Application for grant or DCH Bursaryup to £500
Guidance notes including Terms and Conditions
Please read these guidelines carefully before completing your application and supply as much information as you can. Grants are allocated on a competitive basis, so it is important applicants put as compelling a case as possible.
More than one application can be made per year but the total that will be awarded will not exceed £500 in any one year.
Applicants must demonstrate there aren’t any alternative sources of funding, or where alternative funding is available, that it has been explored/applied for.
An application does not guarantee funding and DCH grants and bursaries are made entirely at DCH’s discretion and DCH reserves the right to refuse funding.
FOR INDIVIDUALS:You can apply for funding as an individual to support activities which will help you:- into employment by improving your skills or knowledge to open up job opportunities or overcome barriers to employment
- improve self-confidence or reduce social isolation
- improve your money management skills
- help you make a positive contribution to your community
- enrol on training, educational, mentoring or coaching courses
- develop your skills
- purchase specific equipment
- take part in social enterprise activities
- develop a small business to be economically independent
- overcome barriers which prevent you from playing an active part of the local community or getting economically independent or resilient
Applicants under 16 years of age need their parent, guardian or support worker to complete and sign the form on your behalf. They will be responsible for accepting the funds if the application is successful.
Grants cannot be used to fund hobbies, personal celebrations, building work on personal property, existing staff salaries (except for sessional or specialist workers) or goods and services already purchased.
The DCH Workhub, or offer of a DCH grant or bursary, does not guarantee employment or, if you are establishing a business, orders from DCH or the success of your business. Self-employment can affect your benefits, it is important that you are fully aware of the implications prior to going down this path and notifying DWP.
DCH may supply laptops or computers, or funding towards these, for DCH residents to help them in looking for employment, education, skills development or training, where applicants demonstrate commitment towards a specific goal. There is a maximum award of £250 for this type of application and only in very rare cases when the applicant can give very specific reasons why they require more than this, will DCH award a higher amount.
FOR GROUPS: Resident groups, community organisations, charities and CIC’s can apply for a grant when providing activities which aim to improve the quality of residents’ lives, help to build strong communities, promote partnership working or improve the health, skills or employment prospects of individuals.
Ways in which you may achieve this include:
- providing education, training, coaching or mentoring
- running projects to address anti-social behaviour, reduce social isolation, improve community relationships
- promoting healthy lifestyles, money management, job opportunities
- encouraging involvement from young people
Can you demonstrate your commitment to achieving your ambitions?
DCH will prioritise grants where applicants have demonstrated they have taken steps to address issues or challenges themselves.
You might want to access support through our DCH Workhub, take part in local projects, volunteer or simply get involved.For more information on these opportunities please contact your local DCH Community Development Worker by calling 0300 303 8030 or email them at
DCH has linked up with Project Dirt ( an on-line social network for community projects across the UK. It is a condition for groups, projects and organisations who receive funding from DCH that they are listed on this site and actively make use of it. Individuals are also encouraged to have signed up to Project Dirt and have explored opportunities on the site.
Section 1: To be completed by all applicants
1.1 / For individual applicants, your main home will need to be owned by DCH.
You can be:
- a named tenant or shared owner
- a young person under the age of 16 living in the property, but your application will need to supported and completed by:
- your parent/guardian
- an occupant at the property who can prove that they have lived there for at least 6 months e.g. a partner or relative (this does not include lodgers)
- a Residents Association that is formally recognised by DCH
- a community group or partnership that can prove they benefit DCH residents.
1.2 / Contact details should be of the named applicant in the case of individuals.
1.3 / Please give a brief explanation of what you would like to spend the grant on.
DCH will normally only fund specific projects and activities and will not normally provide general core cost funding for organisations.
1.4 / Enter amount you are requesting from DCH. You cannot apply for more than £500. There is a maximum of £250 if you are applying for I.T. equipment. Grants should cover actual costs and DCH will question where grants are put in without clear justification. More than one application can be made per year but the total that will be awarded will not exceed £500 in any one year.
We prefer to see individuals or groups seeking funding to have contributed towards a project from their own funds where possible.
1.5 / List each item that you wish to purchase, whether it is an item of equipment, room hire, training course fees and how much it will cost. If you have received estimates or quotations it would be useful to provide copies with your application.
1.6 / DCH encourages applicants to explore funding from other routes prior to approaching DCH and is keen to see matched funding. Have you applied to anyone else for funding? If so, who have you applied to? How much have you applied for? Do you know if your application has been successful yet?
1.7 / DCH has 4 key priorities on which we focus our Community Investment work. Grants are competitive and it is important you consider how your application fits with DCH’s priorities. Please indicate which of these will be covered by your project, event or activity. You may tick more than one:
- Financial inclusion e.g. financial advice, energy efficiency, welfare information, budgeting
- Health and Wellbeing e.g. cookery, healthy eating, self-confidence and fitness
- Enterprise, Training and Employment e.g. job clubs, start-up projects, training courses
- Social inclusion & community sustainability – community fun days, resident consultation, community facilities etc.
1.8 / Please complete if you have applied for a grant before. More than one application for an individual or group can be submitted each year, but the total amount awarded cannot exceed £500.
Section 2: DCH Bursary applicants only
2.1 / State clearly what you need the money for, whether it is for fees, learning resources such as books etc. Please give as much information as you can. Specific items of equipment to be purchased using the grant must be clearly linked to outcomes that you hope for.
2.3 / How is this money going to help you? What will change as a result of you receiving the money? What is it you want to achieve in the short term and long term? For example:
- If you wish to enrol on a training course, how is this training going to help you in the future? Please explain what education you currently have and any other courses or training you have undertaken in the past.
- If you are self-employed, what difference do you expect this to have on your number of customers and income?
- If you are looking for support to establish a business what specifically will this grant pay for.
2.4 / If you are applying for a course please tell us about it. We want to understand how you have selected the course and its suitability. Please explain why you have chosen one provider over another – as lots of training can be provided free of charge to individuals please ensure you have explained how you have looked for different courses and if there are alternatives free why this is necessary and different.
If you have already been given a place and any details about the course to help us understand how it will meet your needs.
2.5 / This is your opportunity to add anything that you feel will help your application and give any details which you have not already told us in this application.
If you are applying for support that relates to setting up or developing your own business please include information related to your business (such as turnover, projections and market research – you can attach a business plan if you have one).
PLEASE NOTE:
Setting up your own business can be extremely rewarding but is also challenging, it takes time and considerable effort for businesses to grow and become profitable. If you’ve got a plan makes sure that you’ve fully considered the following points:
- A DCH grant does not suggest the success of your business. Becoming a successful business is challenging and takes time, planning and commitment.
- We will normally ask to see what your planning is and may require you to work with a partner support organisation
- Starting up a business carries risk and it is likely that it will take considerable time to see a profit
- Going self-employed can affect your benefits it is important that you are fully aware of the implications prior to going down this path and notifying DWP.
- Business loans (including those given under the DWP New Enterprise Allowance) carry risks and require repayment.
- You need to think hard about and demonstrate your projected income and expenditure – does your business stack up on paper, are you confident that it will provide you with a living income? If not, think about what else you may need to do such as securing or staying in employment until such a time as your business is earning enough.
- Whilst in some cases there may be opportunity to quote for work with DCH, DCH has procurement processes and a grant or support does not allow these to be circumvented or guarantee an order. Therefore any work carried out in preparing a quote is undertaken at your own risk.
2.6 / It would help if you can provide any letters supporting your application from people such as tutors, support workers, employers (past, present or potential) that you think would be relevant to the reasons why you are applying for this grant.
2.7 / We ask this so we can understand the age groups of people applying for a DCH Grant or DCH Bursary. This helps us to target any unrepresented age groups.
2.8 / The DCH Bursary is all about supporting people into employment or improving prospects. This is why we want to know your current circumstances.
2.9 / Please tick any that you have received in the last year and write down any others which you receive that aren’t listed.
2.10 / Please inform us of any other grants or funding that you have tried to claim. Who was it from and were you successful? DCH grants should not replace other sources of funding that are available to you.
Section 3: For group applications only
3.1 / Please give us background to your organisation to better understand what you do, how this funding relates to your purpose and to help understand your capacity to deliver your aims.
3.2 / We would like to know what sort of organisation you are and how you are constituted.
3.4 / We are keen to understand your financial capacity. DCH will prioritise its resources to areas where we can have the greatest impact.
3.5 / Please explain if you have savings in the bank and if your organisation owns any significant assets such as buildings or vehicles.
Where an organisation has significant finances we will be looking to see how they match fund.
3.7 / Tell us where the project, event or activity is taking place. It may be in a community room, on an estate, in a town or village for example.
We are keen to understand how the funding will benefit DCH residents so please explain what you know about the community and why you think the area will benefit from the activity, for instance if an activity is within a sheltered scheme how many residents will it potentially benefit and how many are currently actively engaged.
If your activity is due to take place in a community how do you intend to specifically engage DCH residents?
Please also explain any known relevant local need.
3.8 / Please explain how and why you came up with the idea for this project, event or activity. What needs are you aware of that have led you to the plans that you have. How did you identify those needs? Was it through talking with residents or statistical information for example? Provide evidence of this if possible.
3.9 / Are you aware of any other groups or organisations in the same area that are doing similar work? Do you feel that this is a threat towards the plans that you have, or could you both benefit from working together or alongside each other?
3.10 / Be clear about what you want achieve from the project, event or activity that you are planning. This will help you to focus on what you want the outcomes to be and why you are doing it? Think about how you will be able to measure the success of these aims after the event has taken place.
For example
- To attract 50 local residents to attend a fun day and bring the community together
- To improve residents knowledge of healthy eating through volunteering on a community allotment garden
-To create a safe place for children to play on estate
3.11 / Question 1.10 explained DCH’s key priorities for Community Investment work that we are involved in. It is important to DCH that any funding we award will help to further our work in one or more of these key areas. Please state which key priority priorities your project will cover and exactly how it will make improvements.
For example – A project which aims to attract volunteers from a local community to help in an allotment garden will cover:
- Health and Wellbeing- by encouraging exercise through gardening and healthy eating if the produce is available to residents
- Social inclusion/Community Sustainability – by improving community relations, bringing residents together to work as a team.
3.12 / Do you need authority from anyone before you can go ahead? For example, do you need to get permission from a local council to close a road for a street party? Are you waiting for approval, funding or assistance from anyone before you can proceed? Please give as much detail as possible.
3.13 / How many volunteers will you need? How many do you have signed up already? Do you anticipate any problems with recruiting volunteers? Where do you plan to get them from?
3.14 / Tell us the age range that you hope your project, event or activity to attract.
3.15 / If you are holding an event or activity which will be on an estate for example, not all residents living there may be DCH residents. You can give an estimate if you are not exactly sure. Projects taking place in Shelter or Supported housing schemes for example are likely to attract participants who are 100% DCH residents.
3.16 / Please indicate if there are any particular groups of people that you are running your project, event or activity for. There may be more than one or none in particular.
3.18 / You need to explain how you are going to monitor whether your aims in 3.4 have been achieved and if you have had any unexpected outcome as a result of your activity. This will help you to know whether you have made any difference towards the needs you identified which led you to do this work. You will need to provide your results when we evaluate your project. Suggested ways to do this include – surveys, consultations, case studies, evaluation forms, statistics, feedback forms, before and after comparisons etc.
3.19 / How are you going to let people know what you are doing? Suggested ways include – posters, flyers, Facebook, Twitter, newsletters, radio advertising, noticeboards, banners, meetings, press release, website, invitations etc.
3.21 / If you are running an event you will need to make sure that you have any met the requirements of any regulations that may apply. For example, if you are need public liability insurance to make sure in the event of an accident that all activities are covered.
If you take any photographs of the event you will need to get signed permission of those in the photograph that they are happy for the picture to be used in yours and DCH’s publications afterwards. We will expect any photographs given to DCH following the event to have received the necessary permissions.
3.22 / Project Dirt is an on-line social network for community projects across the UK. Groups, organisations and projects that join Project Dirt can use the site to; promote what they do; find other likeminded projects locally and beyond; advertise volunteering opportunities; Crowdfund; benefit from the sharing of experience; and link into a wider network (including through other platforms like Facebook).
DCH has linked up with Project Dirt;you can visit to find out more. It is a condition for groups, projects and organisations who receive funding from DCH that they are listed on this site and actively make use of it. Further information on Project Dirt can be provided by a member of the Community Engagement Team.
PLEASE NOTE: Grant and DCH Bursary funds are limited and not all applications will be successful. Completing the application form is not a guarantee that you will receive funding, so please do not allocate money to a project until you receive confirmation that your application has been approved.