise and to develop their messages and responses
  • mobilising collective action around a strategic community agenda
  • action planning / parish planning

Have a track record of delivering to the community it is based in.

• In the majority of cases community anchors will have been in existence for at least a year and have generated some income through activities.

Priority areas for funding 

In addition to meeting all of the above criteria we are particularly interested in receiving applications from organisations that:

1. are based in areas of high deprivation (i.e. the 20% most deprived areas in the Index of Multiple Deprivation, or
2. can demonstrate a high degree of un-met social need in their neighbourhood and have a specific plan in place to meet these needs. This might include areas that have suffered in the recent riots in 2011, or
3. already have or plan to raise financial community contributions as part of their overall funding requirements.

We will not exclude applications that do not fall into one of the above priority areas but we will prioritise those that do against applications that do not but are of equal quality.

The online eligibility checklist will be available at 12pm on Monday 17 October 2011