Apply for anti-poverty community grants
Local organisations can apply for grants to design and deliver projects that help tackle poverty and reduce its impacts in Leicester.
What funding is available?
Applications for the second round of grants (between £20,000 and £50,000) has closed.
Smaller grants will be available in the next round of applications, planned for winter 2023. We will run multiple rounds of applications.
What aims need to be met?
The grants aim to support new areas of work and projects that want to change their working model or reach new communities and groups.
Funding will be awarded to projects that align with one or more of the council's anti-poverty objectives:
- To prevent Leicester’s residents falling into poverty.
- To support and meet the needs of Leicester’s residents accessing crisis information and services.
- To support people experiencing poverty in the short and medium term, increasing choice and independence.
- To improve systems and the infrastructure of support in the longer term.
- To campaign and lobby for change at a national level to alleviate poverty in the long term.
Projects should deliver specific benefit to people living in Leicester. We particularly encourage proposals for projects that support:
- families with children
- sustainability and reuse of items such as school uniform and white goods
- mental health and debt
- people who are digitally excluded
- and that target in-work poverty.
Read more about the council's work to tackle poverty.
Monitoring
We will carry out checks on organisations that we fund under this programme.
A project monitoring process will be agreed for the duration of the project. Successful projects may be considered for follow-on funding if available.
Who can apply?
We would like to see applications from a wide range of groups, including:
- constituted community groups
- community interest companies
- charities
- social enterprises
- businesses
- schools, colleges, and universities.
We strongly encourage groups to collaborate to add value to projects and avoid duplication. If you would like support in finding partners for a project please email us at anti-poverty@leicester.gov.uk.
We encourage applications that support under-represented groups and communities that are hit hardest by the impact of poverty in Leicester. We particularly welcome applications from organisations supporting communities in the North and East of Leicester.
Individuals cannot apply for these grants. Go to our Cost of living page if you are looking for support for yourself or your family.
Assessment criteria
To be considered for funding, your proposal must:
- help reduce the impacts of poverty in Leicester by meeting one or more of the aims listed above
- meet the needs of Leicester’s most deprived communities: show a good understanding of the needs of local communities
- describe briefly how you will deliver the project: give an overview of the project and an estimated timeline of development and delivery
- demonstrate how funding will be used for innovative work or developing already successful activity. Funding will support new and innovative approaches; it will not be used to maintain existing activity but may build upon tried and tested approaches, such as increasing reach to new groups or changing service models to be more sustainable.
- deliver value to Leicester’s communities: how will your project positively impact people living in poverty?
- deliver outputs in the medium-term: projects should not take more than 6 months to begin delivering.
- include promotion to stakeholders and the wider public: show how you will market to relevant stakeholders and the communication requirements for project delivery
- explain why you need support from the council: explain how much funding you require and how funds will be used.
Please set out how you meet these criteria, as well as how you intend to measure and demonstrate the impact of your project.
We will only award one grant per round per organisation. If you are a larger organisation that would like to support multiple avenues of work, we recommend you partner with smaller community organisations to make multiple applications.
What else should be in place?
Your organisation should:
- have a governing document
- have a bank account in its name, not the name of an individual from the organisation
- be able to provide a minimum of three months of bank statements
- have data protection policies and apply General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR)
- have safeguarding policies and procedures, which must include carrying out DBS checks on staff and volunteers if appropriate
- have equality and diversity policies and procedures
- have health and safety policies and procedures
- exercise due diligence with respect to any third parties (such as individuals or organisations) that you employ, commission, or partner with to help deliver your project.
Can we apply for more than one round of funding?
Yes, you can apply for each round of funding. We recommend larger organisations who would like to support multiple avenues of work partner with a smaller community lead organisation if they would like to make multiple applications.
What happens next?
The assessment panel will select projects on quality of application and will select a range of projects to ensure a diversity of work in areas and communities most in need of support. The panel will prioritise funding projects based on need, impact and legacy of funding.
The decision of the assessment panel will be final, and the submission of an application is not a guarantee of funding.
We will publish an overview of successful applications on this page.
Our anti-poverty project officer will work with funded groups to create reporting plans at 6 and 12 months. They will provide oversight, support and further guidance to selected projects.
How will we know if we have been successful?
We will be reviewing applications on a rolling basis. You should hear back from the anti-poverty team using the email you provided during the application.
Have any questions?
Send us an email at anti-poverty@leicester.gov.uk.
More information
Read our anti-poverty strategy to find out how we're tackling poverty.