Cheshire Community Foundation are happy to announce the return of the Fund it Forward Programme for 2024. This place-based programme will fund projects across Cheshire which have a lasting impact and contribute to reducing disadvantage over multiple years.
This programme is now closed for applications.
There are stark extremes in the latest data on income, living standards, education, employment, community, opportunity, and quality of life in different parts of Cheshire. Experiencing deprivation makes life more challenging in almost every way. This programme seeks to address this by focusing resources on the areas most in need.
What will it fund?
This programme will support projects which:
- Work with people living in the 20% most deprived areas, according to the Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) at the LSOA level. Additional data can be found using this mapping tool.
- Are based within Cheshire East, or Cheshire West and Chester.
- Can clearly demonstrate the long-term impacts of the disadvantage which their target group face. Please see the programme brief for full details.
- Can demonstrate how their project will address effects of disadvantage on a long-term scale, rather than solely addressing the immediate need.
All projects will need to either help improve social mobility for their target group, or address the long term impacts of disadvantage for people who experience inequity due to their:
- Age
- Health
- Ethnicity
- Status as a carer
- Life circumstances (such as asylum seekers, victims of crime, ex-offenders etc.)
- Gender/sexuality
- Employment status or access to employment.
All applicants will be required to meet our general eligibility criteria, as well as our Grantmaking principles and minimum standards.
What can organisations apply for?
Applicants will be able to apply for grants of up to £10,000. As well as new applications we are accepting continuation applications from 2023 grantees.
Timeline and How to Apply
The programmes will open for applications on 6th September 2024, with a deadline of 13th October. You will hear a decision on your application in mid-January 2025.
Depending on demand, we may choose not to take every application through a full assessment. This decision will be made on how closely your application fits the programme aims. If we decide not to take your application through the full process, you may hear back from us sooner than the above date.
All applications must be made online via Cheshire Community Foundation’s website.
If you have any questions, you can email us to arrange a chat via grants@cheshirecommunityfoundation.org.uk or call the grants team on 01606330607.