HELP AVAILABLE FOR VILLAGE HALL CAPITAL PROJECTS
30/01/25 update
Help is available for new buildings, capital improvements or major work. Routine repair and maintenance work is not usually eligible for grant aid.
All Councils will expect the Town/Parish Councils to provide help for the project as far as possible. Normally grant aid is only available for work which has not yet been contracted or started.
WEST OXFORDSHIRE
Westhive -Online community fundraising https://www.spacehive.com/movement/westhive/ for residents. Local businesses, the council and other organisations can pledge money alongside each other to crowdfund projects that improve local places.
CHERWELL DISTRICT COUNCIL
Cherwell District Council Community Infrastructure Capital Grant Fund- No Capital Grant Funding information on their website at present.
There are grants for Community Centres through the Community Association Grants
https://www.cherwell.gov.uk/info/118/communities/793/community-grants
Cherwell Lottery for good causes might be worth exploring.
https://www.cherwell.gov.uk/info/118/communities/629/cherwell-lottery/3
https://www.cherwelllottery.co.uk/good-causes
OXFORD CITY COUNCIL
There are some funding ideas here on Oxford City Council’s website:
https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/residents/community-and-living/funding-and-grants
TIMESCALE FOR TAKING UP GRANTS/LOAN
Each authority will have its own time limit for the taking up of grants/loans – usually within 1 or at most 2 years.
VAT
It is possible to make arrangements with the Parish Council and the grant aiding authority concerned, for grants required for a project planned by and for the benefit of an independent village hall committee. The grant would be applied for by and be paid over to their Parish Council for the Parish Council to use, contract and pay for a part of the proposed building work on the village hall (please note CDC do not operate this arrangement).
If this is done, the Parish Council can reclaim the VAT paid on that part of the work. It should be noted that VAT cannot be reclaimed on work paid for by the Parish Council if the Parish Council has not contracted the work or if it uses funds handed over to it by the independent village hall committee including grants applied for by and awarded to the village hall committee – either at the time or after the event. Information sheet 18, ‘Village Halls and VAT’, is available for halls who are members of our Community Buildings advice service.
TOWN/PARISH COUNCILS Town/Parish Councils have power under Section 19 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 to give grants or loans for work at village halls or in support of their annual expenses. There is no limit on the amount that may be given. The County and District Councils will expect as far as possible to see evidence of Town/Parish Council support for a project. Information sheet 2, ‘Parish Council Help for Village Halls’, is available and gives a list of the ways that Parish Councils can help.
THE BIG LOTTERY
Awards for All England
Fund projects that support people and communities across the UK to thrive. One of the criteria is ‘improving the places that matter to communities.’ They want you to involve your community in your project.
They will grant a smaller project with funds from £300 to £20,000 for up to two years, for voluntary and community organisations to support what matters to people and communities.
Reaching Communities England – new criteria coming for this in Spring 2025, if your project is not imminent, please don’t apply until these are published.
Guidance here: https://www.tnlcommunityfund.org.uk/funding/programmes/reaching-communities-england
Funding for larger projects of £20,001 or more for up to 5 years.
Ongoing funding but apply at least 16 weeks before you want to start the activities or spend any of the money.
Funding is for projects that do at least one of these things:
- bring people together to build strong relationships in and across communities
- improve places and spaces that matter to communities
- help more people reach their potential, by supporting them at the earliest possible stage
They want to be flexible and respond to communities needs so will offer funding:
- For the long or short term
- For a specific activity, or for broader costs to help your organisation or community
- For one organisation or to bring organisations together
- To support people, communities and organisations most affected by the cost-of-living crisis.
Community First Oxfordshire have had talks with the Big Lottery representative for the South East. Our Halls Advisor, Tessa Hall, can give you some support and explain the basics that you need to have in place before you apply for the ‘Reaching Communities’ fund.
THE LANDFILL COMMUNITIES FUND (LCF)
The Landfill Communities Fund is a scheme for funding community and environmental projects, predominantly within ten miles of landfill sites.
Since 1996 landfill operators have had to pay tax on every tonne of waste they dispose of, the idea being to encourage everyone to create less waste and to recycle or reuse more. Fortunately, they are allowed to give part of their landfill tax to certain causes.
These funds are managed through distributive environmental bodies within the rules of the scheme. You can identify funders in your area through our funders search.
Entrust is the landfill regulator body, Please have a look on their website here https://www.entrust.org.uk/ to check eligibility by putting in your halls address and find which extraction sites are near you and who will fund you.
Third Party Funding
In order to get a grant from any of the following organisations, an independent third party must provide a cash sum to the landfill operator of 10.2% of the grant sought, in order to “trigger” funds available through landfill community’s fund for the project. Oxfordshire environmental bodies are listed below:-
FCC Communities Foundation (Previously known as WREN), have a ‘Community Action Fund’ for England, to support community projects. For buildings within 10 miles of a landfill site.
You can apply for funding of between £2,000 – £100,000 through their grant scheme with three deadline dates throughout the year. https://fcccommunitiesfoundation.org.uk/funds/fcc-community-action-fund
See if you are eligible by completing the pre-application eligibility check https://fcccommunitiesfoundation.org.uk/apply
BIFFA AWARD
https://www.biffa-award.org/community-buildings/ Application value must be between £10,000 and £75,000. Total project cost must be no more than £200,000 including VAT. The project site must be within five miles of a significant Biffa Operation or within 10 miles if this is an active Biffa Landfill Site (check the project postcode using their Postcode Checker)
The project site must ALSO be within 10 miles of any licenced landfill site in England and Northern Ireland (to find your nearest landfill site, telephone the regulator Entrust on 01926 488300) Further guidance and details can be found on website above.
DORIS FIELD CHARITABLE TRUST
There is no need to be a registered charity to apply to this Trust for funding with:
Trustees usually meeting 2/3 times a year. Grants up to £1,000 have been given to several Oxfordshire projects including village halls over the last few years. Further details and application forms are available from Emily Greig, Blake Morgan LLP, Seacourt Tower, West Way, Oxford OX2 0FB. Tel: 01865 254286 [email protected]
GARFIELD WESTON FOUNDATION
Please see information here on their capital grants for halls, community centres and churches https://garfieldweston.org/what-we-fund/capital-projects/
Screwfix Foundation
The Screwfix Foundation is offering small grants of up to £5,000 to local charities, including projects that fix, repair, maintain and improve properties and community facilities for the benefit of those in need. They want you to be clear about how you will raise more funds if it part funds your project. They will prioritise projects that they can fund fully.
Criteria:
- Be a registered charity or not for profit organisation.
- Help those in need. This could be by reason of financial hardship, sickness, distress or other disadvantages in the UK.
- Be looking for funding to support projects that relate to the repair, maintenance, improvement or construction of homes, community buildings and other buildings.
Please see their Full eligibility criteria.
Bernard Sunley Charitable Trust
This trust has been supporting village hall projects around the country but will only assist registered charities.
When applying a letter should be included to explain what the charity does, its objectives, an explanation of the need and purpose of the project, costings, the size of grant needed, how much has been raised already/from whom, and how it is planned to raise any shortfall. The principal areas of interest of the Foundation is assisting community projects, the disadvantaged and where there is a focus on environmental issues.
To obtain further information of how to apply, contact the Trust at 4th Floor, 20 Berkeley Square, London W1J 6LH Tel 0207 408 2198 or email [email protected]
DHL UK
DHL UK Match it! Fund. To apply you must be a DHL employee working with a voluntary organisation. In Oxfordshire DHL is based on Milton Park in Abingdon
Match it! Fund. https://www.dhlukfoundation.org/apply-for-match-it/#faqs
Oxfordshire CAG -Community Action Groups
Oxfordshire CAG have a special project grant which is administered by CAG project staff. If you have a CAG group in your community, you may be able to approach them and see if they can support you with a project. They act on issues including waste, transport, food, energy, biodiversity and social justice. The grants that they can get are for under £500 and match funding is needed.
B & Q Foundation
Grants of up to £5,000 to improve community spaces.
https://bqfoundation.org.uk/apply-for-a-grant/
Postcode Society Trust – First round this year opens on 24th February Your organisation’s aims must match at least one of the following criteria.
- Enabling participation in physical activity
- Enabling participation in the arts
- Improving biodiversity and responding to the climate emergency
- Improving green spaces and increasing access to the outdoors
- Preventing or reducing the impact of poverty
- Providing support to improve mental health
https://www.postcodesocietytrust.org.uk/apply-for-a-grant
Morrisons Foundation
https://www.morrisonsfoundation.com/grant-funding-request/
Grants for projects up to £10,000 for capital spend. For charities only. Project must help the community. Grant cannot part fund a project.
The National Churches Trust
The National Churches Trust will consider halls attached to the church building or as an extension- but not separate halls.
https://www.nationalchurchestrust.org/get-support/grants/grants-faq
Tax Relief on charitable giving
Gift Aid
If an individual taxpayer or a company gives a lump sum donation of any size to a charity, the charity can reclaim tax from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) on its ‘gross equivalent – its value before tax was deducted at the basic rate if a Gift Aid Scheme is used.
For further details and guidance on Gift Aid please visit their website: https://www.gov.uk/claim-gift-aid/gift-aid-declarations
Loans
ACRE- Rural Community Buildings Loan Fund
The loan fund is operated by ACRE, Community First Oxfordshire’s national organisation. Loans are usually available to halls established on charitable trusts for work to provide a new hall or to improve an existing one. The interest rate changes daily and depends on the length of term of the loan. The rate will be fixed at the rate on the day the cheque is issued and will remain for the whole term of the loan. Please contact Tessa Hall: [email protected] if you require further details.
Big Issue Invest- Energy Saving Loan – worth looking into https://www.bigissue.com/invest/big-energy-saving-loans/
Big Issue Invest is offering loan finance between £20,000 to £200,000 to social enterprises and charities in England, for energy efficiency and renewable energy installation.
Blenheim Palace – Bursary and Green loan you have to be within a 20 mile radius- please check details here https://www.blenheimpalace.com/community/
AND DON’T FORGET YOUR VILLAGE COMMUNITY
Keep the village informed of your plans and progress from the outset. Appeal for help “in kind” as well as in donations and attendance at fund raising events. There may be professional expertise, skilled labour or sources of cheap materials you can call on. Here are some small funding pots to support you community’s fundraising ideas:
Asda Foundation- Colleague match funding for local causes, ask in your local ASDA shop, could help towards fundraising for your hall.
The Midcounties Co-operative
The Midcounties Co-operative believes in using its profits for the development of the business, the benefit of the members and to support the community that they trade with.
You can apply for a ‘Local Community Grant’ grants of up to £250 as long as you are based in their trading area and provide a benefit to the local community, they can also provide volunteers for you if you need an extra pair of hands.
There are grants of £2,000 available too at certain times of the year from the ‘Community Funding’ grant.
Individual branches also have community cheque books which the local manager can use at their discretion to provide the means for purchase of small items by local groups e.g. raffle prizes, refreshments etc.
More details are available on website www.midcounties.coop or phone 01902 405700.
PLANNING A VILLAGE HALL BUILDING PROJECT –
CHECKLIST OF POINTS TO CONSIDER The sources of help for building projects mentioned in this leaflet are sympathetic to the needs of village hall management committees and will try to help as far as they can.
For grant aiding bodies to be able to consider your application effectively, they especially want to see, as far as possible, efficient forward planning of your project and evidence of the consultation that has taken place in the community which supports your project.
Information sheets on business planning and consulting with your community are available from Community First Oxfordshire.
www.communityfirstoxon.org
01865883488
[email protected]
Community First Oxfordshire is a company limited by guarantee (no. 2461552) and a charity (no. 900560). Registered office: South Stables, Worton Rectory Farm, Worton, Witney, Oxfordshire, OX29 4SU