by Nakhat Zahir (Funding Advice Worker)
15 February 2010
Reaching Communities is remaining open. Reaching Communities will continue to be a key element of our increased commitment to deliver the vast majority of our funding to the voluntary and community sector.
There is no change to who can apply, what we will fund, or the difference we want to make with this programme. The programme will continue to make awards between £10,000 and £500,000 and will continue to fund for up to five years
Funding available
At least £300 million will be awarded to projects making a difference to the lives of individuals and communities most in need through our Reaching Communities programme until 2013.
What improvements have you made?
We are making a series of improvements to Reaching Communities to enhance our customers’ experience:
• There will be a more proportionate approach for groups applying for up to £40K/annum – for these applicants there will be a simpler application process and quicker decision making than if you are asking for more than £40K per year. In particular this should benefit smaller organisations.
• From April you will be able to apply for capital funding up to the value of £100k; this will be of particular benefit to those groups based in London and the South-East, where construction costs are higher than in other parts of the country.
• We are also in the process of developing a community buildings stream to launch later this year. More information on this will be made available as the programme development continues.
• There will be more support for applicants at every stage of the application process, particularly in those areas and for those groups that have received less funding than we would have expected.
• We will support networking and learning opportunities for those we fund to learn from each other and encourage them to share good practice.
How to apply
The current outline proposal form will be available to download until Wednesday 31st March. Applicants will have until Friday 30th April to submit the form, but will still have up to six months to submit a full application.
From 1st April the new improved outline proposal form will be available to download.
Applicants will be told within 20 working days if they will be invited to complete a full application form.
If you are not invited to submit a full application you will receive clearer, more detailed feedback highlighting the areas that will need to be improved to enhance your chances of going forward. Applicants can submit another application when they are ready.
A full application form will need to be completed within four months. We will take less time to assess your full application. We anticipate that if you are invited to submit a full application you will have a much better chance of success. Current programme success rate is 28 per cent.
For further information please visit website below.
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