Community Food Grant Scheme - guidance notes

The Community Food Grant Scheme is a small grants programme for community groups within Lancashire. The scheme is aimed at local organisations within the voluntary, community and faith sector that deliver projects to tackle food insecurity.

Funding of up to £2,000 is available to support projects that provide emergency food and / or tackle food insecurity, focusing on supporting those most in need.  Lead applicants can only submit one application in each funding round, however, a lead applicant can be a partner in separate applications in the same funding round.

There will be one funding round in 2023-24.  The dates and details for the funding round are available on the Community Food Grant Scheme page.

Who can apply

You can apply if your organisation is a:

  • Voluntary or community organisation
  • Registered charity
  • Constituted group or club
  • Community interest company (CIC)
  • Town or parish council
  • Faith organisation

We cannot accept applications from:

  • Individuals
  • Organisations that are aimed at generating profits
  • Schools
  • Organisations which received previous funding from the LCFGS and have not returned a completed project progress report form
  • Activities taking place outside of the Lancashire County Council area

What you can spend the money on

You can spend the money on:

  • Equipment 
  • Venue hire/premises costs
  • Volunteer and organisational training
  • Volunteer expenses
  • Food
  • Projects and activities that build resilience of service users
  • Organisational staff costs

You can not spend the money on:

  • Statutory activities
  • Political or religious activities
  • Activities already taking place
  • One-off events or activities

How your application will be assessed

A panel will meet to discuss all applications meeting the basic criteria. The key question asked of each application will include:

  • Who and how many will it benefit – Number of beneficiaries or target group
  • How you have identified a need for your project
  • What will your project do
  • Are costs reasonable
  • Is there a detailed breakdown of costs i.e. cost per session
  • Existing local provision
  • Sustainability of your project

NB. If your project is based in a rural area, this will be taken into consideration alongside the number of beneficiaries.

Your organisation

We want to know about your group / organisation and what you do.  This helps us to understand what type of group you are and how you manage your finances.  It is important that we are confident that if we provide you with a grant, you have the right procedures in place to meet our terms and conditions.  This is your opportunity to provide information on the work your organisation currently carries out within Lancashire.

Your project

This section is your opportunity to tell us about your project.   Tell us in no more than 300 words what your project is going to be about: what is it you want to do, why, and who it will include and benefit.  We want to know what activities you plan to carry out using our grant. Be specific about what it is you will do, how you will do it and what you would spend the grant on.  We are also interested in how you have identified the need for your project.

How many people will benefit

We are interested in knowing who and how many people your project will benefit.  You may not have exact figures but please give us an estimate of the number of people you think will benefit.

How services users are involved in designing and delivering the project

Please tell us how your service users are involved in designing and delivering your project, and what role they will have.

Partners

Please tell us if anyone else is involved in delivering your project, who there are and what role they will have.

Tell us where your project is going to take place. Your project may be at a specific location or across Lancashire please tell us the geographical area your project covers.  If you are undertaking work at a specific location, then please provide the address.

Tell us if you are aware of any other groups or organisations that provide a service similar to your group or proposed project. It is important that we are confident that projects we fund don’t duplicate similar activities or services that are already going on in the area you are working in.  If there are similar projects you must explain to us why yours is different or is needed to complement similar local activities.  

How does this project help address food insecurity and the support peoples cost of living? We are interested in knowing how your project impacts food insecurity and the support peoples cost of living. Tell us in no more the 200 words how your project will help address these issues.

This is one-off funding, how will your project be sustained in the future?

It is important that you have considered what happens beyond the life of our funding.  Will your project continue?  Will there be a lasting change and benefit?

Tell us in no more than 200 words what you think will be the lasting impact of your project.  This could be a lasting structure or improvements, it could be the lasting change in people’s lives or it could be a stepping stone to further funding and continuation of your project and how sustainable it is.

Funding

So that we can understand what support you need from us in terms of a grant, we need to know how much your whole project costs and what contribution you require us to make.

What is the total cost of your project? This is the amount that your project will cost in full.  The total cost of your project could be higher than the amount you request from us.  For example, your project could cost £1,500 but you only request £1,000 from us.

Do you want funding towards any of these items? Please tick all the categories that apply for your application.

How much money are you requesting and how will it be spent?  This is where you tell us how much money (grant) you require from us. Please provide a breakdown of the costs, stating the cost of each item/activity needed to complete the project.

Where will the funding for your project come from?  If applicable, please tell us where the rest of the funding for your project is coming from, the amounts and if the funding has been confirmed.  Sometimes other people or organisations offer help for projects as a direct contribution, this is known as in-kind support.  Are you receiving any in-kind support and can you put a value on this?

Have you previously received a grant from the Lancashire Community Food Grant scheme? If you have  previously received a grant you will need to have completed and returned the project progress report form to be eligible to apply for this year's funding.

Have you received funding from Lancashire County Council in the last 3 years? Please include details of all funding from Lancashire County Council, not just funding for this particular activity. Include details of any current or ongoing commitments

Signatories

Who signs your application is important to us.  At least one of the signatories should be the appropriate member of your management committee/group.  This should be your Chair, Chief Officer or Chief Executive Officer.  We also require that both signatories must be unrelated and live at separate addresses.

By signing the application form you will be confirming the following:

That you are authorised to sign the application on behalf of your group

That if we offer you a grant we will require from you documentation that is relevant to your application.   This may include

  • Governing Document
  • Bank Account Statements
  • Independently Inspected Annual Accounts
  • Public Liability and or Employers Liability Insurance
  • Policy on Safeguarding Vulnerable People
  • Confirmation of DBS (Disclosure & Barring Service) Checks
  • Any relevant lease and/or planning consents
  • Any other document that we deem necessary relevant to your project and activities

Each application must be in compliance with the Prevent Duty requirements (were an organisation does not support or provide a platform for extremists or their views) Prevent duty guidance.

Any application that is unlawful or is contrary to Lancashire County Council policies and procedures will not be funded.

Contact

If you need any help with any of these please contact us at communityfoodgrants@lancashire.gov.uk and we can assist you.