East of England Co-op Community Cares Fund – New round is now open
Posted on: September 28, 2021
Funding applications
Applications for the next round of the Community Cares Fund are now open!
Funding applications must address at least one or more of these key areas:
- Community Action – including the development of physical and virtual spaces, and services that bring communities together.
- Mental Health and Wellbeing
- Food Justice for all – including access to, and sharing knowledge about good quality, nutritious food.
Who can apply and size of grants
Please ensure you read the information below before completing our eligibility checker
The Fund will award grants of between £1000 and £5000 to support the work of voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations (VCSE), charities and parish councils looking to create or adapt services or activities to address local needs in the areas of Norfolk, Suffolk and North East Essex where the East of England Co-op trades.
To find out where your nearest East of England Co-op food store, travel branch or funeral branch is click here to go to our store locator. Select the option for ‘All branches’
Applicants to the East of England Co-op Community Cares Fund will need to have:
- a management committee of at least three members
- a governing document/constitution with a dissolution clause
- a bank account with two unrelated signatories living at separate addresses, who must both sign for all withdrawals
- an equal opportunities policy
- annual accounts
- management accounts (if your accounts are less than six months old) which show income, expenditure, reserves (split by restricted and unrestricted)
- relevant safeguarding policies if you are working with young people or vulnerable adults.
The East of England Co-op Community Cares Fund is administered on our behalf by Suffolk Community Foundation working with Essex and Norfolk Community Foundations.
By applying to the East of England Co-op Community Cares Fund you agree to share your data with the East of England Co-op and the Community Foundations and understand that you may be contacted for publicity purposes.
When will grants be distributed?
The window for applications for this round closes on Friday 8 October 2021. Please note funds are limited for this round, and the Fund is likely to close early if oversubscribed.
Funds from this round will be awarded at the start of 2022.
Successful applicants will be required to take part in marketing activities with us to promote the East of East Co-op Community Cares Fund and the work the group is undertaking in the community.
If you would like to apply for a Community Cares Fund grant, please complete our Eligibility Checker. It will only take a couple of minutes.
The Community Team
The Community Cares Fund was set up in April 2020, as a response to the Coronavirus pandemic and our desire to allocate our community funds to charities and organisations looking to adapt, enhance and deliver much needed services to the most vulnerable in our communities during this incredibly difficult time.
Our initial Fund of £230,000 was quickly added to by our generous members who donated their dividend to the fund.
With the support of our members we were able to support foodbanks helping families at crisis point, young victims of domestic violence, unpaid carers struggling in lockdown and vulnerable people shielding at home to get the medical supplies they needed.
A number of smaller but no less valuable donations were also made to a variety of groups and charities across our region.
Over the past year, the Community Cares Fund has enabled us to be much more responsive to the needs of people in our communities and direct our support to where it is most needed. To allow us to continue this good work, we have decided to direct the majority of our community support though the Community Cares Fund and working with the Community Foundations in Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk to open it up for charities and groups to apply for grants of between £1000 and £5000.
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