Grants Policy

Introduction

Established in 2002, Herefordshire Community Foundation (HCF) is the county’s leading independent grant-maker.

HCF enables local giving and philanthropy – we connect people who care with causes that matter to them. We exist to raise funds to distribute grants to local worthy causes. We aspire for Herefordshire to be a great place to live, learn, work and play.

HCF provides a secure channel for charitable giving. We use donations, Donor Advised Funds (DAFs), investments, flow-through funds, programme funding and trust transfers to make a difference to people living in Herefordshire. In some instances, we are able to leverage existing funds to create match funding opportunities. We also seek opportunities to bring new funding into Herefordshire.

HCF supports charities, grassroots community groups and social enterprises to make a positive difference in their communities. We also assist individuals and families in need.

This Grant Making Policy provides general guidelines on the organisations and projects that HCF will support, those that we will not support and the foundations of our grant-making.

For further information, please refer to the HCF Grants Procedure.

Eligibility

All grants made must promote charitable purposes and are awarded in accordance with HCF’s charitable aims and objectives.

The following types of organisations are eligible to apply, unless the remit of the grants programme or fund specifies otherwise:

Registered Charities
Community groups not formally registered with the Charity Commission but who have adopted a formal constitution which imposes charitable purposes.
Social Enterprises
Not-for-Profit Companies

All organisations must have:

A management committee/governing body with at least three independent and unrelated members.
A bank or building society account in the name of the group, with a minimum of two unrelated signatories.
Appropriate governing documents – a constitution, Memorandum & Articles of Association.
At least one year’s financial accounts.

Grants for individuals and families must be referred from a third party professional or in the form of an educational bursary.

Grants will be made to organisations or individuals based in or benefitting the communities of Herefordshire unless specified otherwise in the criteria of an individual fund.

Note:

A currently funded group may apply for a second grant if the application is for a different project.
A previously funded group may re-apply for a second grant for the same project if
Monitoring has been received for the previous grant.
The project is proving to be successful.

In both circumstances, the application would be considered on an equal basis with new applications.

Exclusions

Unless the remit of a funding programme specifies otherwise,

Organisations promoting religion or religious activities. Projects delivered by faith-based organisations will be considered as long as the services they provide are available to people of all faiths or no faith.
Political campaigning activities, specific to any one party, including but not limited to:
Participation in party political demonstrations.
Support of a political party.
Issue of material which supports or opposes a particular party or the government.
Statutory Authorities and Statutory Bodies, including but not limited to:
Towards provision of core statutory services.
Services that carry a statutory responsibility but may be carried out by others

Note: This does not include Parish Councils, Town Councils and Parents Teachers Friends Associations.

Retrospective Funding, including but not limited to:
Where the project has already occurred.
For goods and services that have already been ordered or purchased prior to a grant being approved and the conditions of funding being accepted by the applicant.
Organisations that have been operating for less than one year.

Equality and Diversity

As a minimum, HCF adheres to the Equality Act 2010. We believe in equal opportunities in all aspects of our work and will not discriminate or refuse to support a person or organisation on the grounds of race, colour, religion, gender, sexuality, marital status, disability or any other defining characteristic. However, we recognise that there are many inequalities in society and amongst the people we seek to support. People have differing abilities, needs, beliefs and face differing inequalities, and it is our duty to ensure that we promote a more equitable society.

We may promote grant programmes more heavily to people and organisations who are members of a specific demographic to ensure an equitable spread of opportunity, or launch and manage programmes that may be promoted exclusively to one or more demographic group where there is a lack of funding, or where they face specific challenges, difficulties or inequalities over and above those that may normally be experienced by someone who is not a member of that demographic.

HCF also operates a separate Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy

Safeguarding

HCF operates a Safeguarding Policy, which can be found on the HCF website or provided on request.

We are also committed to ensuring that all grant recipients working with children, young people or vulnerable adults have policies and safeguards in place to protect these client groups in line with current legislation. Copies of such policies are requested as part of the grant assessment process.

Grant Assessment

HCF undertakes due diligence and finance checks on each application and makes sure that the organisation and project meet programme or fund criteria. In assessing, we will consider:

Project and organisational management
Evidence of need
Achievable goals
Number of beneficiaries
Value for money
Appropriate Budget

Provision of supporting documents, including but not limited to:

Constitution or Memorandum & Articles of Association.
The most recent set of formal accounts. If an organisation is too small to justify a set of formal accounts, a copy of an income and expenditure record may be accepted. For applications of over £5,000 a financial forecast is also required.
A bank statement in the name of the organisation, dated within the last three months, that matches the bank account number and sort code provided on the application form.
Financial Control Sheet.
Safeguarding Policy
Equality & Diversity Policy

Any information provided by an applicant is covered by the key principles of HCF’s GDPR Policy.

Applications are assessed by the applicable fund or programme’s Grants Panel and all applications received will also be sent to HCF’s Board of Trustees, who are formally required to approve all recommended grants.

On request, we will provide feedback explaining why an application has not been successful.

Applicants who feel that they have been treated unfairly can appeal in writing to HCF who will consider the request. Applicants must include evidence to support their appeal. Applicants cannot appeal just because they do not agree with HCF’s decision. For more information, please refer to HCF’s Complaints Policy.

Mitigation of Risk of Fraud

HCF takes fraud very seriously and is committed to ensuring that appropriate checks are undertaken during the assessment process for any application to mitigate the risk of fraud at every opportunity.

We are aware that fraud could take place in all stages of the grant-making process and will use the following indicators when checking and assessing grant applications

A newly set up group – If a group or organisation has been set up for less than one year, we request they use an umbrella organisation to apply on their behalf.
Having too few management committee members.
Discrepancies between financial information provided on the application form and that in the audited accounts or on the charity regulator’s website.
A registered charity not complying with the statutory duty to submit accounts and annual returns to the charity regulator within the regulated period.
Discrepancies between the named applicant organisation and the name as it appears in the constitution/bank account.
Only one bank signatory or bank signatories that are related.
Relationships between trustees/committee memberships/bank signatories.
Organisations with one or more trading names.

The list above is not exhaustive and HCF may carry out more rigorous investigation of a particular applicant. If we discover that a grant has been used fraudulently, we will seek to recover the full grant and any associated costs. HCF will inform the relevant regulatory authorities, which will include the police, and legal action will be considered.

Grant Offer

An email advising of the award will be sent to every successful applicant. Terms & Conditions must be accepted and returned before any payment is released.

HCF will also provide any conditions that have been applied to the grant which an applicant must also agree to before funding is released. We will provide clarity of any non-negotiable reporting requirements when awarding a grant.

If there are any changes to the project or to the organisation that will affect how the grant is spent or delivered, organisations must inform HCF as soon as possible.

In the event HCF considers an applicant has breached the Terms & Conditions or the grant has not been used for the purpose stated, we reserve the right to request the return of the total grant awarded.

Grant Payment

On receipt of the acceptance of the Terms & Conditions, payment of the grant will be made.

Payment to an organisation will normally be made by BACS, which will be transferred to an account in the name of the organisation and where the bank details submitted match the details on the bank statement submitted with the application.

Payment of a hardship grant on behalf of an individual will made to the supplier/third party and will never be paid directly to the beneficiary. The beneficiary may be provided with energy vouchers/prepaid card when appropriate.

Payment of a bursary may be paid directly to the individual.

Monitoring

Monitoring is a requirement and condition of any grant awarded to an organisation and set out within the grant offer email. It helps us to understand community need, enables us to learn from our grant-making and inform future strategies. It also enables us to show our donors the impact of their funding.

HCF expects a monitoring report to be submitted no later than 1 month after the close of the project or in line with funding requirements.

On occasion HCF may require bespoke reporting and this will form part of the Terms & Conditions agreement prior to funds being released.

Failure to submit a satisfactory monitoring form will be considered a breach of the grant Terms & Conditions. This may affect any future funding, meaning that no future applications for funding will be accepted from applicants until all outstanding monitoring reports have been received.

Review

This policy is a working document and as such is used as a guide to the grant-making activity of HCF.

The policy will be reviewed annually by the Risk & Policy Review Committee and ratified by the Board of Trustees. Any intermediate changes due to regulation or legislation will be agreed by the Risk & Policy Review Committee.