Eligibility Criteria – Pathways Main Grants Programme

Pathways Grants Programme

Housing Pathways is an Ealing based not for profit organisation working to help communities and individuals through the provision of affordable housing for older people and grant funding. Our grants programme funds organisations working with people of all ages at a local level in Ealing and Brentford.

This year the Pathway Grant Programme is inviting applications from local charitable, benevolent and philanthropic organisations. We are particularly interested in receiving bids for projects working with people on a low income, people disadvantaged through ill health or disability, survivors of domestic violence, those needing support into employment and education and community groups working to overcome isolation and support and strengthen the local community and voluntary sector. Where applicable, bids must include details of arrangements for safeguarding children and vulnerable adults as part of their planned activities.

We will be awarding grants between £250 to £10,000 per annum in two categories, our Main Grants Programme and our Grass Roots Programme. Applicants for each category should answer all questions on the application form and will need to demonstrate the need for their project and explain how their proposed project outcomes will be met. Applicants should ensure all requested documents are uploaded into the form to support your application.

The Main and Grassroots Grants programme runs twice every twelve months. Initially between 1st April and 31st July and subsequently from 1st October and 28/29th February. Applicants will be informed as to whether they have been successful in April and September each year. We expect individual grant agreements will be finalised with successful applicants by 31^st October. Exact timing will vary on a case by case basis.

Grants Criteria – Categories for Funding

Main Grants Programme

Under this category we will only accept applications from organisations working in Brentford TW8 and Ealing W5, W7 or W13 postcodes.

Applications should be for work to:

• Strengthen the local voluntary and community sector
• Aim to alleviate poverty by tackling the root causes
• Promote healthy living and nutrition and provide opportunities for groups of people who are disadvantaged to come together to cook and eat
• Provide for those on low incomes
• Overcome isolation
• Tackle homelessness or help those in non-statutory groups threatened with homelessness
• Support survivors of domestic violence
• Assist people who are disadvantaged within the local community to access appropriate services
• Improve the emotional and physical health of disadvantaged people who have, or who care for someone
• Provide counselling and support services for those who find it hard to cope with everyday life
• Improve employment and educational opportunities
• The above list is not exhaustive and proposals that address other issues may be considered.
• Pathways may also make grants for start-up or core costs directly related to the project applied for.

Exclusions

We will not support applications:

• Which do not benefit the residents of Ealing and/or Brentford
• From individuals
• Services run by statutory or public authorities or which the Trustees consider should be run by statutory or public authorities, such as Central Government or a Health Authority
• Commercial organisations
• Retrospective funding
• Travel and transport costs
• Promotion of political or religious beliefs
• Projects outside our funding priorities
• Rapid response to emergency situations
• Debts or loans
• Capital costs related to premises or buildings
• Organisations with more than 3 months free reserves
• From applicants whose applications have been rejected by Pathways within the last 12 months
• From organisations currently receiving grant funding from Pathways

Grass Roots Programme

Under this category we will only accept applications from small community and voluntary groups that have been active in Ealing for not less than 12 months prior to 31^st December 2007.

Applicants must:

• Have an average income of less than £20,000 per annum
• Be volunteer led
• Be connected with and/or be meeting the needs of the local community
• Be properly constituted

Applications can be for a wide range of work in response to local demand and will be between £250 and £5,000 (7.5% of the total grant awarded must be spent on capital items such as photocopiers, computers and digital projectors). We define a capital item as a single piece of equipment that costs more than £1, net of VAT and, that has a life of more than one year.

Exclusions

We will not support applications from:

• Statutory organisations such as local authorities, schools or the police force
• Regional or local offices of a national organisation
• Arm’s length public sector organisations that are controlled wholly or in part by, for example, a local authority, a Primary Care Trust or any related agencies
• Commercial ventures
• Organisations that are providing party political and/or religious activities
• Organisations that are for the sole benefit of animals or plant
• Organisations providing services to Asylum Seeker groups which are inconsistent with immigration laws or Home Office policy.

Guidance for Applicants

 Geographical Reach

 Main Grants Programme: we will only accept applications from organisations working in Brentford #tw8 and Ealing W5, W7 or W13 postcodes.

Grassroots Programme: we will only accept applications from small community and voluntary groups that have been active in Ealing for at least 12 months prior to December 2007.

Equal Opportunities and Diversity

All applicants will be expected to show how their work is inclusive and operates with an equal opportunities and diversity framework.

User Involvement

All applicants will have to demonstrate how user involvement is built into their work. This means that the users (or potential users) of a service or project must be involved in an appropriate way at all stages. The aim should be to give users of the service more choice and control, both individually and collectively and to ensure that the funded organisation working with them operates in a way that best meets their needs.

Monitoring and Evaluation

We are committed to ensuring that funded work is appropriately monitored and evaluated and that lessons learnt and examples of good practice are made widely available. Evaluation and sharing of good practice should be built into every application. Applicants must demonstrate how lessons learnt from the funded work will be disseminated through relevant networks. Work cannot be evaluated without monitoring information. Applicants need to show that they have appropriate monitoring and data collection systems in place to enable them to evaluate their work.

Statutory Services

Please note that Pathways will not support work that is a statutory duty. However, we welcome applications for projects working in partnership with statutory organisations and those involving both the voluntary and public sectors, provided they are led by a voluntary organisation.

Pilot Projects and Action Research

We welcome applications for action research, this may include; pilot projects to test new ideas, mapping exercised and needs assessment. However, funding for any follow-on-work is not guaranteed.

Funding for Capital Costs

We will fund some capital costs that are directly related to the project expenditures as part of a larger grant, for example, essential equipment and computers for project workers. We would expect to see plans for the use of funded equipment in the projects final monitoring submission. We will not fund building refurbishment or purchase.

How much will we give?

Under our Main Grants Programme we will give grants between £1,000 and £10,000 per annum and under our Grass Roots Programme we will give grants between £250 and £5,000. The limit on the Grassroots Grants is across all organisations that an applicant has received funding from, for example, if £1,000 has been received from one organisation, then the amount of funding available will be £4,000.

How many grants can you apply for?

If you would like us to consider more than one project, you are welcome to submit more than one application. Please note that we will not fund more than one project per organisation and applications from organisations who are already in receipt of funding from Pathways will not be considered.

Continuation Funding

There will be no guarantee of continuation funding from Pathways. Applications may be considered for projects that are a development of previously funded projects if there are new potential outcomes and there is a proven need for the proposed service. New applications from previously funded organisations should be submitted through the competitive application process.

How we decide

Applications are considered carefully and on an individual basis. We check that your project meets all of our criteria. The application will be assessed by the information you have given on the form. It is therefore, very important that you are concise, that you complete the form fully and supply all necessary supporting documentation. To be awarded a grant your project must fit our criteria, be financially viable, achievable and meet a defined need. In addition you must not have been funded by Pathways in the past 3 years. An assessor may contact you to obtain more information to support your case for funding. The assessor will look in more detail at how your project fits the criteria and in some depth at the following:

• The organisations ability to deliver the project/work proposed and their project of plan
• Evidence of the need for the project/work and an outline of activities
• Financial information about the project and the organisation including value for money
• Monitoring and evaluation procedures
• Project impact and sustainability
• How the project relates to other similar work being carried out in the same field
• Local partnership and collaborative working

The Grants Programme for applications is open two times per year, October and April, with closing dates being 31^st July for consideration September and 28^th February for consideration in April. Applicants will be informed as to whether they have been successful within 2 months of the closing date, with individual grant agreements being finalised with successful applicants within 3 months. Exact timing, will vary on a case by case basis.

When making decisions:

• We will give consideration to all applicants that meet our criteria
• We will be transparent and accountable in our procedures
• All staff and Trustees will declare any interest in applications from organisations they may have connections with. If there is a conflict of interest, they will not be involved in the assessment process or the decision to award the grant.

If you are offered a grant:

Our standard terms and conditions apply to every grant we award. Your grant agreement letter will set out any additional conditions that apply specifically to your grant. The letter will also set out what the grant is for and the payment schedule. Once we have awarded a grant we will ask you for regular financial and performance monitoring reports and a final project report at the end of the funding term.

Payments will be made quarterly and in arrears. You will need to provide a breakdown of actual, eligible expenditure to make your quarterly claim. Over and underspends will be accepted, with explanation and justification across quarters in the same financial year. However, we will not be able to authorise the carry-over of over/underspends across financial years. (The Pathways financial year runs from 1^st April to 31^st March each year)

Please ensure that you read the criteria very carefully to see what can and cannot be funded. If you have any doubts about whether your project meets all of our criteria please contact: Marcea.clarke@yourpathways.org.uk

Additional Information

When the grant ends, Pathways does not have any further commitment to provide funding for the project.

If there is any breach of the terms and conditions, or your organisation ceases to operate before the grant has been spent, it may have to be repaid.

Anyone found to be acting dishonestly in making an application for funding or spending the grant, will be reported to the police and maybe liable for prosecution. Staff will be available to help with any questions, however, please do not try to influence the outcome of your application by contacting a member of staff as your application will be disqualified.

You must acknowledge you have received our grant in your annual report and accounts covering the period of the project.

Grant monies will not be paid until we have received written acceptance of the terms and conditions attached to your grant offer.

If you have any complaints about the grant process, please email: Marcea.clarke@yourpathways.org.uk in the first instance

If having read the criteria and you are still interested in applying for a Pathways Main Programme or Grassroots Grant, please complete the on-line grant form:

Grant Application Form