Cambridge City Council
Community Grants 2025-26
Application Form
Discretionary Rate Relief only

The Community Grants Fund will only consider Discretionary Rate Relief (DRR) for premises within the City that voluntary organisations pay rates on, where activities take place that contribute to our grant priorities and outcomes.  

Complete this form if you are not applying for any other Community Grant funding. 

Please read the Application Guide and DRR Application Form Help Notes documents carefully to ensure: 

•	Your organisation is eligible to apply
•	Your activity meets our grant outcome and priorities
•	You understand what is required from each question
•	You send in all of the required documents with your application
•	You know how we will process your data

Important information 
•	Awards are based on the information contained in this application form
•	You must complete a separate form for all premises you wish to be considered (we need precise information about each premises to enable consistent assessment)
•	We need information about the applicant, activities and how you intend to deliver and monitor them in order for us to undertake informed assessments

Should you need this form in an alternative format please contact grants@cambridge.gov.uk 

Full name of organisation
(as on your governing document)		

Application Information Summary

Complete the Application Form in full before entering the information into the summary table below from the corresponding sections in the form. See p1 of Help Notes
                                                                                   
Premises - address	Q2 top row		
Number of City Resident beneficiaries 	Q6a Table 1- total A or Q6b row 1		
Number of voluntary/community organisations	Q6b row 2		

Closing date: midday on Wednesday 18 September 2024

Please do not apply if you are unable to fulfil the Community Grants primary outcome that:

All applications MUST clearly demonstrate how the funding will provide an activity that reduces social and/or economic inequality for City residents with the greatest need.

Priorities
1.	Which of the grant priorities does your application meet?  Please mark X against one or more.                       See Help Notes Q1

A	Promoting active lifestyles		
B	Arts and cultural activities		
C	Community development activities		
D	Reducing poverty activities		
F	Employment support		

Premises 

2.	Supply the following details about the premises within the city that your organisation pays rates on and want DRR to be considered for. See Help Notes Q2

Address of premises 		
Postcode		
Are these premises shared? (Yes or No)		
If yes, list the other organisations that occupy these premises. A separate valuation of the space you occupy may be needed. Please add rows if required		

What was the exact date you took up occupation?		
Have you applied for Mandatory Rate Relief? (Yes or No)		
Has Mandatory Rate Relief been awarded? (Yes or No)		
If no, what reason was given?		

Activity

3.	What are the premises used for? Please list the type of activities and the percentage use.   It is important we understand what happens at the premises and can identify which of your activities meet our primary outcome above. See Help Notes Q3               

Activity           Add more lines as required	% Use	Meets Primary Outcome   Yes/No	

			
TOTAL	100%		

4.  How and where will you promote and publicise your premises and/or activities? 

See Help Notes Q4

  5.  How have you or will you consult with or involve, your users/beneficiaries in managing your premises? 

See Help Notes Q5

Beneficiaries 

6. Beneficiaries - who uses the premises?    We want to know who will benefit from using your premises 

See Help Notes  P1-2  + Q6

 Important note: our funding is for the benefit of City residents only 
 If you are a community centre, please complete 6b. below.  Please complete 6a. as well if possible.

6a. Activities for individual beneficiaries - we want to know who will benefit from the activities at your premises – where they live (Table 1) and their age range (Table 2) See Q6a Help Notes

Table 1 - Geographical area – where do the beneficiaries live?	

Cambridge City (the 14 City wards within the City boundary) 	Estimated number	% of total	
			
Total A			
South Cambs (eg Girton, Milton, Histon, Waterbeach. Orchard Park, Cambourne, Haslingfield)			
Other parts of Cambridgeshire			
Other parts of the UK			
Total B – Total number of beneficiaries (including Total A)		100%	
Table 2 - Age range of beneficiaries detailed 
in Table 1	
	Estimated number	
	All beneficiaries	City only beneficiaries	
Under 5s			
5-17			
18-59			
60 and over			
Total B			
Total A			

Total A should be the same figure in each table
Total B should be the same figure in each table

6b. Activities providing support for other organisations  
If you are an infrastructure group or a community centre that provides support or facilities for other organisations please complete this box. See Q6b Help Notes
                        
Type                      	How many	How will they benefit?	
1. City Residents			
2. Voluntary & Community Organisations			
3. Statutory Agencies			
4. Private Organisations			

7.  How have you arrived at all the estimated beneficiary figures stated above? 

See Help Notes Q7	

8. You will need to monitor actual beneficiary numbers as part of any award. How will you monitor the actual beneficiaries of activities on your premises? 

See Help Notes Q8  

Outcomes

 Please do not apply if you are unable to fulfil the Community Grants primary outcome that:

All applications MUST clearly demonstrate how the funding will provide an activity that reduces social and/or economic inequality for City residents with the greatest need. 

9.  Why is your premises needed and how will your activities reduce social and/or economic inequality for City residents with the greatest need?   What evidence do you have to support this need? 

See Help Notes Q9     

10.  How will you be able to evidence that your activity has reduced social and/or economic inequality as outlined in Q9 above? 

See Help Notes Q10

11. Complete the following Strategic Outcomes Chart to tell us what difference your premises/activity will make for people who participate in activities at your premises.  See Help Notes Q11 
Your activity must achieve our primary outcome above AND one or more of our strategic outcomes. 

Strategic Outcomes
Only complete the strategic outcomes that are directly relevant to your activity See Help Notes Q11 	

Reduce poverty  	
Your activity outcome(s) – the difference the activity will make to your beneficiaries	
	
Monitoring - how will you measure and evidence you have achieved your activity outcomes above? (For example, by providing statistics, quotes from beneficiaries)		

Improve skills and confidence to gain employment    	
Your activity outcome(s) – the difference the activity will make to your beneficiaries	
	
Monitoring - how will you measure and evidence you have achieved your activity outcomes above? (For example, by providing statistics, quotes from beneficiaries)		

 Improve general health and wellbeing	
Your activity outcome(s) – the difference the activity will make to your beneficiaries	
	
Monitoring - how will you measure and evidence you have achieved your activity outcomes above? (For example, by providing statistics, quotes from beneficiaries)		

Communities come together and bring about change	
Your activity outcome(s) – the difference the activity will make to your beneficiaries	
	
Monitoring - how will you measure and evidence you have achieved your activity outcomes above? (For example, by providing statistics, quotes from beneficiaries)		

Stronger voluntary sector in the City	
Your activity outcome(s) – the difference the activity will make to your beneficiaries	
	
Monitoring - how will you measure and evidence you have achieved your activity outcomes above? (For example, by providing statistics, quotes from beneficiaries)		

Impact

12. If we are unable to fund DRR for your premises, what will be the impact? 

See Help Notes Q12

13. If we are only able to make a contribution towards DRR for your premises what will be the impact? 

See Help Notes Q13

14. What are the main issues you anticipate having an effect on your organisation during 2025-26? How will you sustain your organisation into the future?   Please reference any relevant property relationship. 

See Help Notes Q14

Your Organisation

15. If you have not applied for a Community Grant before then briefly describe what your organisation does.  This is in general and not just the activities you want funding for

See Help Notes Q15 – maximum 100 words

16. It is essential that financial need for this grant can be evidenced clearly. Please insert the amounts from your latest annual accounts. See Help Notes Q16 + Appendix A for definitions

What was the year end date of your organisation’s most recent annual accounts 	DD/MM/YY
	
Income: 
£ 	Expenditure: 
£	Balance carry forward:
£	
Restricted Reserves: 
£	Unrestricted Designated Reserves:
£	Unrestricted General Reserves:
£	

17. You are required to send us a copy of your reserves policy with your application. If your reserves are more than your reserves policy state you need, what are they for?

See Help Notes Q17

18.  Please complete the following information relating to your organisation. See Help Notes Q18

Organisation name       
(as on your constitution / governing document)		
Is there any other working name of your organisation?		
Organisation address  
(office or main venue for your activities, if none leave blank)	 	
Organisation telephone number		
Organisation email address		
Organisation website address		
Contact name
(for all correspondence relating to this grant)		
Position in the organisation		
Contact address		
Contact telephone number		
Contact email address		
Trustee / Board member name		
Trustee / Board member contact email		
Legal structure of your organisation (unincorporated association, charity, company limited by guarantee,  Community Amateur Sport Club, CIC, CIO etc)		
Registered charity number		
Company registration number		
Date your organisation was established		
Geographical area covered by your organisation (according to your constitution)		
Number of paid staff employed
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/employment-status/index.htm	Full time:		Part time:		
Number of self-employed staff	Full time: 		Part time:
		
If you have paid staff, do you pay the Real Living Wage?  See Help Note Q18	Yes?		No?		
Number of volunteers	Trustees/
Board:		All others:		
Number of members if you are a membership organisation 		
How often does your board of trustees/directors/management committee meet?		

Organisation Eligibility Check see P4 of the Help Notes

Complete every box next to each statement in the chart below with one of the following: 

Y  	Put Y if the statement is true	
N	put N if the statement is not true – this could mean your organisation is not eligible to apply	
NA	put NA if not applicable to your organisation	

Y
N
NA	The organisation applying for this funding acknowledges the information in the application documents and confirms the organisation:	

GOVERNANCE
	
	is independently set up for charitable, benevolent or philanthropic purposes and does not operate for private, commercial or personal profit/gain	
	is not a statutory organisation or was not set up by a statutory organisation, or is not managed wholly or partly by a statutory organisation	
	has a legal structure that is appropriate to the size and nature of the organisation, with a governing document, for example, constitution, memorandum of association or set of rules, which sets out the aims and rules governing the organisation  	
	decides policy and overall management practice through a committee of a minimum of 3 unrelated, elected, unpaid volunteers (by unrelated we mean people who aren’t family members, such as siblings, parents and children; married couples or civil partners; or people living at the same address)	
	has systems and structures in place to manage the affairs of the organisation efficiently and effectively for example holds regular, quorate meetings, plans and monitors activities, keeps minutes and circulates information to group members	
	involves members and users in policy-making, service planning and in management, where appropriate	
	researches and meets the needs of local people and is able to demonstrate or evidence why this activity or service is required	
	complies with all statutory and legal responsibilities applicable to our organisation and its regulatory body 	
	meets the legal responsibilities of an employer and adopts, implements, and monitors good employment practices and procedures 	
	recruits and supports volunteers	
	has up to date, appropriate and adequate insurance cover 	
	demonstrates good governance and management by having policies and procedures for the following which are adopted, implemented, monitored and reviewed and comply with legislation	
	a)	Health and Safety - covering staff, volunteers and users, and includes risk assessments appropriate to activities	
	b)	Safeguarding - child and/or adult protection	
	c)	Equality & Diversity	
	d)	Environmental - reducing carbon footprint, energy efficiency, reducing waste, and increasing recycling 	
	e)	Confidentiality / Data Protection (GDPR)	
	f)	Complaints	
	g)	Disclosure and barring service (DBS) checks for all paid and unpaid volunteer staff working with children and vulnerable adults	

FINANCES
See Appendix A on Application Help Notes 
	
	demonstrates good financial management and sustainability by:	
	a)	keeping proper and adequate financial records to explain all transactions, the organisation’s financial position and audit trails of decisions made	
	b)	preparing statutory accounts meeting legal requirements and complying with any external scrutiny required by law or the organisation’s governing document	
	c)	preparing budgets and monitoring them at least quarterly and preparing revised financial forecasts based on actual spend	
	d)	presenting regular reports on the organisation’s financial position to the management committee	
	e)	preparing a reserves policy detailing the level of reserves held and an explanation and calculation of why they are held and updates this annually	
	f)	ensuring that effective financial systems and procedures have been established, are being consistently followed and are in line with best practice and legal requirements 	
	g)	reviewing internal financial controls to ensure they are adequate and being complied with to provide a robust system for managing financial risk and all expenditure has dual authorisation and is documented accordingly	
	h)	not being reliant on Cambridge City Council funding alone 	
	charges users at a reasonable level and offers concessionary rates to low-income residents	
	can demonstrate they need financial support for the activity and do not have free reserves that could be used for this purpose	
	applies to all relevant statutory agencies for funding and undertakes their own fundraising  	
	has used any previous City Council grants for the purpose awarded and reported these as restricted funds in accounts	

GENERAL
	
	does not promote any political parties, is not involved in party politics, or does not promote political views	
	will provide any information required to support their application	
	has returned satisfactory monitoring and evaluation, accounts or other information requested in connection with any previous funding from the Council on time	

Application Documents see Help Notes p4  

Your application cannot be considered for funding if any of the application documents are missing

The documents listed below must be submitted with this application form. Put Y to indicate you have done this.

It is good practice to ensure that all policies are dated and are regularly reviewed. 

Documents to be submitted with your application	Year ended or 
date adopted	Attached
Y/N	
Latest set of annual accounts			
Updated, full organisation budget for your current financial year 			
Full organisation budget for your next financial year 			
Copy of bank statement covering the period of your year end.  Please redact/block out transactions that contain personal information about an individual			
Latest Reserves Policy see Help Note p4			
Annual Report / latest report of activities			
Governing document / constitution or rules			
Appropriate insurance – please send a copy of current policy			
Health & Safety Policy			
Safeguarding Children / Child Protection Policy if applicable 			
Safeguarding Adults / Adult Protection Policy if applicable			
Equality & Diversity Policy			
Environmental Policy			
Confidentiality / Data Protection (GDPR) Policy			
Complaints Policy 			
A list of your Committee / Board Members or Trustees 			

Declaration

I am the contact named in Question 18 above, and I am authorised to sign this on behalf of the organisation.  I confirm on behalf of the organisation that we:

a)	state that all answers to the questions on this form are correct to the best of our knowledge
b)	have read and agree to be bound by the funding information provided by Cambridge City Council in the application documents and will ensure that all the organisation’s management committee and/or and relevant staff are aware of their contents
c)	undertake that any funding made available by the Council, or such part of it as the Council may determine, shall be repaid if the organisation:
i.	is found to be in breach of the conditions that apply to the funding 
ii.	does not spend the grant on the purpose allocated
iii.	if the organisation becomes insolvent or closes down
d)	understand that, as the grant comes from public funds, we must inform you of any surplus made from the activity and you reserve the right to require us to pay back all or part of the grant
e)	understand that this grant will not be used in any way to promote a political or religious organisation or to generate private gain. The organisation will also take care to avoid giving the impression that it supports any political party or candidate in an election and will not give publicity to political parties or to individual politicians or candidates in the six-week period leading to an election
f)	understand that special conditions may be attached to the award of any funding and that Cambridge City Council will require information for monitoring and evaluation purposes
g)	acknowledge that grants and discretionary rate relief are issued for a twelve-month period and there is no commitment by the Council to continue funding after that period is over or to sustain a grant at the same level as that of a previous year
h)	understand that Cambridge City Council will undertake due diligence checks for the prevention and detection of fraud

Full name of Group / Organisation 	
	
Applicant email contact	
	
Signed for and on behalf of above Group / Organisation (please add your electronic signature or type your name)		
Name and position in Group / Organisation		
Date		

We cannot automatically contact your organisation about future funding opportunities unless you have given us permission to do so. Any consent given will only apply for one year. Please type ‘yes’ if you would like to:

	Remain on our contact list to receive information about the 2026/27 Community Grant funding	
	Receive information about other grant funding opportunities which may be external to the City Council	
	Receive general information relevant to my group (for example, legislation amendments, events and training opportunities)	

Submitting your application – important information

Please check that you have:
•	answered all the questions on this form
•	completed the summary table on the front page
•	collected all the documents required ready to submit together
•	signed the form appropriately

Email the completed form along with all of the application documents specified to: grants@cambridge.gov.uk

The deadline for completed applications is midday on Wednesday 18 September 2024

Please note:
•	Applications will not be accepted after this date
•	Incomplete applications will not be eligible 

Acknowledgement of application
We do not take responsibility for having received applications until they are acknowledged
If you do not receive an acknowledgement email by 2 October 2024, please contact us immediately as your application may not have been received.   
We will confirm in the acknowledgement how many application forms we have received and if this is different to what you intended, please contact us immediately.