Community grants

The Community Grant fund is available for projects that will help to reduce social or economic inequality in Cambridge.

Funding priorities for applications over £2,000

All applications must demonstrate how the funding will be used to reduce social or economic inequality, by removing barriers for city residents with the most need, to enable them to access one or more of the following:

Sporting activities
Arts and cultural activities
Community development activities
Reducing poverty activities
Legal or financial advice
Employment support
Capacity building of the voluntary sector to achieve the above

Organisations applying to provide legal advice and support must have the Advice Quality Standard or equivalent.

Funding outcomes

Your activity must reduce social or economic inequality for city residents with the highest needs.

It must also achieve one or more of the following:

Reduce poverty
Improve skills and confidence to gain employment
Improved health and wellbeing
Communities come together and bring about change
Stronger voluntary sector in the city

Community grants 2023/24 - applications over £2,000

To find out how to apply, download the Community Grant Application Guide. [PDF, 0.4MB]

Make sure your group meets the eligibility criteria
Make sure the proposed activity clearly fits the funding priorities and will deliver the outcomes required
If after reading the guidelines, you think you are eligible to apply, download the appropriate application form/s or contact us to request the application form.

Watch a recording of a webinar presentation explaining how to apply for funding.

Help notes [PDF, 0.3MB]
Application Form for applications over £2,000 [DOC, 0.5MB]
Additional Activities application form [DOC, 0.4MB]- you will need to complete an Additional Activity Application Form if you want to apply for more than one activity
Discretionary Rate Relief (DRR) application form [DOC, 0.5MB]- you will need to complete this form if you want to apply for DRR on premises you pay rates for, which provide activities that meet our funding criteria detailed in this guide
Discretionary Rate Relief (DRR) application form help notes [PDF, 0.3MB]

The deadline for applications is 12 noon Monday 3 October 2022.

Decisions will be made at a committee meeting on 19 January 2023.

We can help you with any aspect of your funding application, including organisational and financial issues such as constitution, policies, preparation of budgets and accounts.

There is no guarantee that groups funded in one year will receive future funding
Any grant not spent for the purpose allocated or within one financial year must be repaid

Community grants 2022/23

This fund is now closed for applications. Councillors decided which proposals to give funding to at the Environment and Community Scrutiny Committee meeting on 27 January 2022.

We might have small amounts of funding returned during 2022/23. Contact us if you would like to be added to a waiting list in case this happens. Any funding awarded in those circumstances must still meet the grant fund requirements.

Read the Community Grant application guide [PDF, 0.4MB] for full detail of how to apply for funding. You must:

Make sure your group meets the eligibility criteria
Make sure the proposed activity clearly fits the funding priorities and will deliver the outcomes required
Contact us after reading the guidelines if you think you are eligible to apply

We can help you with any aspect of your funding application, including organisational and financial issues such as constitution, policies, preparation of budgets and accounts.

There is no guarantee that groups that have previously received a grant will receive future funding.
You must repay any grant that is not spent for the purpose allocated or within one financial year.

Small grants funding

The small grant fund is a new programme that we are running as a trial. Community groups can apply for a grant of up to £2,000 to support activities that will reduce social or economic inequality for the people who participate.

The funding must be used for activities that will take place between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024.

To find out more about the funding, please visit Apply for up to £2000 from the community grants fund.

Area committee funding

Groups of local residents or voluntary groups can apply to our area committees for funding for projects, activities or services that focus on reducing social and economic inequality for disadvantaged residents. The application deadlines for 2022/23 have now passed. The application round for 2023/24 projects will launch in December 2022.