Who We Are Able to Support 

The Councillor Community Grant will be available to voluntary and community groups, charities, not-for-profit organisations and faith groups (N.B. faith groups applying for grants should ensure that the activities they are offering are open to all and demonstrate a wide community benefit).

• Organisations must be properly constituted, and a copy of the constitution will be required.
• Organisations must have a bank account with at least two signatories, who are not related or co-habiting, a copy of the organisation’s most recent bank statement must be submitted with the application.
• Organisations must provide a safeguarding policy if working with children / vulnerable adults at risk.
• Organisations must be inclusive and allow access to, or use/participation by, the general public. Membership should not be refused on the grounds of gender, race, disability, sexual orientation, and occupation, religious, political or other beliefs. An organisation which supports individuals based on a protected characteristic should demonstrate they are inclusive on all other grounds.

Who We Are Not Able to Support 

This programme is not able to offer funding to:

• Individuals
• Private Businesses
• Any other organisation (formal or informal in structure) with the ability to distribute funds and/or assets among its members
• Statutory Organisations
• Schools/Colleges with the exception of constituted Parents & Friends Association / Parents & Teacher Associations (if they can demonstrate a wide community benefit)

Projects We Can Support 

Your project must meet one of the following aims:

• Assists with Cost-of-Living challenges
• Helps tackle the causes of inequality in our communities
• Reduces social isolation
• Helps develop and safeguard our environment and open spaces
• Increases opportunities to participate in arts, heritage, and sports activities
• Increases volunteering and civic pride
• Helps tackle causes and effects of poverty and financial hardship
• Promotes and develops community cohesion
• Provides social support over the festive period

All grants should continue to demonstrate value for money and value to the people of Tamworth and have specific outcomes that can be recorded.

Awarded so far this year 

You can view which groups have been supported so far this year, along with each councillor’s remaining budget.

TBCG- Awards to date 2026-27

Eligible Costs

• General running costs (excluding salaries but project specific sessional worker costs can be funded).
• Provision of equipment e.g., IT equipment, craft materials, furniture.
• Funding towards costs of community events/activities
• Funding towards specific projects – e.g., school holiday youth project, playscheme, coffee morning, gardening group projects.
• Small capital projects will only be considered if they can demonstrate wider-community benefit and need e.g. increase uptake of services, activities, and venue hire by the general public, charities, voluntary and community organisations and other support agencies.

Please ensure that prior to submitting an application that you have sought any specific relevant permissions that your project requires e.g., planning permission, landlord consent, landowner consent, for projects/activities taking place on their land, or for modifications to public spaces or facilities.

Ineligible Costs

• • Travel and subsistence costs
  • Guarantee against organisational loss
  • Work and projects which are contrary to the Tamworth Borough Council Diversity and Equality policy
  • Projects operated on a commercial or for-profit basis.
  • The funding of organisations, projects or events which promote or condone extremist ideology, activities, or terrorism.
  • Salaries
  • Fundraising activities / Sponsorship
  • 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

Grants Available 

• The minimum you can apply for is £250 from each councillor, the maximum you can apply for is £500 from each councillor.
• Applicants can apply to more than one councillor in a ward or to councillors in other wards if the project supports communities in more than one ward. However, the maximum award per project will be £1500.
• An organisation can submit more than one application in a financial year, but the application must not relate to the same project/scheme previously funded.
• If the total project cost is more than you are applying for, please provide details of other sources of income, including grants, fundraising and membership subs etc, that will be used to cover the full project cost.

Grants Process 

All Councillor Community Grant applications must be approved by the relevant ward councillor(s) prior to submitting the application for consideration. Organisations can only apply for a maximum of £1500 per project.

Grant allocations will be decided by the Portfolio Holder for Cooperative Council, Community Partnerships & ASB  and the Assistant Director Partnerships in consultation with Assistant Director Environment, Culture and Wellbeing, and their decision is final.

Applications for the Councillor Community Grants Scheme will close once all funding has been allocated on a first come basis.

1. Organisations should first contact their local Councillor to discuss their project BEFORE submitting an application. Councillors should use this opportunity to ask questions and decide whether they would consider an application from the organisation.
2. An application form is completed, alongside supporting documents
3. The team at the Community Foundation will check the eligibility of the organisation, review and assess the application to ensure it meets the grant funding criteria. If any information is missing the applicant will be contacted and requested to submit missing information.
4. An application summary will be sent to relevant councillor(s), along with any comments that will help Councillors assess the project application.
5. The Councillor must decide if they support the application either in full or partially or if they reject the application.
6. If the Councillor supports the application, the Community Foundation will complete a grant assessment form which will be forwarded to the Portfolio Holder for Environmental Health and Community Partnerships and the Assistant Director Partnership for consideration and approval in consultation with Assistant Director Environment, Culture and Wellbeing where appropriate.
7. Organisations will be notified of the outcome of the application. If an application is only partially approved or refused, then the reasons for this will be given to the applicant.
8. If successful, the organisation will be sent a grant offer with a grant agreement.  The Community Foundation will only make the payment of the grant on receipt of the signed agreement. Once we have received your signed agreement, we will prepare to make payment. Grants are paid by BACS, into the bank account you specified at the time of application. Our payment date is at the end of each month with our pay run cut off being the third week. Signed agreements returned after the third week will be paid the following month. Please bear this in mind when applying for a grant.
9. An End of Grant monitoring form will be sent out to all successful applicants, and this must be completed and returned at the end of the project or end of grant date, along with copies of receipts/invoices, and photographs or feedback from the project if requested.

For more information on the Councillors and Wards, please click here

• 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?
  • What need or disadvantage are you trying to address?
  • Which Councillor (s) are you applying to and for how much?
  • How will you measure the impact of your project or activity?

• 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

• Governance Document – Constitution, Memorandum and Articles of Association
• Accounts – either independently examined, audited or a record of income and expenditure.
• Bank Statement – this will need to be in the name of the organisation, no older than 3 months old and clearly showing the account name, number and sort code. The bank account must have at least two signatories, who are not related.
• Details of signatories
• Safeguarding Polices
• Equality and Diversity Policy / statement
• Quotes for capital equipment
• Copy of public liability insurance document

Submission Dates

Next Closing Date : 31st January 2027

Assessment Period: Throughout the application window

Panel Date: Open Round – applications will be considered on submission

Panel Construction: Tamworth Borough Councillors

Notifications: On decision

Payment: From 28th of each month

Please note, the application window will close when funds have been fully allocated