Herefordshire Community Foundation is delivering the Crisis & Resilience Community Innovation Grants programme on behalf of Herefordshire Council, supported by £90,000 from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Crisis and Resilience Fund.

What do we want to achieve?

We want to support communities and organisations to test ideas that could help prevent financial crisis occurring for individuals in Herefordshire.

Financial resilience is affected by many connected factors, including income, debt, savings, housing, employment, health and wellbeing, caring responsibilities, financial confidence, digital exclusion, access to support and community networks.

For this reason, proposals should not look like traditional financial advice, money management or debt management services.

We are particularly interested in proposals that:

• Reach people before they reach crisis
• Address the underlying causes of financial hardship, rather than only responding to immediate need
• Reach communities or groups who may not currently access existing support
• Deliver new or different ways of working
• Build on trusted relationships and assets within communities
• Develop new partnerships or bring existing services together differently
• Strengthen connections between communities and existing advice, support and resilience services
• Have the potential to be sustained, replicated or expanded if successful.

We do not want to prescribe the solutions. Local organisations and communities often understand best the challenges people face and what might work. This programme is intended to create space for innovative projects that create financial resilience in the community.

What do we mean by innovation?

For this programme, innovation could include:

• Developing a completely new idea or approach
• Adapting an approach that has worked elsewhere but has not been tried in Herefordshire
• Finding a new way of reaching people who do not currently engage with existing support
• Offering an early intervention or preventative approach
• Bringing organisations, services or community assets together in a new way
• Developing a new partnership to address financial vulnerability
• Using technology, information or data differently
• Adding a financial resilience element to an existing community activity or service
• Testing an idea on a small scale to understand whether it works before considering wider delivery.

Existing organisations and services can apply, but the funding must support something genuinely new or significantly different. It cannot simply continue existing delivery.

Applicants should clearly explain what is innovative about their proposal, what needs they are able to meet and why they think their approach could make a difference.

Principles for delivery

We want funded activity to reflect the wider principles of the Crisis and Resilience Fund.

Projects should, where relevant:

• Be person-centred, recognising individual circumstances, needs and preferences.
• Be needs-led, looking beyond the immediate presenting problem to understand and address underlying needs.
• Take a holistic approach, recognising that financial hardship is often connected to wider issues such as housing, health, employment, caring responsibilities or social isolation.
• Support a ‘no wrong door’ approach, helping people connect to the right support regardless of where they first seek help.
• Work collaboratively, building effective relationships and referral pathways with other community, voluntary and statutory services.
• Be inclusive and accessible, considering the barriers that may prevent people experiencing financial hardship from accessing support.
• Be trauma-informed, recognising the impact that crisis and financial hardship can have on individuals and families.

Who can apply?

Applications are welcomed from VCSE organisations delivering activity that benefits residents of Herefordshire, including:

• Registered charities
• Voluntary and community organisations
• Social enterprises and community interest companies
• Faith-based organisations
• Other not-for-profit community organisations.

Organisations will need to demonstrate that they have:

• Appropriate governance arrangements, policies and financial controls
• The capacity to manage the funding and proposed activity
• Appropriate safeguarding arrangements where relevant
• The ability to meet proportionate monitoring and reporting requirements.

Partnership and collaborative applications are encouraged and particularly welcomed where working together will result in a stronger or more innovative approach. Newly formed organisations, which have been constituted for less than one year, can apply via a partnership with an established organisation as the lead partner.

What kinds of projects could be funded?

We are not providing a fixed list of projects because we want organisations and communities to bring forward their own ideas.

Proposals might explore new approaches to:

• Identifying and supporting people at risk of financial difficulty earlier
• Reaching residents who do not currently access financial advice or support
• Improving household income or reducing expenditure
• Supporting people to build financial confidence and capability
• Helping households better manage unexpected costs or financial shocks
• Connecting financial resilience with food, housing, employment, skills, digital inclusion, health, caring or community activity
• Developing peer-led or community-led approaches
• Strengthening routes into existing advice and support
• Reducing barriers to accessing help
• Building stronger community networks around residents at risk of financial hardship
• Offering an approach that has been successful elsewhere.

These examples are illustrative rather than exhaustive. We are interested in the problem applicants are trying to solve, the idea they want to test and the difference it could make.

What outcomes should projects contribute to?

Depending on the proposal, outcomes could include:

• Reduced experiences of material deprivation
• Reduced reliance on emergency food or other crisis provision
• Increased access to appropriate, quality advice and support
• Increased household income through income maximisation
• Reduced problem or priority debt
• Increased savings or improved ability to manage unexpected costs
• Improved financial confidence, knowledge or capability
• Reduced need for crisis payments or emergency financial support
• Earlier identification and support of people at risk of financial hardship
• Stronger community networks and referral pathways that help prevent financial difficulties escalating.

Applicants do not need to contribute to every outcome. They should identify the outcomes most relevant to their project, explain what they expect to change and describe how they will know whether their approach is working.

What can the grant be used for?

Grants can support the direct costs of developing, testing and delivering the proposed activity.

This may include:

• Staff and sessional costs
• Venue hire
• Project materials and resources
• Reasonable travel costs
• Communications and community engagement
• Training or specialist support required to deliver the project
• Reasonable management and administration costs associated with delivery
• An appropriate contribution towards organisational overheads where these directly support the funded activity.

Grants can fund up to 100% of eligible project costs, although applicants should tell us about any other funding or in-kind contributions supporting the proposal.

What we will not fund

The Community Innovation Grant Programme is intended to test and develop new approaches. It is unlikely to fund:

• Continuation of an existing service where there is no significant change or development
• Activity already fully funded from another source
• Activity which simply replaces funding that has ended
• Duplication of an existing local service without a clear rationale for a different approach
• Activity focused solely on responding to immediate crisis without a clear preventative or resilience element
• One-off events with no clear longer-term benefit
• General organisational running costs unrelated to the proposed project
• Activity primarily intended to purchase equipment, unless this is essential to delivering the proposed innovation
• Activity primarily intended to benefit an individual rather than a wider group or community
• Activity that does not benefit Herefordshire residents.

Existing organisations and services can apply if the funding will help them test a genuinely new approach, reach a different group, establish a new partnership or significantly develop the way support is provided.

How much can organisations apply for?

A total of £90,000 is available through the Community Innovation Grant Programme.

Organisations can apply for grants from £1,000 to £10,000.

Applications should provide a clear and proportionate breakdown of costs and demonstrate value for money.

We welcome proposals that include match funding or contributions from other sources, but this is not a requirement.

Monitoring, evaluation and learning

Successful organisations will be required to provide monthly monitoring information/data throughout the delivery of their project, followed by a final report outlining the project’s outcomes, impact and key learning. Organisations should also expect a monitoring and support visit from Herefordshire Council during the project period.

Organisations will also be required to provide any information requested by the Council to enable it to fulfil its Crisis and Resilience Fund reporting obligations to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

Successful organisations will be expected to provide information and data about:

• Activity delivered
• Residents reached, where appropriate
• Progress against the outcomes identified in the application
• Examples of the difference the project has made
• Expenditure against the agreed budget
• Any challenges or changes made during delivery.

As this is an innovation programme, we recognise that testing new approaches will generate learning. We want funded organisations to share what worked well, what was less effective and what could be done differently. This learning will inform the future development of financial resilience and preventative support across Herefordshire.

We will want funded organisations to consider:

• What did you test?
• What worked?
• What did not work as expected?
• What did you learn?
• What would you do differently?
• Could the approach continue, be replicated elsewhere or be delivered on a larger scale?

Working as part of the wider Crisis and Resilience Fund

We want the Community Innovation Grant Programme to strengthen the wider network of support available to Herefordshire residents rather than create projects that operate in isolation.

Successful organisations will therefore be expected to work collaboratively with the wider CRF and community resilience network.

This may include:

• Participating in relevant networks and learning opportunities
• Developing appropriate referral pathways with other organisations
• Connecting residents with existing specialist advice and support where needed
• Sharing learning and good practice
• Contributing to a stronger and more joined-up local support offer.

Delivery timescales and future funding

• The fund will open for applications on 9th November 2026.
• Applications will be considered by an assessment panel on a monthly basis from December 2026, until the available funding has been spent out. 
• Applicants will be informed of the outcome of their application within two weeks of the assessment panel.
• Successful applicants can expect to receive their grant in full within two weeks of receiving their confirmation letter. 
• Grant holders will need to submit a final monitoring report one month after the project end date.

Funding of £90,000 is available for 2026/27 through the Community Innovation Grant Programme.

We recognise that some innovative approaches may need time to develop, test and demonstrate impact. Proposals may range from shorter pilot projects to approaches with potential for longer-term delivery.

Applicants will be asked to set out a realistic delivery timetable for their proposal, including what they expect to achieve and learn during the initial funding period.

We are keen to identify approaches that could be sustained, developed or expanded over time. Subject to future funding, performance and evaluation, there may be opportunities to provide further support to successful approaches in later years.

How to apply?

Use the apply button below . You can save your draft application on our portal until you are ready to submit.

Questions

For additional support, please get in touch with the Grants team at grants@herefordshirecf.org or call 01432 272550.