Skip To Main Content

Cambridge City Council

United with Ukraine community grant

View this page in Ukrainian.

Changes to the application process and criteria

From 19 March, we cannot accept applications from groups with two or more open awards from the grant fund. An open award is one we have granted but are yet to receive the monitoring for.

We will not accept applications for the grant between 10 April and 13 May. If you intend to apply for a grant, please submit your application on or before 9 April.

Apply for up to £2,000 or £5,000 from the United with Ukraine community grants fund

Community groups, small groups of residents and organisations supporting refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine can apply for a grant to support activities that will meet one or more of the following priorities:

  • navigating life in the UK
  • promote community cohesion and integration
  • deliver money advice and management
  • support access to employment
  • increase confidence in speaking English
  • enhance wellbeing, including activities for children

United with Ukraine grant scheme has two funding tiers, referred to as Tier 1 and Tier 2. Community groups or small groups of residents can apply for a grant of up to £2,000 (Tier 1), while constituted not-for-profit organisations with a track record can apply for a grant of up to £5,000 (Tier 2).

Further information on eligibility under each tier is given in the table below, but if you are not sure which tier your group falls under, please contact the Grants Team at grants@cambridge.gov.uk.

Tier Maximum amount available Who can apply
Tier 1 £2,000 Newly formed groups and organisations without track record. 

Groups of residents who have not previously received funding from Cambridge City Council

Tier 2 £5,000 Established groups with good track record.

Constituted not-for-profit organisation such as a registered charity, a company limited by guarantee, an unincorporated association or club, a community interest company, or a charitable incorporated organisation

You can apply for a grant at any time and will be informed whether you have been successful within four weeks of us receiving all the paperwork that we require.

For groups without a track record of receiving grant funding from Cambridge City Council, we will fund one activity at a time. You must submit evidence that you have spent the grant as agreed, and explain how it has helped the people who took part, before you can apply for any more funding.

We encourage groups with a positive track record of managing United with Ukraine grant funding, or another Cambridge City Council grant, to apply for or hold more than one United with Ukraine grant at a time.

Each grant needs to be for a separate project. For example, one grant can be for a community event and another grant can be for language classes.

Applications will be assessed on a first-come, first-served basis, with funding being allocated until the provisional total fund of £100,000 is exhausted. Eligibility does not guarantee funding.

Eligibility

You must demonstrate that your group’s activity fits into one of the six priority areas.

The people who benefit from the activity must live in Cambridge. It’s fine for people from elsewhere to take part, but we can only provide funding for residents that live inside the city boundary.

We will fund the direct costs of running the activity and will consider a realistic and proportionate share of your organisation’s overheads.

Your activity should be open to all residents who could benefit.

Example projects

  • Navigating life in the UK
    • Information sessions on how to access the NHS, the UK school system or private sector housing
  • Promote community cohesion and integration
    • Community events for refugees from Ukraine and/or hosts
    • Events that connect refugees from Ukraine into their local community
  • Deliver money advice and management
    • Advice and information on accessing welfare benefits, managing finances and bills
  • Support access to employment
    • CV writing, interview preparation, transitioning skills to the UK jobs market, starting up a business
  • Increase confidence in speaking English
    • Sessions where people can practice English with fluent speakers
  • Enhance wellbeing
    • Day trips, arts and craft sessions, activities for children, activities for older people and other activities that support positive mental health and wellbeing

This list is not exhaustive, and we welcome proposals from groups that wish to provide other activities which will fit within one of our priority areas.

Activities that we cannot fund

We cannot fund: 

  • Activities that are for religious instruction or worship or involve proselytising. We will not fund trips to religious places of worship. Religious groups can apply for non-religious activities but will need to demonstrate that the activity is inclusive to all faiths and religions
  • Activities that promote or appear to support a political party
  • Activities that have already happened
  • Expensive food and refreshments that are not integral to the activity’s outcome
  • Activities that include hiring a bar or buying alcohol
  • Activities that will make a private, personal or commercial profit
  • Fundraising activities, including for charity shops
  • Activities that are for people who can afford to pay
  • Competitive activities
  • Activities that will be held outside Cambridge, unless there is no suitable location in the city (such as day trips to the seaside)
  • Activities that include trips to outside the United Kingdom or other unreasonable locations. We will only consider entrance fees and the use of cars in exceptional circumstances

Group eligibility

Your group must be one of the following:

  • A constituted not-for-profit organisation such as a registered charity, a company limited by guarantee, an unincorporated association or club, a community interest company, or a charitable incorporated organisation
  • A group of local residents who keep simple financial records and have a dual-controlled bank account
  • A partnership of constituted groups and local residents

Your group must meet the following conditions, or be actively working towards meeting them:

  • You must have a constitution or set of rules defining your aims and procedures.
  • You must decide policy and overall management practice through a committee of at least three unrelated, elected, unpaid volunteers. By ‘unrelated’ we mean people who are not immediate family members, married couples or civil partners, or people living at the same address
  • You must meet the needs of Cambridge residents and be open to all eligible people
  • You must have structures in place to manage your affairs efficiently, hold regular meetings to plan and monitor activities, keep meeting minutes, and circulate information to group members
  • You must meet the legal responsibilities of an employer, if relevant
  • You must recruit and support volunteers appropriately
  • You must adopt appropriate health and safety policies and practices before any funding will be awarded, including:
    • risk assessments for activities
    • safeguarding measures for children and vulnerable adults, if appropriate to the activity
  • You must adopt appropriate data protection, environmental, and equality and diversity practices if your application is successful
  • You must keep proper financial records and show that financial help is needed
  • You must have a group bank account or be taking steps to identify an organisation that could hold the funds for you

Groups we cannot fund

We cannot award funding to:

  • Individual applicants
  • Organisations that were set up or are managed wholly or partly by a statutory organisation
  • Groups based outside the UK
  • Groups that operate for private gain
  • Groups that are connected with any political party, involved in party politics or promote any political party or view
  • Groups that have not complied with the monitoring requirements for any grant previously received from us

Further requirements

Previous applications

We cannot accept applications from groups with two or more open awards from the grant fund. An open award is one we have granted but are yet to receive the monitoring for.

Safeguarding and governance

You must ensure that you have all the necessary permissions, insurance and safeguards in place to ensure that your activity is well run and participants are safe.

You must upload copies of these documents when you apply for the grant, or send them to us separately after applying.

Activities on council-owned land

You must have permission from us if you intend to run your activity on council-owned land.

You will need to submit a ‘notice of intent’ and should allow up to four weeks for us to respond.

Apply for a grant

Before you submit an application, please make sure you have read all the guidance above and have your accompanying documents ready to upload on the form.

You must send us:

  • A spreadsheet showing your activity’s costs and sources of income
  • A signed copy of your organisation’s governing document (for example, your constitution or set of rules)
  • A copy of your most recent annual accounts, if your organisation is more than one year old
  • A copy of a bank statement for your organisation’s account from the last three months, showing your organisation’s name
  • Your risk assessment for the activity
  • Your safeguarding policy, if children or vulnerable adults can participate in your activity

Apply for up to £2,000 or £5,000 from the United with Ukraine community grant

If you need support making an application using English, for instance if your first language is Ukrainian, please email the team at grants@cambridge.gov.uk.

We may be able to discuss this with you using a translator.

Next steps

You will receive an automated email acknowledging receipt of your application soon after you submit it.

We will assess applications and let you know the outcome within four weeks of receiving all the paperwork we need.

You will have no right to appeal against the decision if you are not awarded a grant.

We will pay grant funds after a grant agreement has been signed and any other conditions are met, such as returning monitoring reports from previous grants.

Reporting back on your activity

A simple template monitoring form will be provided for groups to tell us what they did with the grant and what difference it made to the participants. This must be returned within four weeks of completing the activity.

Monitoring reports should be accompanied by supporting evidence such as publicity material and photographs. Further information may be requested.

Please keep all receipts and invoices related to the activity as we may ask to see these.

Any award that is not spent or evidenced for the purpose allocated will have to be repaid in full.

Further information and support

Contact us to discuss whether your activity and group are eligible for a grant, or if you have any questions about your application. Contact us as early as possible to ensure you have enough time left to complete your application.

Cambridge Council for Voluntary Service (CCVS) can help you to complete your application form or develop your policies. They can provide template policies if your group does not have them yet. CCVS can also advise you how to gather and present financial information and share examples of good practice and procedures.

You can also contact the Cambridge Ethnic Community Forum (CECF), who work with minority ethnic communities, for advice or support in helping you complete your application.

Privacy notice

We collect personal data for the following activities:

  • To respond to grant enquiries
  • To process grant applications
  • To process awards, payments and grant agreements
  • To monitor grant awards and ensure public money has been spent for the purpose allocated
  • To provide information about our grants and voluntary sector support and activities

We collect names, addresses, email addresses, telephone numbers and photographs relating to funded projects through online, phone, face-to-face and other written interactions.

We process your data on the assumption that we will be entering into a contract with your group.

Read our full privacy notice to find out about your rights regarding your personal data.

We will not share your personal data with external agencies or individuals. However, we might process the information you provide to prevent and detect fraud in any of our systems and supply information to government agencies, law enforcement agencies, internal audit, regulators or other external bodies for such purposes.

We do not routinely process any information about you outside the European Economic Area, except in rare cases, where we use all appropriate safeguards.

We only keep your personal information as long as necessary. Our Retention Policy [PDF] [PDF, 0.7MB] provides more information.

We review our mailing lists every year. You can contact us at any point if you no longer want to be informed about grant opportunities.

We will delete all data from enquiries that do not result in an application after one year.

If you have a question about your rights, contact us at infogov@3csharedservices.org or on 01223 457000. You can also write to our Data Protection Officer at Cambridge City Council, PO Box 700, Cambridge CB1 0JH.

You have the right to register a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

Service related queries

For questions about a service we provide, please use our contact us form