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Medequip Community Fund

Medequip delivers the Community Equipment Loan Service across Staffordshire, supporting people to live independently, safely, and with dignity in their own homes.

The ‘’Medequip Community Fund’’ will be established in partnership with the Community Foundation for Staffordshire and Shropshire, will provide grant funding to voluntary and community organisations that support older people and disabled people, including children and young people, living in Staffordshire.

The fund is intended to address isolation, inequality, and barriers to independence, with a strong focus on preventative and community-led solutions

Aims of the Fund

The Medequip Community Fund aims to:

  • Support older and disabled people to live independently and with dignity
  • Reduce loneliness and social isolation
  • Improve wellbeing, confidence, and quality of life
  • Enable access to inclusive, accessible community support

 

The fund will prioritise projects supporting:

  • Older people (65+) living with disability or long-term health conditions
  • Older people who are socially isolated or at risk of loneliness
  • Disabled adults
  • Disabled children and young people, including those with physical, sensory, learning, or neurodivergent needs
  • Unpaid carers, where support directly benefits the cared-for person

Priority may be given to individuals experiencing multiple disadvantages, including poverty, rural isolation, or limited access to transport and services.

 

Funded projects should demonstrate clear outcomes, such as:

  • Reduced loneliness and isolation
  • Improved wellbeing and confidence
  • Increased independence and safety
  • Stronger social connections and community participation
  • Enhanced quality of life for older and disabled people

Eligibilty

Who We Are Able to Support 

  • Constituted Voluntary groups
  • Constituted Community groups
  • Registered Charities
  • Social Enterprises

National organisations with a local reach and who can demonstrate how they will deliver a local project are eligible to apply.

Organisations must have been established for longer than twelve months to apply.

Who We Are Not Able to Support 

This programme is not able to offer funding to:

  • Local Authorities
  • Parish and Town Councils
  • Schools
  • Statutory organisations
  • Groups that will benefit statutory organisations
  • National organisations with no local arm
  • Private businesses
  • Groups that have not been established for at least 12 months

Geographical Reach

Organisations should be based in or working in:

  • Staffordshire
  • Stoke on Trent

Eligible Activities

Funding may be used to support a range of activity, including but not limited to:

  • Community-based social activities that reduce isolation
  • Services that promote independence and daily living
  • Inclusive activities for disabled children and young people
  • Befriending, peer support, or mentoring schemes
  • Outreach services engaging people not currently accessing support
  • Small items of equipment, resources, or adaptations that improve quality of life
  • Transport or access support to enable participation in community activity

Projects must demonstrate how activities are accessible, inclusive, and responsive to lived experience.

Ineligible Activities

The fund will not support:

  • Activity that replaces or duplicates statutory provision
  • Large capital projects
  • Retrospective funding
  • Projects not delivering direct benefit to Staffordshire residents

Eligible Costs

  • Proportionate core costs
  • Equipment costs
  • Capital costs
  • Training costs
  • Revenue costs
  • Project costs
  • Event Costs

Ineligible Costs 

  • Funding towards religious projects or projects that promote religion. Projects delivered by faith-based organisations will be considered, as long as the services they provide are available to people or all faiths or no faith
  • Political campaigning activities specific to any one party, including participation in political demonstrations, support of a political party, or the issuing of material which supports or opposes a particular party or government
  • Statutory bodies or provision, including towards the provision of core statutory services or services that carry out a statutory responsibility
  • Retrospective funding, where the project has already occurred or for goods and services which have already been ordered or purchased prior to funding being approved

Application Process

Grants Available 

You can apply for a grant of up to £1000

Project Duration

Organisations have 12 months to fully deliver the project

Monitoring Expectations

Organisations must agree to complete an End of Grant report demonstrating impact and showcasing their work

There may be various touchpoints throughout the delivery of the project

Organisations must submit case studies to demonstrate their impact – consent will be required

Publicity

Successful organisations will be encouraged to acknowledge support from the Medequip Community Fund

What to expect on the application form 

You may find the following information useful, so as you are prepared when completing the application form.

  • The application form will request details about your organisation and the designated lead contact for the project. Please ensure that the lead contact has the authority to sign contracts, as they will be financially responsible for managing the award.
  • Regarding the project, the application will then ask the following
    • What will you do during your project / activity?
    • Who will your project benefit and how? 
    • What are your projected outcomes of this project? 
    • If you receive funding, what will happen after the funding ends?
    • How does your proposed project meet the aims of the fund as set out in the criteria? 
    • How will you measure the impact of your project or activity?
    • Have you managed similar projects before? What was the impact of your work?
  • You will be asked beneficiary data, including target numbers (please be realistic with this as we will expect monitoring to reflect support)
  • Finally, you will be asked to provide a full budget breakdown to show how you will spend the grant

Documents You Need to Send Us

The following documents must be provided with your application. If you fail to provide these documents, your application will not be considered. All documents should be submitted at the time of the application.

  • Governance document (Constitution, Memorandum and Articles of Association)
  • Accounts – either audited, independently examined or financial forecast
  • Bank Statement – must be no older than 3 months and needs to clearly show the bank account name (which matches the application), number and sort code
  • Safeguarding policy
  • Equality Policy
  • A copy of your insurance document
  • Quotes for capital items

Submission Dates

Application window is now closed

How to Apply

To apply, please first check that your organisation meets our core eligibility criteria, which can be found here 

If you believe you are eligible, click on the “Apply Now” button below, which will take you to our funding portal

If you feel you’d benefit from some support with the online application, please give us a call. We can look at arranging a call or visit to guide you through it.

How to use our funding portal

  • You will be asked to register with your name and email address, if this is your first time on our portal, or sign in if you have visited the portal before
  • Once in the portal, click on “available Funding”
  • This will display a table with all of our available grants
  • Find this programme in the list and navigate to the far right hand column, where you will see the word “apply”
  • Click on the word “apply” and this will take you to the application form

If you need any support with your application, please contact us using our email address or by calling our team on 01785 339540

If you would like to see the criteria in PDF form, please click this link

Medequip-criteria