Eligibility for the county councillors fund
Grants made must support only community, voluntary and other non-commercial purposes.
All applications must provide detail on what the applicant is contributing to the project in the way of match funding or contributions in kind. There is no minimum financial expectation for applicants, other than parish councils and businesses (including community and not for profit businesses such as Community Interest Companies or incorporated charities). In those cases, the expectation is for 50/50 match funding.
Profit-making businesses are ineligible to apply for funding from the 2026 Community Fund.
The County Council is not able to fund individuals. Fund payments are made by bank transfer and cannot be paid into an individual person’s bank account – if your group doesn’t have its own bank account, you will need to arrange for the payment to be made into a local parish council or voluntary sector group’s bank account for them to hold on your behalf, provided that all parties agree to this approach. If taking that approach, please make this very clear in your application form.
Depending on the nature of your support project, the County Council may need to be assured that you have appropriate safeguarding procedures, appropriate insurance etc, and expects that if this information is requested at any time, your organisation will be forthcoming.
Supporting members will undertake a review of publicly available information (such as websites and social media) will confirm that applicant organisations do not display behaviour that could bring the Council into disrepute. This includes checking for abusive, defamatory, or otherwise inappropriate content – where this is evident applications will be rejected by the member.
Applicants must demonstrate they can manage funds responsibly and deliver clear, measurable community outcomes.
Applicants must pass a simple Companies House and due diligence check. This includes reviewing the background of all directors to identify involvement in multiple companies with a history of insolvency, compulsory strike off, significant debts, repeated business closures, or patterns of poor financial management.
These checks ensure the Council can have confidence that funded projects will be delivered effectively and provide value to local residents.
Applications may be declined where risk indicators are identified
If you have accessed funding from the County Council’s members’ fund in the past, it will need to be clear what is different about your application to the 2026 Community Fund. Applications that appear to be for items previously funded will be rejected.
