Home / Your Community / Community Funding / £5,000 – £10,000 Revenue Community Grant

£5,000 - £10,000 revenue community grant

We invest in our communities every day, by maintaining homes, building new homes, supporting diverse customers and by funding various activities and projects.

This grant is now closed for applications. In the meantime, please read the grant information and contact us if you would like to discuss a future application.

We are giving organisations the opportunity to apply for grant funding between £5,000 – £10,000 to support community investment programmes and to deliver innovative projects that put our customers on a pathway to improving their lives. While open to projects supporting all of the priorities listed below, we’d be particularly interested to hear from projects that help to tackle the issues around the cost of living crisis.

our key themes

We welcome applications for projects that meet one of our key themes:

Health and wellbeing: improving mental and physical health as well as building the confidence of individuals
Employability and training: including volunteering and other upskilling activities
Increasing household income: activities including debt and benefit advice, feeding families and employing people
A greener, fairer future: by reducing, reusing and recycling
Tackling inequalities as a result of the cost-of-living crisis.

Projects must be for revenue costs and a minimum of 30% of the beneficiaries of your project will need to be believe housing tenants from areas identified to satisfy the funding criteria. Please scroll down to view our areas.

In each community, the key themes may need to be addressed in different ways. We will give priority to those projects and activities which we believe will best achieve our key themes with special consideration being given to those which support the development of sustainable communities and new projects and activities with limited resources.

All projects must be deliverable within and adhere to current coronavirus (COVID-19) government guidelines.

There is one open call for the Community Investment Revenue Grant per year and it is likely to be oversubscribed, so please consider all the criteria carefully before applying. It is important that your application demonstrates a Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely (SMART) approach and contains a clear and concise account of your proposal. We have included prompts and examples in the application form to assist you.

If you would like to discuss your project idea before submitting your application, we would welcome the opportunity to talk to you about your project idea. You can contact the Community Investment Team by email: communitygrant@believehousing.co.uk or call us on 0300 1311 999.

locations

All projects must be deliverable in one of our patch areas, these are central Durham, east Durham and west Durham. Please see the list below for a breakdown.

The funding will be split equally across the areas, we ask when completing the application form that you select which area your project will cover.

Some potential projects may have delivery outcomes that overlap in the delivery areas, which may be acceptable, but please discuss this with the Community Investment Team prior to submitting your application. Groups can apply for multiple projects in more than one area.

Central Durham areasToggle

Bearpark	Belmont	Bowburn	Brandon
Brasside	Cassop	Carrville	Claypath
Coxhoe	Browney	Crossgate	Croxdale
Elvet	Esh Winning	Framwellgate Moor	Gilesgate
Gilesgate Moor	High Pittington	Kelloe	Langley Moor
Littletown	Ludworth	Meadowfield	Merryoaks
Neville’s Cross	New Brancepeth	Newton Hall	Pity Me
Quarrington Hill	Shadforth	Sherburn Village	Sherburn Hill
Sherburn Road	Sherburn Road Estate	Ushaw Moor	West Rainton
Witton Gilbert

East Durham areasToggle

Blackhall Colliery	Blackhall Rocks	Hesleden	Acre Rigg
Chapel Hill	Denehouse	Eden Hill	Howletch
Passfield	Sunny Blunts	Horden	Easington Colliery
Easington Village	Shotton Colliery	South Hetton	Haswell
Haswell Plough	Hawthorn	Wheatley Hill	Thornley
Wingate	Water Avens Village	Station Town	Deaf Hill
Trimdon Colliery	Trimdon Village	Byron	Denehouse
Deneside	Eastlea	Harbour	Milldale
Northlea	Parkside	Princess Road	Seaton
Westlea	Dawdon	Murton	Dalton-le-Dale
Hutton Henry	Castle Eden	Hetton-le-Hole	Chilton Moor
Newbottle	Ryhope

South-West Durham areasToggle

Auckland Park	Billy Row	Bishop Auckland	Chilton
Coundon	Coundon Grange	Crook	Eldon Lane
Escomb	Fir Tree	Frosterley	Howden-le-Wear
Hunwick	Leeholme	Middlestone Moor	Oakenshaw
Stanhope	Sunnybrow	Tindale Crescent	Tow Law
Wearhead	West Auckland	Westgate	Willington
Witton-Le-Wear	Wolsingham

more about the grant

What does the community revenue grant support?Toggle

The Community Revenue Grant can be used to help and support our communities, this can include:

Set up of classes, sessions, activities, and events for the community
Buying equipment for a community-based activity that does not qualify as capital
On costs of the project for example, staff time, sessional workers, room hire, equipment and resources required to deliver the project
Providing refreshments, snacks, and meals as part of an activity
Marketing and promotion to increase participation in activities
Travel costs which are integral to an activity

Who can apply?Toggle

We welcome applications from:

Registered and exempt charities
Community groups
Schools
Social enterprises
Voluntary groups
Community Interest Companies
Town, Parish or Community Councils
Faith groups/venues

Who can't apply?Toggle

Unfortunately, we are unable to accept applications from:

Individuals
Party political groups
Private companies or ‘for-profit’ organisations
Those whose objectives and ethos do not meet believe housing’s charitable objectives.

What information is needed to make a large grant application?Toggle

To help you prepare to make a large grant application please consider some of the following questions:

What are you wanting to do, where and when will it happen and who will take part?
How do you know there is a need for your project? Do you already have a waiting list of people or do you have more demand for your service? Have you found a gap in services for the people you support? Have people come to you asking for this support? Do you work with other organisations who will direct people towards your activity? How do you know people will access your project?
How will you ensure at least 30% of your beneficiaries are believe customers?
What are your project milestones? These are the key stages in your project and could be planning, marketing and publicity, purchase of resources, delivery of events, recruitment of volunteers etc.
What are your targets? How many people will benefit from your activities? Targets should be specific and outline how often an activity takes place – for example, we will deliver weekly craft activities over 40 weeks, 25 people will attend overall with an expected average weekly attendance of 10-12 people.
What are the outcomes of your project? These are the difference your project will make in the long term. Do your outcomes reflect our priority themes?
What are your project costs? These should be detailed and give us an idea of how you have calculated these costs. For example, staff costs should show the hourly rate for the member of staff and the number of hours they will be working.
What is the long-term impact of your project? If it is to continue beyond our funding period, how will this happen?
How could believe staff volunteers support your project?

Is there a minimum or maximum timescale that projects must take place over?Toggle

To be eligible for the Community Revenue Grant it is expected that your project would last 6 to 12 months. Priority will be given to projects that can demonstrate sustainability beyond the funding period.

Projects need to start within a month of receiving the first payment instalment.

How much funding can I apply for?Toggle

Organisations can apply for grants of between £5,000 – £10,000 for projects to start delivery in 2022/23.

Can I apply for more than one year of funding or if I’ve already had a grant from believe housing?Toggle

If an organisation has been successful in securing the Community Revenue Grant, they can apply for the same project for one more consecutive year, up to a total of two years funding.

If an organisation is successful in securing funding for two years, they can apply again the following year, but this must be for a different project.

Please note that the funding is very limited and there are no guarantees to an organisation of continuous or multiple funding. Funding is intended to support projects that last between 6 – 12 months that aim to become sustainable.

Please speak to a member of the Community Investment Team if you are unsure about your eligibility.

Is there anything that the Community Revenue Grant, wouldn’t support?Toggle

We are unable to accept applications for the Community Revenue Grant to support:

Items that are purchased on behalf of another organisation
Applications to develop the financial reserves of the organisation
Ongoing running costs of an organisation
Religious, party political or lobbying activities (non-religious and multi-faith activities may be funded)
Loans or debt repayments
Projects and activities for personal profit
Capital costs (e.g. a new roof)
Individuals requesting funding.

How are grant awards decided?Toggle

Once you have submitted your application, we will contact you to acknowledge receipt of this with five working days.

Your application will then be reviewed and be part of a shortlisting process, we may contact you for additional information at this stage. If your application is shortlisted, you will be informed, and this will then go to the grant panel for decision. A grant panel will be made up of the director of corporate strategy & assurance , engagement and corporate social responsibility manager and community investment performance team leader.

Once a decision has been made, we will then contact you to advise you of the outcome.

We aim to complete the decision process within seven weeks of the closing date so please bear this timescale in mind when developing your project milestone dates.

If your grant application is unsuccessful, we will provide you with feedback on request. We can also signpost you to other sources of funding from believe housing and alternative grant providers on request.

Your application is approved, what happens next?Toggle

If your application is successful, we will contact you to agree the payment schedule and reporting dates which will be followed up with an agreement letter. The agreement letter is a contractual agreement between your organisation and believe housing for the project delivery.

We will also discuss with you the details of publicity and quarterly reporting requirements, these include:

Evidence that the purpose for which the grant was awarded was achieved including a written update detailing progress against targets, milestones and outcomes. It should also include case studies and photos where possible.
Records of attendance
Data from participant surveys (the details of the survey will be agreed at your start-up meeting)
A detailed statement of expenditure including receipts and/or evidence of spend for example invoices or staff wages claim form.

All grant funding will be paid via BACS in instalments.

Terms and conditionsToggle

If believe housing agree to award a grant to help fund your project or activity, then you will be required to agree to terms and conditions.

To read the full terms and conditions, please click here.

get in touch

If you would like to discuss your project idea before submitting your application, please get in touch below to speak to our Community Investment Team.

email call now

apply now

If you have any issues or need any support applying for the grant, please get in touch with the team at communitygrant@believehousing.co.uk and they will be able to send you an electronic copy of the application form.

Confirm your eligibility for this grant

Are you applying for up to £10,000?(Required)

Does your project benefit one or more of the areas believe housing operate in?(Required)

Can you provide us with two named contacts for your project?(Required)

Do you have a bank account with two unrelated signatories?(Required)

Does your project meet all the funding criteria and requirements?(Required)

Have you read the terms and conditions and can you agree to these if your funding application is successful?(Required)

your organisation

Organisation address(Required)

Organisation name(Required)

please select your type of organisation:

Other type of organisation(Required)

If your organisation is a registered charity, please include your charity number

Website / social addresses

How did you find out about this grant?(Required)

project contacts

please provide two named contacts for your project

Main Contact

Name(Required)

Role within this project(Required)

Phone(Required)

Email(Required)

Secondary Contact

Name

Role within this project

Phone

about your project

Project title(Required)

Project start date(Required)

DD slash MM slash YYYY

Estimated project end date(Required)

DD slash MM slash YYYY

Which patch of County Durham does your project cover?

Central Durham

Bearpark

Belmont

Bowburn

Brandon

Brasside

Cassop

Carrville

Claypath

Coxhoe

Browney

Crossgate

Croxdale

Elvet

Esh Winning

Framwellgate Moor

Gilesgate

Gilesgate Moor

High Pittington

Kelloe

Langley Moor

Littletown

Ludworth

Meadowfield

Merryoaks

Neville's Cross

New Brancepeth

Newton Hall

Pity Me

Quarrington Hill

Shadforth

Sherburn Village

Sherburn Hill

Sherburn Road

Sherburn Road Estate

Ushaw Moor

West Rainton

Witton Gilbert

East Durham

Blackhall Colliery

Blackhall Rocks

Hesleden

Acre Rigg

Chapel Hill

Denehouse

Eden Hill

Howletch

Passfield

Sunny Blunts

Horden

Easington Colliery

Easington Village

Shotton Colliery

South Hetton

Haswell

Haswell Plough

Hawthorn

Wheatley Hill

Thornley

Wingate

Water Avens Village

Station Town

Deaf Hill

Trimdon Colliery

Trimdon Village

Byron

Deneside

Eastlea

Harbour

Milldale

Northlea

Parkside

Princess Road

Seaton

Westlea

Dawdon

Murton

Dalton-le-Dale

Hutton Henry

Castle Eden

Hetton-le-Hole

Chilton Moor

Newbottle

Ryhope

South-West Durham

Auckland Park

Billy Row

Bishop Auckland

Chilton

Coundon

Coundon Grange

Crook

Eldon Lane

Escomb

Fir Tree

Frosterley

Howdon-le-Wear

Hunwick

Leeholme

Middlestone Moor

Oakenshaw

Stanhope

Sunnybrow

Tindale Crescent

Tow Law

Wearhead

West Auckland

Westgate

Willington

Witton-le-Wear

Wolsingham

Overall cost of project (£)(Required)

Amount requested from believe housing (£)(Required)

If you are using match funding please let us know where it is coming from, the value and whether the funding is confirmed(Required)

What are you going to do?(Required)

When and where it will take place, and if applicable, how often?(Required)

Who will take part and be involved - who are your intended beneficiaries?(Required)

about your organisation

Please provide us with some background information about your organisation (300 words)(Required)

Please tell us about one of your previous projects (200 words)(Required)

Have you worked with believe housing (previously County Durham Housing Group) in any capacity? Please briefly describe the relationship.(Required)

project costing

Please provide a breakdown and description of all the project costs below.

For items such as delivery of sessions please indicate the staffing cost per hour or per session.
If providing items such as resource packs/food packages, please indicate the number being provided. Please give as much detail as possible.

Item or activity

Total cost (£)

Amount requested from believe housing (£)

Match funding(if applicable) (£)

please demonstrate how you worked out your costs

Item or activity 1

total cost 1

Amount requested from believe housing 1

Match funding 1

demonstrate cost 1

Item or activity 2

total cost 2

Amount requested from believe housing 2

Match funding 2

demonstrate cost 2

Item or activity 3

total cost 3

Amount requested from believe housing 3

Match funding 3

demonstrate cost 3

Item or activity 4

total cost 4

Amount requested from believe housing 4

Match funding 4

demonstrate cost 4

Item or activity 5

total cost 5

Amount requested from believe housing 5

Match funding 5

demonstrate cost 5

Item or activity 6

total cost 6

Amount requested from believe housing 6

Match funding 6

demonstrate cost 6

Item or activity 7

total cost 7

Amount requested from believe housing 7

Match funding 7

demonstrate cost 7

Item or activity 8

total cost 8

Amount requested from believe housing 8

Match funding 8

demonstrate cost 8

Item or activity 9

total cost 9

Amount requested from believe housing 9

Match funding 9

demonstrate cost 9

Item or activity 10

total cost 10

Amount requested from believe housing 10

Match funding 10

demonstrate cost 10

Total Values

Total cost value

Amount requested from believe housing total

Match funding total

demonstrate cost 11

project overview

Tell us how you developed your idea and why you are proposing this project? (150 words)

Please provide evidence of how you know there is a need for your project: for example, have you identified a gap in provision experienced by your community, has there been an increase in demand for a service or have people shown an interest in the idea already?

Tell us how you developed your idea and why you are proposing this project? (150 words)(Required)

How do you know people will access your project? (150 words)

Please demonstrate how you have engaged with your target beneficiaries or partners who may refer people to your project. What did they say and how has this been considered in your project development?

How do you know people will access your project? (150 words)(Required)

To be funded by believe a minimum of 30% of beneficiaries must be believe housing tenants. How will you ensure your project will meet this requirement? (100 words)

Please note believe housing cannot supply information on the locations of individual tenants but can provide street names for our properties.

To be funded by believe a minimum of 30% of beneficiaries must be believe housing tenants. How will you ensure your project will meet this requirement? (100 words)(Required)

If your project involves partnership working, please provide details of the organisations you will be working with and their role.

If your project involves partnership working, please provide details of the organisations you will be working with and their role.(Required)

What positive action will you take to ensure that a diverse range of people can access the project?

What positive action will you take to ensure that a diverse range of people can access the project?(Required)

project milestones

What are your project milestones?

To allow us to track the progress of your project, please tell us about the milestones. A milestone is a specific point in time within a project lifecycle used to measure the progress of a project toward its ultimate goal. We need you to tell us about the key tasks and activities during the project and at which stage they will be completed. Examples of milestones include planning, marketing and publicity, recruitment of staff/volunteers purchase of items, installation of items, events planned, delivery of key stages in project.

milestone(Required)

timescale/deadlines(Required)

milestone 1

timescale/deadlines 1

milestone 2

timescale/deadlines 2

milestone 3

timescale/deadlines 3

milestone 4

timescale/deadlines 4

project targets

What are your targets?

Targets are specific aims of the project e.g. delivery of activities, recruitment of volunteers working on the project or physical improvements. Any targets for the project should be quantifiable, realistic and achievable and be specific to your project outcomes. A minimum of 30% of beneficiaries need to be believe housing tenants to satisfy the criteria.

If your project will deliver regular activities, please state how many and over what period of time.

What is the target?

Example: We will deliver 48 weekly 2-hour activity sessions for older people over the course of 12 months

How many people will directly benefit?

Example: 100 people will attend over the period with an average of 20 per week

How many tenants will directly benefit?

Example: 40 believe tenants overall, with approximately 6 per week

How did you arrived at this figure?

Example: We currently have 100 older people registered with us and know that at least 40 of these are tenants

Example: We will deliver 48 weekly 2-hour activity sessions for older people over the course of 12 months

100 people will attend over the period with an average of 20 per week

40 believe tenants overall, with approximately 6 per week

We currently have 100 older people registered with us and know that at least 40 of these are tenants

what is the target? 1

Overall, how many people will directly benefit? 1

How many tenants will directly benefit? 1

Please tell us how you arrived at this figure 1

who is the target? 2

Overall, how many people will directly benefit? 2

How many tenants will directly benefit? 2

Please tell us how you arrived at this figure 2

who is the target? 3

Overall, how many people will directly benefit? 3

How many tenants will directly benefit? 3

Please tell us how you arrived at this figure 3

who is the target? 4

Overall, how many people will directly benefit? 4

How many tenants will directly benefit? 4

Please tell us how you arrived at this figure 4

project outcomes

What are the outcomes of your project?

Outcomes are the longer-term differences and changes that result from the project rather than the activities that you will deliver. They should describe who will benefit, how it will benefit them and what the change will be at the end of the project.

outcome 1(Required)

outcome 2

outcome 3

sustainability

What is the long term impact of your project?

Do you envisage the project continuing after the funding period ends? If yes, please explain how you will work towards sustaining the project and what support you may require from believe housing or other agencies.(Required)

If no, please demonstrate the long-term impact of your project on its beneficiaries and what your exit strategy will entail.

project priorities

Please explain how your project will meet one or more of our priorities:

Employability and training: including volunteering and other upskilling activities(Required)

Increasing household income: activities including debt and benefit advice, feeding families, and employing people(Required)

Health and wellbeing: improving mental and physical health as well as building the confidence of individuals(Required)

A greener, fairer future: supporting our planet through innovative thinking and reducing waste(Required)

Tackling inequalities as a result of Covid-19(Required)

volunteering

believe housing operates a staff volunteering scheme. If you’re interested in utilising staff volunteers to support your project, please provide some details of the opportunity below:(Required)

risk assessment

Please provide details on potential risks to the project and actions in place to avoid these risks.

Reputational damage

Reputational risk refers to the potential for negative publicity, public perception, or uncontrollable events to have an adverse impact on a company's reputation.

controls in place to reduce this risk(Required)

risks identified(Required)

Compliance

Regulatory compliance is an organisation's adherence to laws, regulations, guidelines and specifications relevant to its business processes for example Health and Safety.

risks identified

controls in place to reduce this risk

Operational issues

Operational risk is the prospect of loss resulting from inadequate or failed procedures, systems or policies, employee errors, system failures, fraud, or other criminal activity. Any event that disrupts business processes.

risks identified

controls in place to reduce this risk

Financial misuse

Financial misuse refers to finances being spent on anything other than it was intended for without prior approval, groups going ‘under’ and close with a series of debtors in place, unable to clawback cash, loss of resources or additional income, higher set-up or operational costs than originally calculated, appropriate financial monitoring not in place, risk of mismanagement of funds, risk of fraud.

controls in place to reduce this risk

risks identified

Coronavirus working safely

How will the project operate safely in relation to Covid-19?

risks identified

controls in place to reduce this risk

declaration

Does anyone involved with your group work for believe housing or are you or any member of your group related to any member of staff, Board or Committee member of believe housing?(Required)

Yes

If yes, please state the name of the person who works for believe housing and the position they hold in your group:

By submitting this application you are confirming that:

I have read and understood the guidance notes
The information provided is to the best of my knowledge, true and accurate
If my application is successful, the grant awarded will only be used for the purposes stated in this form
I agree to keep a record of all financial transactions relating to the grant awarded and will forward receipts/invoices as required
I agree to complete the believe housing community grant evaluation form following the project.

Groups with successful grant applications will be required to consent to any publicity and marketing that believe housing may require. This may include, but is not limited to, press and online activities of both funds being awarded and the outcomes of approved projects. Should you carry out future promotion of the outcomes of your grant application, you must reference believe housing (using relevant brand guidelines and logo(s) where required), with approval from believe housing's Marketing and Communications team.

Consent(Required)

Check this box to agree to the above terms *(Required)

Name(Required)

Job Title(Required)

Organisation(Required)

Date(Required)

MM slash DD slash YYYY

data protection

believe housing is a data controller for the purposes of the current UK Data Protection Legislation and we seek to take care of the personal information you provide and deal with it in accordance with the Act. Your personal information will only be used by us so we can consider and process your application and any funding awarded. It will not be shared with other organisations unless we are required by law to do so. To find out how we process your personal information please read our privacy notice: https://demo.believehousing.co.uk/company-information/privacy-notice/

We may wish to share your application details with internal believe housing services such as universal credit, tenancy sustainment and safer neighbourhoods etc. We would like to do this to support your application. Do you give us permission to share your details?(Required)

Yes

Please be advised that if you do give us permission, you can withdraw this consent at any time by contacting us.

Name(Required)

Date(Required)

MM slash DD slash YYYY

consent

I have read an understood the following:

Consent(Required)

Confirm eligibility for grant section *(Required)

Consent(Required)

Declaration *(Required)

Consent(Required)

Data protection *(Required)

CAPTCHA

Phone

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Welcome to believe housing's new website

£5,000 - £10,000 revenue community grant

This grant is now closed for applications. In the meantime, please read the grant information and contact us if you would like to discuss a future application.

our key themes

locations

more about the grant

get in touch

Related content

apply now

Confirm your eligibility for this grant

your organisation

project contacts

Main Contact

Secondary Contact

about your project

about your organisation

project costing

Please provide a breakdown and description of all the project costs below.

project overview

Tell us how you developed your idea and why you are proposing this project? (150 words)

How do you know people will access your project? (150 words)

To be funded by believe a minimum of 30% of beneficiaries must be believe housing tenants. How will you ensure your project will meet this requirement? (100 words)

If your project involves partnership working, please provide details of the organisations you will be working with and their role.

What positive action will you take to ensure that a diverse range of people can access the project?

project milestones

What are your project milestones?

project targets

What are your targets?

If your project will deliver regular activities, please state how many and over what period of time.

project outcomes

What are the outcomes of your project?

sustainability

What is the long term impact of your project?

project priorities

Please explain how your project will meet one or more of our priorities:

volunteering

risk assessment

Reputational damage

Compliance

Operational issues

Financial misuse

Coronavirus working safely

declaration

By submitting this application you are confirming that:

data protection

consent

Community Funding

Your Community

About Us