Community contribution fund - application guidelines

The City of Westminster Charitable Trust is opening the Community Contribution Fund to applications from schools, voluntary and community organisations to support one of the following areas:

• helping young people reach their full potential, including staying safe, contributing positively to their community and developing longer term skills
• providing extra support for people who find themselves sleeping on Westminster’s streets
• tackling social isolation and loneliness
• promoting social inclusion, new for February 2023

Awarding of funds

All projects can apply for grants of up to £25,000.

All projects must help people in Westminster only and must start within 3 months of the award being granted and be completed within 24 months of starting.

Projects may vary in length between 3 months and 24 months.

Application process

You can apply if your organisation is a:

• voluntary or community organisation
• registered charity
• constituted group or club
• not-for-profit company or community interest company
• social enterprise
• school

Applications for grants are considered individually and approved by the trustees. All organisations bidding for funding will be subject to due diligence and reviewed by Westminster City Council officers.

Applications will be accepted from 19 February 2024 to 23:59 on 19 March 2024.
 
Please review the application advice document before you start your application.

Apply now

We've put together advice on the different sections to help with your application:

Queries

If you have any other questions or want more information on whether your bid fits our criteria please email [email protected]

Successful applications

Final decisions on grant awards are made by the COWCT Trustees following advice from a Westminster City Council Officer advisory board.

You will receive half of the funding at the start of your project. The second half of the funding is dependent on a satisfactory mid-term report.

Monitoring, reporting and evaluation

If your application is successful trustees will expect that you keep them updated about your progress of your project. It is important to the City of Westminster Charitable Trust that we know about the difference that our funding is helping to make. 

Reports are an effective way for us to see if your project is on track and, if not, if there is anything we can do to help address any issues. It will also give us vital information that we can use to feedback to those who have supported the Community Contribution Fund.

We will ask you to send us updates during your project to let us know how things are going and then provide a more in-depth report at the end of the project. 

At the end of the project, you will need to report the details of your project such as the number of beneficaries and the outcomes achieved.

The reporting forms you will be asked to complete can be found below: