Rural Community Needs Fund
The Rural Community Needs Fund has been established following Northamptonshire Community Foundation’s campaign to ‘Shine a Spotlight on Rural Community Needs’, in order to champion the needs of rural communities. The aim of this fund is to address urgent needs to support rural communities address issues such as access to community transport, fuel poverty, refurbishment of community building and equipment, access to wellbeing and health services, activities and education services for young people and support for older people.
Grants awards will be up to £5,000, this can be used for service delivery or for capital projects, examples include:
- Developing community networks – e.g. supporting local clubs, creating community hubs, providing community transport schemes
- Improving the health and wellbeing of socially isolated people – e.g. opportunities for older people to become more physically active, providing mental health wellbeing activities, community first responders
- Refurbishing community assets to improve community use – e.g. updating village hall kitchen facilities, developing local playgrounds
- Improving digital connectivity – e.g. installation of mobile signal boosters, run digital hubs to help develop skills and inclusion
- Building community resilience – e.g. community larders
Projects that won’t be funded include:
- Purchase of buildings or land
- Planning permission/building regulations (including design and planning consultants)
- Building projects where planning permission is not yet in place
- Projects taking place in a location where the purchase/rent agreement is not complete
Where projects involve refurbishing or building community assets, you must provide evidence that you either own the land or building, or that you have permission to carry out work from the owner and have a lease agreement for a minimum of five years.
To apply please complete an application form by Monday 9 December 2024.
A grants panel will meet in February, and you will receive an outcome in early March 2025. Therefore, prospective projects should not start before this time.
Is my group eligible?
- Charities, CIOs, constituted community groups, companies limited by guarantee and Parish Councils in Northamptonshire can apply for funding. Applications from Parish Councils must be for non-statutory activities that have a community benefit.
- CICs can apply for funding, they must have a minimum of two unrelated Directors. Please note that as a general exclusion we do not fund social enterprises with persons with significant control (PSC)
- Your project must be based in and benefit residents of rural communities. We classify rural communities as those with a population of less than 10,000.
- You must have people volunteering to help with your activity, who are not part of your management committee
- You must have a set of written rules or constitution that your group adheres to, that contains a dissolution clause. We can help advise you on how to do this especially if you are a new group
- You must have safeguarding policies in place if relevant to your work and all groups must have an equalities policy in place
Please click here to view our Diversity Statement applicable to our grant awards.
Our funds and programmes are working towards the 10 UNSDGs we have adopted into our charitable activities. For more information please click here.
Family Food Aid Fund
Food charities and other community organisations can apply for funding to support access to food, specifically supporting families with children and young people.
Constance Travis Endowment Fund for Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire Community Foundation is delighted to launch the Constance Travis Endowment Fund for Northamptonshire to help build a sustainable and safe future for Northamptonshire communities.
Warm this Winter Fund
The Warm this Winter Fund will offer individual grants of up to £3,000 for Northamptonshire-based projects that focus on protecting and helping older people who are vulnerable during the winter months.
Friends of the Foundation Fund
Friends of the Foundation was launched in May 2010 and its aim is to bring like-minded businesses and individuals together into a ‘circle of giving’. Each member of the initiative donates a regular amount each year and part of this donation was used to launch the Friends of the Foundation Fund.
The Northampton Queen's Institute Relief Fund
The Northampton Queens Institute Fund will offer one-off grants up to £5000 for projects based in Northampton that are all about improving health and wellbeing.
The Compton Fund
The Compton Fund wish to support arts, culture and heritage projects across Northamptonshire. The fund will offer awards between £500 and £5000.
Projects will be considered across a range of arts, culture and heritage based projects.
Constance Travis Community Endowment Fund
Northamptonshire Community Foundation is delighted to launch the Constance Travis Community Endowment Fund, awarding grants from £3,500 to £10,000. This fund aims to support direct services provided by the voluntary and community sector.
Rural Community Needs Fund
The aim of this fund is to address urgent needs to support rural communities address issues such as access to community transport, fuel poverty, refurbishment of community building and equipment, access to wellbeing and health services, activities and education services for young people and support for older people.
Yelvertoft Wind Farm Community Benefit Fund
The Yelvertoft Wind farm Community Benefit Fund has been established to provide grants to projects which benefit residents in the parishes of Clay Coton, Crick, Lilbourne or Yelvertoft.
Winwick Wind Farm Community Benefit Fund
The Winwick Wind Farm Community Benefit Fund has been established on behalf of Cubico Sustainable Investments to provide grants to projects which benefit residents in the parishes of Winwick, Cold Ashby, West Haddon and Guilsborough.
Burton Wold Community Wind Farm Fund
The Burton Wold Community Wind Farm Fund has been established on behalf of Laing Construction to provide grants to projects which benefit residents in the parishes of Burton Latimer and Cranford around the wind farm site.
Northamptonshire Federation of Disability Sport (NFDS) Fund
The Northamptonshire Federation of Disability Sport Fund is a bursary scheme designed to support the county’s sports clubs, groups and non-profit organisations.
The fund will offer grants of up to £1,000 for sport activities catering for any disability, sensory impairment and/or mental health problem.
The Robert Horne Employee Fund
The Horne Foundation in partnership with Northamptonshire Community Foundation have established The Robert Horne Employee Fund. This fund aims to provide a level of support for any former employee of the Robert Horne Group who may be experiencing financial hardship and especially during the current challenging financial climate for local residents.
John Chard-Young Legacy Fund
The John Chard-Young Legacy Fund is a bursary scheme providing Adrenaline Alley sporting, Active In Motion (A.I.M) Health & Wellness Centre and counselling sessions to help improve the overall wellbeing of those in need. John Chard-Young was the co-founder and inspiration behind Adrenaline Alley, one of Europe’s largest indoor BMX and Skateboard Parks and safe space for those interested in urban sports.
Harry's Fund
Harry’s Fund is a bursary scheme to make individual awards to young people with neurodiverse conditions such as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) or ADHD to support their education and/or health and wellbeing.
Market Harborough Building Society Community Fund
Market Harborough Building Society (MHBS) Community Fund is offering grants of up to £5,000 for VCSE organisations running projects that address Poverty and Disadvantage in areas of Leicestershire and also Kettering, Corby, Rothwell, and Desborough.