ApplyFAQs

We encourage everyone to talk to us about their application, especially if they haven’t applied before, but also anyone who needs advice. If you’re not sure if your project is suitable, or you have a query about what to apply for, book a 20 minute phone call with our Grants Manager

At the foot of each grant programme page there is an ‘Start your application now’ button, which will take you to our online portal. All applications are now made on this portal.
Once you have registered, you can use the same username (email) and password to access the portal each time you visit. You will be able to see all your current and previous applications.

Our application forms are compatible with screen readers but please contact us if you need the application form in an alternative format.

All programmes have broadly the same criteria but there are some crucial differences so read the guidance notes on each programme carefully.

A copy of your constitution or governing document, if you are not registered at Companies House or the Charities Commission

• A copy of a recent bank statement no more than three months old. This can be a scanned/photo of paper statement, or a copy downloaded from an online account – we need to see the bank name and the account name, number and sort code

• A copy of your latest annual accounts (if they more than a year old, please send draft accounts for the current year if you can) – in the case of new groups, please send a financial forecast or budget for your first year if you have one

• Your Safeguarding policy and Equality and Diversity policy

• (CICs operating more than one year should also provide their CIC 34 report, and those with micro accounts only should provide their trading profit and loss accounts)
Apart from bank statements, you do not have to send any of these if you have already sent them to us in the last six months.

We recommend contacting one of the local support agencies for voluntary sector groups – Community Action Network offers support to groups in the BCP area.

Volunteer Centre Dorset, Community Action Network and Dorset Community Action provide support to groups in the Dorset Council area.

There are helpful online resources such as the Charity Commission’s guidance on Safeguarding and the NSPCC’s website.

New groups or those without any current policy may find this short video ‘Safeguarding adults in the voluntary sector’ helpful. It introduces Safeguarding and shows why it is relevant for voluntary sector groups, no matter how small or who they work with.

We recommend that at a minimum, it should include:

• Reference to the Equality Act 2010

• Explicitly cover all protected characteristics

• Equal access to services and employment and ways you achieve this

• Preventing harassment or discrimination

• How complaints are dealt with fairly

Completion of an online End of Grant report is a requirement of funding, including how funds were spent, the outcomes achieved (for beneficiaries and or your organisation), learning during the grant period and individual case studies where relevant.
We encourage groups to supply photographs or video to help us convey the outcome of your project or activity.
Reporting helps us identify any challenges experienced by funded groups so we can provide advice or signposting in future.
It helps us report on the impact of our grant-making, illustrate the need to support local groups and celebrate the work of local community groups. It can help attract new donors and inform future grant-making decisions if you reapply to us.

We do not expect complex or multiple methods of monitoring but you must have a mechanism in place to measure and record the intended outcomes of your grant. Examples may include feedback forms or questionnaires, interviews or discussion groups, recording observations, attendance logs or other relevant data. Our Grants Manager can advise you on this.
Here are our tips for successful monitoring:
• Save a copy of your application for reference when completing the End of Grant report – this is attached to the email confirmation you received after submitting the application. Or you can request a copy from our Grants Manager.
• Save the email notification that includes the link to your online End of Grant report and the date that it is due.
• Set internal reminders of the due date. (You should also receive email reminders from us but these can sometimes be filtered into junk folders.)
• If the funded activities are completed earlier than your due date, you can complete the form at this time.

We encourage groups to be open and honest in their End of Grant report and not to confine reporting to good news only.
If something during your project did not work as well as you hoped or you encountered unexpected problems, let us know about it and what you did to address the problem. Describe what you have learned from this and what you would do differently in the future. This is important information and won’t be held against you.
If you have adapted or plan to make changes to your activities due to feedback from the people you are supporting, please tell us about this.
It is also important to describe any organisational changes or improvements such as changing the name of your group, new partnerships with other groups, or changes to leadership.

This will negatively affect future applications to us. It may also result in us contacting us your management committee and requesting a return of funds.

Changes to the way you use your grant need to be approved by us. Please inform us straight away if you want to spend the grant differently to the budget in your application or on a different service or activity. We need to understand the reasons you would like to make changes and check the grant still meets the Fund criteria and any restrictions.
Extensions to your grant period (usually 12 months) need to be approved by us. Please inform us straight away if you will not be able to spend the grant during the grant period, and the reasons for this. We understand that delays can occur and we may be able to extend the grant period unless the grant programme had any specific restrictions on awarding extensions.

We encourage everyone to acknowledge our funding on their website and social media, in leaflets, newsletters and communications with their donors and beneficiaries and in a press release if they wish. We can supply you with a copy of our logo and advise on wording.

We publicise our grant awards on our website, in social media and in press releases to highlight our work and encourage more donors and may use your application for information. We may also contact you for more information, quotes and pictures. We will always tell you how and where we will use this information.

Contact our Communications Consultant Gary Lawrence at gary@dorsetcf.org to discuss this. As a rule we will not agree to opting out unless there is a compelling reason, we would rather work with you to agree on what we can and cannot say.