Firm Foundations
Before progressing with an application for this fund it is important to read our success guide:
Click on the link below to download a PDF file.
Then carefully read the fund criteria set below.
We would also advise contacting the grants team to discuss your project ideas before applying, particularly as this fund is quite limited in terms of the amount of money available to distribute per year.
Brief Description
Firm Foundations is a broad funding stream aiming to improve the quality of life for Derbyshire residents by supporting a thriving community and voluntary sector that offers a wide range of services and facilities to local communities.
More Information
The fund has two main aims
- 1) To reduce economic inequality - helping tackle disadvantage in Derbyshire
- 2) To bring communities together
In addition there are a number of priorities or preferences, which can be seen below.
Type of Project costs funded
- Capital (any items of equipment) but not building works
- Revenue (any non-equipment costs) including ongoing running costs for a project or group
- One off events and projects
- The fund is unlikely to contribute to large scale projects exceeding £20,000
Priorities
Projects that include at least one of the following concepts will be given an advantage over other applications particularly as this fund is always heavily oversubscribed.
Encouraging people to volunteer - this includes creating more volunteering opportunities and developing ways to keep your volunteers in place
Offering training - especially if the training helps staff or volunteers in one of the following areas: Networking, income generation (fundraising or social enterprise) and organisation management (any course helping with running your group)
Encouraging Networking and partnership working – both within the community and voluntary sector and between voluntary groups and the private and statutory sectors. This could also include better communication strategies for your group such as website development, newsletters etc
Area
Derby City and Derbyshire wide
Amount
The maximum grant is currently £5,000
Closing Dates
There are no fixed closing dates but the panel meet once per quarter (every three months)
Examples of grants made
- £600 for running volunteer forum meetings in South Derbyshire, offering free training and support to community groups.
- £2,000 to cover the cost of a volunteer recruitment drive and training in order to set up a "friends of" sub-group to raise funds.
- £762 to run a seminar for volunteers and professionals in the healthcare sector, promoting health and well-being for older people.
Make an Application
There are two ways of making an application, you can either apply online or download a form, which can then be sent to us by post. If you are sending us an application by post you can find the address to send it to by clicking on 'contact us'.
Please remember to include the documentation requested in the success guide.
Also remember to make a copy of your application for your own records. You will need this to track spend and complete monitoring if you are successful.
