Grants and Funding

Community Grants Fund

It is important that you read the information provided on our web pages before you apply for funding as they will give you the full details of the Community Grants Fund.

They will help you decide if you are eligible to apply and will tell you about our Funding Priorities and Conditions of Funding [docx] 17KB. They will also provide details of the funding available.

If you are a voluntary, community or charitable group or organisation delivering a project or service in the Ashford borough and need financial assistance to be able to do so, you may be able to apply for a grant from Ashford Borough Council. Grant applications are made through the Council's Community Grants Fund.

In order to be eligible to apply for any grant from Ashford Borough Council, you must meet all of the basic criteria below:

You must:

Be a not-for-profit organisation with a formal charitable status OR an unincorporated organisation with a constitution and a formally appointed voluntary management committee OR a parish council
Be non-political
Operate in Ashford borough and serve borough residents
Ensure your service(s), project(s) or facilities are open to any resident in the borough (or have a clear, non-financial justification for targeting or prioritising a client group)
Have a bank or building society account in the organisation's name
Have relevant insurances in place e.g. public liability insurance, buildings insurance
Demonstrate you have relevant safeguards and policies in place i.e. risk assessments, health and safety policy, safeguarding policy
Have support for your project from an Ashford Borough Council Ward Councillor

Other eligibility criteria applies depending on the type of grant you re applying for – please see details for specific funding streams by clicking the links at the top of this page.

In addition, a grant from the community grants fund cannot be used to meet a shortfall in a Borough Council service budget or to fund any costs related to an asset or project run or delivered by the Borough Council

We do not accept applications from:

Individuals
Sole Traders
Organisations that are aimed at generating profits primarily for private distribution
Organisations that can pay profits to directors or shareholders
CICs limited by shares
Mainstream public services e.g. health, education
Churches to fund their core purposes e.g. religious instruction

Funding available

Capital (one-off) grants – up to £10,000.
Capital grants can provide funding to help purchase equipment or furniture, for example, or to refurbish a building or improve an open space.
Event Reset Grants – up to £1,000 revenue funding to help deliver community events and festivals.
Cycling and Walking Grants – up to £10,000 capital and revenue funding to promote cycling and walking schemes and to encourage people to cycle and walk more.
Loans – up to £25,000 in exceptional circumstances only.
Funding is linked to specific Funding Priorities relevant to the council's strategic objectives. This will ensure that the projects we fund will have a positive impact and support the council's aims and objectives
Ward Member Community Grant – The ward member community grant scheme provides each ward councillor with the ability to financially support local projects and services and therefore to play a more active role in their ward.
Each ward councillor has £3,000 in the financial year to allocate to projects within their ward. The minimum grant under this scheme is £100.
Community Grants funding is always subject to the council's budget position. We may be unable to fund every eligible application

Other grants available

Disabled Facilities Grants are dealt with by the Council's Housing Department. For further information, please visit our Disabled Facilities Grant page.

To find details of, and search for, a wide range of other funding sources for community projects visit Kent County Council's funding pages.