Community grants

2021/22 Small Grants and Community Chest

Due to the ongoing Covid-19 crisis, we have had to adapt our usual a place for everyone – Hackney VCS grants programme.

For details of this year’s programme, please see our Hackney VCS grants prospectus, which provides information on the types of grants available, the eligibility criteria, and how to apply.

We’re inviting applications from the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) for our Small Grants and Community Chest Funds.

The purpose of these grants is to fund short-term or one-off activities (including Holiday Playschemes) that meet one or both of the grants programme aims.

What we can fund

For both Small Grants and Community Chest, to be considered applications must meet the following essential criteria:

• projects should be for short term activities or one-off projects
• projects no longer than one year in length
• 80% of the project’s beneficiaries must be Hackney residents
• projects should demonstrate how they will achieve one or both of the grants programme aims:
  • to promote social inclusion, encourage independence and develop personal resilience
  • to build positive relations between different groups and communities that will maintain the high levels of community cohesion

Who can apply

Applications are accepted from any constituted voluntary, community or recreational group working within the London borough of Hackney. These are typically the following organisations:

• unregistered community group
• Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO)
• registered charity
• charitable company or Social Enterprise (companies must have asset locks, be not-for-profit and without share capital)
• Community Interest Company (CIC)
• structured groups of residents (Community Chest only)

Please read the guidance for detailed information on eligibility criteria.

When to apply

Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis all year round, with three assessment panels held in July, August and December.

For Round 3 only, the funding allocated by us will include a contribution from the LHC Community Benefit Fund. These grants are provided by LHC, in association with Locality for projects that:

• support strong and sustainable neighbourhoods
• contribute to one or more of the borough or county priorities for their communities
• are innovative or clearly demonstrate positive social impact

We anticipate that two grants will be funded through the LHC Community Benefit Fund.

How to apply

After reading the guidance, you can apply using our online application form:

Apply now Continue your application

Coronavirus funding response

The Council supports the voluntary and community sector (VCS) in Hackney every year through a dedicated grants programme. For 2020/21, most of the grants budget had been committed prior to the Covid-19 crisis. We became a signatory of the London Funders pledge and have worked flexibly with our grantee partners to ensure they can do the best to serve their communities throughout this time. This included allowing grantees to change how the funding is used, extending deadlines and reducing the information we collect at reporting.

As part of a package of support for VCS organisations, funding that hadn’t been committed in 2020/21 was converted to emergency funding, alongside our small reserves, to support organisations working with communities and people directly impacted by the pandemic. You can see who we have funded during the pandemic in the following data: