Up to £150 million could be invested in the Abbey ward in the years ahead to create new jobs and new homes, support the local economy and improve the lives of residents.

As part of this work, grants of up to £30,000 are available for community capacity building and feasibility work for transformative projects in the Abbey ward of Cambridge that address the casual factors of inequality and engage and empower the community as part of their delivery.

Access to support is available throughout this process. For queries related to completing your grant application, the grants team will ensure that you have all the information you need.

Additional support will also be given for the development of projects. The Curve team of expert coaches will help groups develop their concepts and work with successful applicants to connect them to wider support within the community.

Curve’s involvement began in Phase 1 of the Focus on Abbey work where they facilitated the development of a shared vision for Abbey with local stakeholders and community groups. The themes which we would like applications to address are taken from the inspiring ideas that were generated through this work.

A report on phase one of the project is available on request.

We are looking for applications that address one or more of the following themes:

• employment and skills
• educational attainment and career progression
• food and sustainable food
• nature and green spaces
• health and wellbeing
• opportunities for local enterprise development
• community engagement and empowerment
• happiness and mindset

You can apply for a Focus on Abbey Grant until midday on 19 April 2024. You must use the funding to support work between the date of the grant award and 31 March 2025. Grant award decisions will be made by 6 May 2024.

Available funding

The total available funding is approximately £120,000 and is provided by the UK Government through the Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) and the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority. There will be one funding round.

The project must benefit people living in Abbey ward. Our ward map shows the boundaries.

You can apply for up to £30,000 – this can be for a feasibility study or a fully worked up project.  We are particularly keen to see applications from organisations partnering together to drive long term changes to Abbey ward.

Eligibility does not guarantee funding. If demand exceeds the available budget, we might not be able to award the full amount you request.

Eligibility

You must demonstrate that your project will address the causal factors of inequality and engage and empower the community as part of the delivery.

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

Funding can be spent on outsourced services which bring in additional capacity and expertise and the staff time from participating non-profit organisations that is required to deliver the project.

Group eligibility 

The lead organisation must be set up for charitable or philanthropic purposes. It must be a constituted not-for-profit organisation such as:

• a registered charity
• a company limited by guarantee (including Community Interest Company)
• a Charitable Incorporated Organisation
• community or voluntary group with a constitution or set of rules
• other

We also welcome applications from:

• a partnership of constituted groups and local residents
• a partnership of constituted groups and organisations from the private and public sector (with the lead partner being a not-for-profit organisation)

The lead organisation must meet the following conditions:

• 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 must not discriminate on the grounds of any protected characteristic set out in the Equalities Act 2010
• you must have structures in place to manage your affairs efficiently, hold regular meetings to plan and monitor project, 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 project
  • safeguarding measures for children and vulnerable adults, if appropriate to the project
• 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

We cannot award funding to:

• individual applicants
• organisations that were set up or are managed wholly or partly by a statutory organisation (although they can be a partner involved in the delivery of a project)
• 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
• uniformed groups
• groups that have not complied with the monitoring requirements for any grant previously received from us
• groups seeking a grant for religious instruction or worship

Example projects that we could fund:

• business case development
• project pilots
• feasibility studies

We cannot fund:

• projects 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 projects but will need to demonstrate that the project is inclusive to all faiths and religions and does not promote a religious view in any way
• projects that promote or appear to support a political party, or publicity that appears to be designed to affect public support for a political party
• personal care services or funding for individuals

We cannot fund project activity that:

• has already happened or are for any spending commitments made before the date of the grant agreement being signed or that will take place after 31 March 2025
• have expensive food and refreshments that are not integral to the project’s aims
• have high or disproportionate administrative or publicity costs and are not good value for money
• include the hire of a bar or the purchase of alcohol
• will lead to private, personal or commercial profit
• are for fundraising purposes, including for charity shops
• are for people who can afford to pay
• are competitive
• are held outside Cambridge, unless there is no suitable provider in the city
• include trips outside the United Kingdom or other unreasonable locations. We will only consider funding projects that include entrance fees and the use of cars in exceptional circumstances
• include equipment, unless it is a small part of a fully costed project
• include gifts or prizes
• have publicity that is not related to an eligible project and is not reasonably costed

We encourage organisations to pay or to work towards paying the Real Living Wage.

Grant assessment criteria

Once we are satisfied that the applicant group and activity is eligible for grant funding, we will assess applications against the following criteria which are based on the objectives for the Focus on Abbey partnership work.

Fit with Abbey vision work

• Shows how the project fits with the original Phase 1 vision work developed by stakeholders.
• Clear theory of change showing how activity will address inequality and improve quality of life for all in Abbey.

Impact and outcomes

• Clear understanding of the potential impacts and outcomes, and how they relate to improved quality of life for people in Abbey in the short, medium and long term.

Level of partnership working

• Project involves working collaboratively with a range of stakeholders including communities, partner organisations and businesses.
• Project seeks to enhance the way stakeholders can work together with a common goal.

Building community power

• Focusses on the strengths and potential that exists in the community.
• Builds the capacity of local community and voluntary sector organisation(s) involved.
• Shows how work will be developed with communities and users.
• Gives agency to individuals and empowers communities.

Innovation and added value

• Demonstrates how the project will bring additional impact and benefit to existing activity and resources being deployed in Abbey.
• Brings new thinking or approaches that will benefit Abbey.

Evidence of need and demand

• Demonstrates that there is a need within the local community that will be met by the project.
• Evidence that the project offer / support will be taken up by the target beneficiaries in the community.

Strength of project management and governance

• Has robust project management structures in place with clear roles and responsibilities for delivery, risk and budget management.

Further requirements

Project on council-owned land

You must have permission from the landowner if your project is taking place on land that you do not own.

For projects on city-council owned land you must complete a ‘statement of intent’. You should allow four weeks for us to decide whether to allow it to take place.

• Hire a park or open space for your event

Apply for a grant

Before you submit an application, please make sure you have read the guidance above and have your accompanying documents ready to send if we do not already have them.

In order to assess your application we must have:

• a copy of your most recent annual accounts, if your organisation is more than one year old
• your full organisation budget for the current year
• your full organisation budget for your next financial year, if different to the expenditure and income tables in section 6 showing your project costs and sources of income
• a copy of a bank statement for your organisation’s account from the last three months, showing your organisation’s name, account number and sort code
• a signed copy of your organisation’s governing document, such as your constitution or set of rules
• a copy of your insurance policy
• your health and safety policy, including a risk assessment
• your equal opportunities or equality and diversity policy
• your child and/or adult safeguarding policy, if children or vulnerable adults can participate in your project
• your environmental or green policy
• your data protection policy

If you do not have some or all of the above policies contact us to discuss this further, or if you need help developing appropriate policies see the ‘Further Support and Information’ section.

Please send all the required documents with this application. If you provided policies as part of a 2024-25 Community Grants, Homelessness Prevention Grant or Sustainable City Grant application you do not need to resend them unless they have been updated.

Requesting and submitting an application form

To register your interest and request an application form please email the Grants team using the contact details at the bottom of this page.

The closing date to send the application form and accompanying documents is midday on Friday 19 April 2024.

Next steps

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

We will assess all the applications that are submitted by the closing date. We will tell you whether your application has been successful by the 6 May 2024. You will have no right to appeal against the decision if you are not awarded a grant.

We will pay grant the grant in two instalments.  The first instalment will be paid once the grant agreement has been signed and any other conditions are met.

Reporting back on your project

You will be provided with quarterly monitoring report templates to tell us how you are progressing with your project and what difference it made to the participants.

You must return the completed monitoring forms within one month of receiving them. You must return the final monitoring report one month after the completion of your project and by 30 April 2025 at the very latest.

Monitoring reports should be accompanied by supporting evidence such as publicity material and photographs. We may request further information.

Please keep all receipts and invoices related to the project 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

Get in touch if you would like to discuss whether your project and group are eligible for a grant, or if you have any questions about your application. Please contact us as early as possible to ensure you have enough time left to complete your application.

Project Development Support

Please contact the Curve team at torie@curve.cc to receive project development support which will build on the work established in Phase 1 and help applicants complete their application form in collaborative and innovative ways.

Concept Building Workshops: March 2024

The Curve team will work with interested applicants offering them the opportunity to participate in Concept Building Workshops during March. At the workshops applicants will receive support in the following areas to enable them to begin drafting their funding application:

• refining the vision for the project
• planning for engaging with the community
• identifying the impact of the project and how to overcome obstacles
• establishing milestones and preparing for next steps

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

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