CLOSED | LCVS Community Impact Fund (CIF) |

The LCVS Community Impact Fund (CIF) is currently closed.

The last funding round opened for applications on Wednesday 13 March 2024 at 9.30 AM and closed on Friday 12 April 2024 at 5 PM.

Please note: We have recently reviewed and updated the guidance and eligibility criteria for applying for CIF. If your organisation has received CIF in previous rounds, it may no longer be eligible to apply for a grant during this round. Please ensure you carefully read the updated guidance document for applying for this round.

For any enquiries, please contact Steph Gregory at Stephanie.Gregory@lcvs.org.uk or Becky Lazare at Becky.Lazare@lcvs.org.uk.

Case Studies

60 projects were funded through the Community Impact Fund in October 2022, totalling £115,414. Below are some case studies from some of the organisations awarded funding during this round.

Click here to view the case studies.

Introduction

Our Community Impact Fund helps voluntary, community, faith, and social enterprise (VCFSE) sector organisations and registered charities do even more to build stronger communities across Liverpool and Merseyside.

How does it work?

Eligible organisations can apply for grants of up to £3,000 maximum, for projects that meet one or more of our four main priority areas:

Health
Education
Income stability
Arts and Culture.

Applications will be assessed on the impact that the project will have on the lives of those who benefit.

Applications will be assessed on the impact that the project will have on the lives of those who benefit. We’re looking for projects that help make a change for those most in need. For this round, we are particularly interested in funding projects that support people and communities to combat the problems caused by the current cost of living crisis.
Based upon the high level of applications in previous years, we can only fund projects that align with our priority areas. Unfortunately, it’s for this reason that some good projects won’t be considered.

Who is eligible to apply?

Eligible organisations must:

Be able to deliver on at least one of the four main priority areas listed above and provide evidence of this.
Be a constituted voluntary, community, faith, and social enterprise organisations, operating on a not-for-profit basis.
(Eligible legal structures include registered charities, not-for-profit unincorporated associations; not-for-profit company limited by guarantee with an asset lock; Community Interest Company limited by guarantee; community benefit society; community amateur sports Club (CASC)
Be established and have previously delivered activities.
Have a bank account in the name of the organisation which requires at least two unrelated people to sign cheques and make withdrawals.
An suitable, adopted Constitution or set of rules in the name of the organisation.
Child/Vulnerable Adults Safeguarding Policy where applicable and evidence that staff and volunteers are DBS checked.
Have the registered address in Merseyside and/or business address (main place of operation) to be in Merseyside.
Not have received CIF grant funding in the previous 2 rounds (e.g. if you are applying in Spring 2024, you should not have received funding in the Spring and/or Autum of 2023).
Enclose suitable additional documents, see “Additional guidance – what to enclose”, below.

What you can apply for

The current cost of living situation is having a real impact on communities and on organisations working in those communities. We recognise the vital work that voluntary and community organisations continue to do throughout the current crisis, and the resultant pressure on budgets.

For this round of funding, we will support general running costs, including staff costs. Please note that applications for staff costs of existing employees will be prioritised over bought-in or freelance staff costs. Please make the type of staff cost you are applying for clear in your application budget.

It is important that organisations can tell us how they have identified the need for the project or their ongoing work. Generic local statistics are valuable, but it is more important to be able to demonstrate that local people have been consulted.
We envisage that most grants will be for one-off projects that have direct public benefit. Where an LCVS grant is part of a larger project, organisations must be able to evidence that they have other funding in place.
Organisations must be able to demonstrate how those most in need will benefit from any grant made by LCVS. General appeals will not be funded.
We only fund activities that can evidence the outcomes for those most in need in Liverpool and Merseyside.

Exclusions

This funding is not for:

Statutory bodies, companies limited by shares, NHS organisations/GP practices.
Start-up costs for new organisations
Organisations where their registered address is outside of Merseyside and/or business address (main place of operation) is not in Merseyside.
Food for redistribution (see note above)
Play schemes (see note above)
Medical research
Vehicles
Schools or activity taking place in school time
Sports kits or general fees (league fees etc.)
Individuals, or organisations applying on behalf of individuals
The promotion of religion or political views
Animal welfare
Other grant making bodies
Parent Teacher Associations
Replacement funding (e.g. statutory funding coming to an end)
Loans or business finance
Universities
Sponsorship/marketing appeals/fundraising costs
Overseas projects/travel
Safety equipment for individual households
National charities
CCTV installation
Retrospective funding: costs that have already been incurred

Please note, requests for the purchase of food for redistribution in communities (e.g. stock for foodbanks) are not eligible, as funding is available elsewhere.

Please note, play schemes are not eligible for support from this fund.

Monitoring and Evaluation

Any organisation in receipt of funding must agree to provide detailed monitoring and evaluation. This monitoring must show how many people have benefited from the funding and what outcomes were achieved. This is important if we are to be able to measure the community impact of the limited funds we have. It is also helpful for us as we can use this information to support our work in growing philanthropy and giving in Liverpool. Groups must also agree to use our logos on any publicity and marketing materials connected with their funded project.

Additional Guidance: What to enclose

Applicants must be able to provide 4 specific documents to support their application for consideration:

A copy of the organisation’s approved governing document (e.g. constitution, trust deed, memorandum of articles/association) which explicitly includes:
a. Clearly defined charitable or community purposes.
b. A statement that the organisation is not for profit and prohibits the distribution of profit, including the distribution of dividends to members.
c. An asset lock or a dissolution clause which states, in the event of the organisation being dissolved, it’s remaining assets will not be distributed amongst its members but will be transferred to another not-for-profit organisation or for charitable purposes elsewhere.
You can find examples of these types of documents and the relevant clauses here and here.
A recent bank statement which clearly shows the name, sort code and account number of the organisations bank account.
The most recent set of accounts/proof of income & expenditure for the last 12 months. (if you’re organisation is less than 12 months old, we will need evidence of income and expenditure for the lifetime of the organisation via bank statements)
A robust Safeguarding Policy (pertinent to the beneficiary group, ie, Children and/or Adults at Risk).