Community investment fund application guidance

Be part of £100,000 Application guidance

YHN Community Investment Fund

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26/06/2018

Guidance Notes for Applicants What is the YHN Community Investment Fund?

We are delighted to announce the launch of our £100,000 Community Investment Fund that will make grants available to voluntary and community sector organisations in areas of Newcastle for 2018/19.

We know that one of the best ways to have a positive impact in our communities is to work with community partners that are already doing great work, and help them to achieve more.

The fund is £100,000 and will benefit projects that help tackle some of the challenges faced by communities. We recognise that communities are built by people, and we want this fund to put our customers right at the heart of them.

We want to improve the quality of life of our customers in the areas in which we work, by investing to create more cohesive and sustainable communities.

Customers will feel proud of the places in which they live, and be motivated to contribute to their success. Existing community partnerships will become stronger, and partnerships will evolve to achieve more in communities.

The maximum amount available per project is £10,000. We would encourage match funding where possible; YHN does not have to be the only funder for each project.

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We understand you may have lots of questions about the fund, so we have pulled together this booklet that provides guidance on how it works.

What will we fund?

We are interested in projects that will help build more sustainable communities and make residents feel proud of the places in which they live. We are openminded about the type of project we will support so talk to us directly! In a nutshell, it’s ‘anything you think could help build a stronger community’.

Your project can be new or an enhancement of something that already exists, but it must meet one of the themes outlined for the fund. The themes have been developed based on YHN’s business objectives and insight gathered from customers and stakeholders working in our communities.

The fund cannot be used to fund one off community events or day trips. The funding must be used to deliver longerterm projects in our communities.

The fund has three priority themes: 1. BUILDING STRONGER COMMUNITIES The focus of these projects should be on bringing communities from diverse backgrounds together and working towards developing closer links within neighbourhoods. They should provide a sense of belonging to the community by boosting social interaction amongst residents of any age group.

Expected outcomes from these projects are: 2. REDUCING SOCIAL ISOLATION AMONGST VULNERABLE PEOPLE These projects will help reduce isolation and increase participation amongst socially vulnerable residents.

3. STRENGTHENING COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS These projects will establish new partnerships or help existing ones grow, to make the most of community provision and develop stronger working relationships within communities. This theme will cover any joint applications or organisations that are willing to “buddy up” with others to deliver their projects.

Where will we fund? £100,000 sounds like a lot of money, but it only stretches so far.

We have identified a list of areas where we feel we can have the biggest impact.

Expected outcomes from these projects are: • A decrease in anti-social behaviour.

• Customers feeling proud of where they live.

• An improved sense of belonging to the community.

• More interaction between neighbours.

Expected outcomes from these projects are: • An improved sense of belonging to their community.

• More interaction between neighbours.

• Increased membership of local social groups.

• Customers feeling proud of where they live.

• More residents encouraged to take up a new hobby.

Expected outcomes from these projects are: • Stronger community partnerships.

• Evidence of how working in partnership has strengthened the project to maximise impact on the community.

For 2018/19 these are: • Westgate • Benwell • Elswick • Shieldfield • West Denton • Slatyford

• Fawdon • Cowgate • Kenton Bar • North Kenton • Walker • Newbiggin Hall 3

Application guidance The application process To apply, you will need to complete a YHN Community Investment Fund application form. Forms are available to download from our website at www.yhn.org.uk.

Once completed, you need to email your form to Yhncif@yhn.org.uk. You should expect a decision on whether your application has been approved within 20 working days. The information provided in your application form will be used to form a contract and grant offer, which will be sent out via post and which you will need to sign and return within five working days.

If your application is approved, we will request your bank details and the money will be paid in to your organisation’s account in two instalments. Each project is evaluated and objectives will be tailored and agreed at the grant offer stage, following application approval. Upon receipt of your bank details and your signed grant offer the first instalment (50%) will be paid into your organisation’s bank account within five working days of approval.

You will receive an interim evaluation date for your project as part of the contractual agreement. Prior to release of the second instalment (remaining 50%) we will carry out an evaluation to assess how your project is going. Please note YHN have the right to withdraw the remainder of the funding and underspend from the initial payment at this point.

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If we feel any information is missing or not quite right, we will either phone you or arrange to come and have a chat to see how we can help you; the computer doesn’t just ‘say no!’

(Part A) - You and your organisation?

Applications are only accepted from ‘not for profit organisations’ such as: • Charities (need to be registered if income exceeds £10,000).

• Constituted organisations such as community or voluntary.

• Social enterprises.

• Community interest companies.

You must also be able to provide supporting evidence such as a written constitution, charity number, or community interest report.

(Part B) - Eligibility criteria All funded projects must: • Benefit YHN tenants and a definitive effort must be made to engage with certain streets in the area you are applying for.

• Demonstrate how the local community has been involved in the project.

• Keep a record of how the funding has been spent, including receipts.

• Be complete by March 2019 and not started until your application has been approved.

• Contribute to one of the three themes outlined for the fund: - Building stronger communities - Reducing social isolation amongst vulnerable adults - Strengthening community partnerships.

• Be delivered in one of the areas identified for the fund.

To be eligible to apply, you must be able to demonstrate: • That you have a management committee that meets on a regular basis.

• That you have an equal opportunities statement or an equality and diversity policy that meets the legal obligations of the Equality Act 2010. This may be contained within a governing document.

• That you have your own organisational bank account with at least two unrelated signatories, who do not live at the same address. Funding must go directly to the bank account of your organisation (must be the same organisation as the one applying for the grant) – we cannot pay money to individuals or another organisation to manage on your behalf .

• That you have systems in place that enable you to manage your finances (e.g. keeping accurate records and making sure accounts are examined or audited, depending on the nature and size of your organisation).

• That your organisation is compliant with GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 legislation.

• That you have clear policies around safeguarding that outline how you safeguard the welfare of children, young people, and vulnerable adults.

• That you have up to date DBS checks to ensure that paid staff and volunteers working with children, young people and/ or vulnerable adults as part of the project are appropriately vetted .

• That you have sufficient insurance cover in place for all relevant risks – e.g. theft, fire, employer’s and public liability and thirdparty damages .

• Your organisation’s financial position and provide information from the previous financial year’s accounts (if available).

This criteria has been developed to help ensure that your organisation has all the relevant governance and statutory requirements in place before any project activity commences. We may request further information or proof of the above as part of the application process. YHN is unable to fund projects that do not meet the above criteria.

• That you have practices and procedures in place for any paid employers and volunteers, which conform to legislation on employment and health and safety.

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Application guidance We will not fund or get involved in the following:

You will also need to provide us with the following information:

• Organisations that are not constituted.

• How much you are applying to the YHN Community Investment Fund for .

• Details of any match funding partners, for example other organisations aside from YHN who are contributing financially towards your project.

• Charities that are not registered with an income of £10,000 or more.

• Individual tenant/resident applications.

• Projects or campaigns that promote political or religious beliefs.

• Costs associated with applying.

• Core organisational costs, for example staffing plus set-up.

• Events such as conferences, day trips, seminars, galas, festivals or activity weekends. Generally speaking we will not fund very short-term projects.

• Training or educational workshops that do not result in a tangible outcome for participants.

• Building renovations that are purely for cosmetic purposes.

• Projects that will incur an ongoing maintenance cost to YHN or NCC once the funding comes to an end.

• Salary contributions unless the member of staff is directly involved in the delivery of the project (evidence will be requested, please see part F for more information).

(Part C) - Applicant details This part of the application provides us with the main contact details for the project.

We will need to know the position you hold within the organisation and the best contact details for you.

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Joint applications If you are working in partnership with other organisations, please ensure you provide details of all partners and the role each organisation will play, for example management of the money, project activity etc.

However, you need to decide who will be the ‘lead’ organisation for the fund and these are the details you will use for the financial information that you provide.

Delivering projects with others can help towards maximising the impact you can have on the community.

(Part D) - Project details Tips for completing this section are: • Read the application guidance carefully.

• Do not exceed the stated word limits.

• Do not assume YHN will be familiar with your organisation or project.

• Do not leave any sections blank (unless this is specified in the question in the application form).

The YHN Community Investment Fund is only open to certain areas of Newcastle. You must tell us which of the following areas your project will be delivered: Westgate, Benwell, Elswick, Shieldfield, West Denton, Slatyford, Fawdon, Cowgate, Kenton Bar, North Kenton, Walker, Newbiggin Hall.

You will also need to stipulate which of the three priority themes your project will help deliver and highlight the outcomes you expect to achieve. You can find the themes at the beginning of this document.

You will need to tell us: • Project name, which will be used for publicity and all contractual agreements.

• Start date – this is an estimate of when you will first incur project-related costs.

Cannot start until the funding has been approved.

• End date – also known as the contractual completion date, in which all expenditure on the project has been spent.

Project description – In no more than 500 words, clearly explain what your project intends to do, how it will be done, and what specifically the project will achieve.

This description must remain focussed on the project activity and not the broader work of the organisation. When explaining your answer, you may want to consider the following:

• Why there is a need for the project and how you can evidence this.

• What the project is doing.

• How the project will be delivered.

• Who will deliver the project.

• Whom the project will target.

• How the project will contribute towards the priority theme chosen.

Partnership working – If applicable, explain how you will work with local partner organisations to deliver your project. It is important to explain why you are involving other partners and what their role is in your project, from the start right through to completion. Partnership working is one of the key aims of this fund as it will help establish local organisations and maximise the benefits they can have on the community.

(Part E) - Project publicity and engagement We appreciate that not every organisation will be on social media, but if you are please can you provide us with your Twitter and Facebook page names. If your application is approved, this will help us share your project success and raise awareness of the good work you will be doing in the community.

Please tell us how you plan to engage with the community through each stage of your project as well as how you will publicise your project. It is important to think about how each stage of your project contributes to the aims and outcomes of your overall project.

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Application guidance To maximise levels of participation, you might want to consider the following for your publicity and engagement material: • How you will target ‘hard to reach groups’ such as young people, older people, minority groups or socially excluded groups (remember we want as much of the community involved as possible).

• How you will ensure your project is accessible to everyone in the community.

• Literacy and numeracy levels of your audience.

• Communication material should be jargon free and in plain English.

• Try to use existing community links to help with your publicity (this would be a brilliant example of partnership working).

A few things to think about when designing your publicity and engagement plan:

YHN takes its responsibilities around processing personal data very seriously and we cannot promote your project without having this consent in place.

(Part F) - The money bit Project budget – In this section we will ask you to outline how you will spend the money from the fund if your application is approved. Costs may include: • Resources.

• Marketing / Publicity.

• Participant costs.

Any funding that is approved cannot be backdated prior to your formal approval and before a contractual agreement has been signed. Please take this in to consideration when committing to a project start date.

• Location and accessibility of your venue.

• Is there a need for outreach activities?

• What are the transport requirements?

• Format and content of your publicity material.

• Use of interpreters and signers.

If you would like YHN to help maximise your project promotion you will need to complete a consent form providing explicit consent for the types of publicity that you are happy for us to do on your behalf.

You can find this online along with the application and guidance.

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Projects costs Pilot Projects We award funding for pilot projects.

However you must be able to demonstrate how you intend to continue your project beyond the period of funding.

Existing Projects We do not award funding for general requests for running costs towards existing projects. However, if you are intending to enhance or expand your existing project in a new way or into a new area then your project could be eligible.

Salary and running costs Requests for project staff and sessional salary costs (including the training of volunteers) can be applied for. Please note that we are unable to fund existing members of staff unless their full or parttime work is directly involved in the delivery of the project. You can also apply to cover things like travel expenses, rent, utility bills etc. However the total of salary and running costs must not exceed 50% of the overall amount you are applying for.

Project funding package - If your project is receiving match funding, please provide a summary of how much you are getting, where it is coming from, and if it is secured or not. Please note that you do not have to have your entire match funding secured at the point of application. However, we will ask how the project will change should you not secure all your funding.

You are also signing to demonstrate that you understand YHN has the right to reject your funding application if we feel it doesn’t meet the relevant criteria for the fund.

YHN’s decision on whether to approve your application is final but where we may not be able to fund you financially, we might be able to help your project in kind. We will contact you directly to have these types of conversations prior to any final decisions being made.

Project evaluation It is important that any project that is funded by YHN is evaluated on both an ongoing basis and post completion.

Evaluation will provide valuable feedback, for example: projects successes, areas of learning and, most importantly, the impact it has had on the community and individuals.

Bank details – Bank/building society account details and signatories - will be requested if your application is approved.

(Part G)- Declaration When signing this declaration, you are confirming that you understand how the YHN Community Investment Fund works and that all the information you have provided on the application form is accurate at the point of submission.

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Additional information One of the evaluation tools we use is Social Return on Investment (SROI). This will help us to monitor the impact that your project has on individuals and the wider community. This may sound complicated, but don’t worry; it is simply one or two multiple choice questions that we will ask you to get all participants to answer at the beginning and end of your project, or, we might ask you to keep a record of attendance sheets and we will do the rest.

We may also ask if some of our committee members can visit your project, take photos, and/or speak to the people taking part so they can see for themselves all the fantastic work being done in our communities.

All committee members are tenants themselves and have a vested interest in our communities.

As we will only release half of the funding at the beginning of your project, half way through your project we will carry out a mini evaluation to identify if there is anything we can support you with and to see how you are getting on with spending your money.

If everything is ticking along nicely we will release the other half of your project fund into your organisation’s bank account. At this point we will also discuss any potential barriers you are facing with your project and where possible we will work with you to help make your project a success.

If barriers are identified and we are unable to agree on a support plan YHN have the right to withdraw the remainder of the 10

funding and underspend from the initial payment.

Your information YHN takes its responsibility in relation to data protection (GDPR) very seriously and will only process the data for the purpose that it was intended for.

Should your application be unsuccessful we will retain your submission for six months should you have any queries.

Our privacy notice and further information is available to view on www.yhn.org.uk or you may request a printed copy.

We are here to help If you are still unsure about anything or have any questions then please just contact the Business Support Team by: • Email: Yhncif@yhn.org.uk • Tel: 0191 278 8600 • Website: www.yhn.org.uk

Notes

YHN Community Investment Fund

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26/06/2018

Yhncif@yhn.org.uk

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0191 278 8600 |

www.yhn.org.uk