Small Grants Programme

The small grants programme is made up of funding from Bolton Council and Health for Bolton funding from NHS Bolton. Organisations can make one successful application between 1st June 2011 and 29th February 2012 up to a maximum of £1500.

Who the grants are for?

To be eligible for our grants, your organisation must:

be either: a constituted voluntary or community group, a registered charity
or a registered community interest company
be based and/or of benefit to people living in the Bolton local authority area.

Priority will be given to organisations whose annual income is under £25,000 per year.

If you are not sure if you are eligible for our grants, please contact Bolton CVS on 01204 546025 and we can advise you.

Overall aims of grants

We are especially keen to support projects which benefit those most in need. We expect this to include:

people living in the poorest communities in Bolton
people with disabilities
people whose opportunities are limited by other factors such as a lack of local facilities or activities or a lack of skills.

We anticipate funded projects will help communities in one or more of the following ways:

encouraging people to be more physically active or eat more healthily.
supporting people to have a better quality of life e.g. improved mental health or be less socially isolated.
helping people to manage existing conditions and increase their independence.
enabling people of all ages to develop new skills with the aim of increasing educational or employment opportunities e.g. Job search & CV building, homework clubs, work & study skills training
supporting people to get involved in their local communities - enabling people to know and meet with others or be more active in their communities.
supporting people to engage in positive activities to help prevent crime and anti social behaviour
promoting interaction between people from different faiths, cultures or ages.
providing opportunities for young or old people to get together in a safe environment.
making public spaces and facilities cleaner, brighter and more useable.
encouraging awareness of sustainable living (e.g. recycling, food growing, effective use of resources.)

We hope most grants will be for ongoing costs of regular activities in Bolton. Applications for equipment or one-off activities will be considered if they demonstrate significant need and benefit.

Please note that this year we will not give more than £300 towards any trips, outings, meals out or parties. Any funded activity of this nature should have therapeutic or educational benefits.

More details can be found in the downloadable guidance notes.

When to apply

There are six deadlines to apply for grants before March 2012:

Deadlines are 4pm:

30th June 2011 for activities planned to start after 31st July
15th August 2011 for activities planned to start after 15th September
30th September 2011 for activities planned to start after 30th October
15th November 2011 for activities planned to start after 15th December
16th January 2012 for activities planned to start after 15th February
29th February 2012 for activities planned to start after 31st March

How to apply

We are encouraging applications to be word processed with our online application form which is below. To ensure you have the best chance of a successful application, please read the guidance notes before starting.

Please do not extend the size of the boxes when you type in your answers.

If you would prefer to receive a paper copy of the form please contact Bolton CVS on 01204 546028. If there is no answer, please leave a voicemail with your name, the name of your organisation and address details.