Freemasons
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Gloucestershire Freemasons Grant Programme

Our Freemasons grant programme supports initiatives for older people, people with disabilities and young people facing disadvantage. This programme is open to organisations in Gloucestershire and South Gloucestershire and is particularly interested in supporting smaller, grassroots organisations where a grant of £2,000 can make a significant difference.

deadline

12 noon, Thursday 27th June 2024

grant amount

Between £250 and £2,000

current status

Open

About the Freemasons Grant Programme

The Freemasons Fund was established with the Foundation in 2010.

Their original investment was matched by the government as part of the Office of the Third Sector’s Grassroots Grants endowment building programme for Community Foundations.

The Freemasons Grant Programme supports initiatives for older people, people with disabilities and young people facing disadvantage. This programme is open to organisations in Gloucestershire and South Gloucestershire.

Who can apply?

This programme is for voluntary and community groups with charitable aims, registered charities or Community Interest Companies with more than three unrelated Trustees or Board Members and a bank account in the name of the organisation with at least two signatories.

Groups and organisations in Gloucestershire or South Gloucestershire working to benefit local communities and to improve the lives of disadvantaged people in Gloucestershire can apply.

We aim to fund organisations working with:

  • older people
  • those with disabilities and
  • young people facing disadvantage.

What can you apply for?

This funding programme prioritises applications for funding towards specific project costs or items of equipment.

Applications where matched funding is being sought and those from smaller organisations, or projects where a grant of up to £2,000 can make a significant difference, are favoured by the panel.

How much do we award?

Grants range in size between £250 and £2,000.

Deadlines for expressions of interest

There are three rounds of panel decisions during the year. The closing dates for expressions of interest during 2024 are:

Thursday 22nd February 2024 (decisions due in May)

Thursday 27th June 2024 (decisions due in mid September)

Thursday 10th October 2024 (decisions due in early December)

Full applications are usually requested within 2 weeks of these dates. 

Grant Guidelines

Please ensure you satisfy all of the criteria and conditions outlined within the Grant Guidelines.

Do contact us if you have any questions or would like to discuss your project/need prior to submitting an application.

The guidelines are available by clicking on the button to the right.

How to Apply

We are making some changes at GCF to try to improve our application process and reduce the number of unsuccessful applications.  We are trialling a two-stage process.  If you have any questions or feedback please do get in touch with Sarah Sharma on grantsmanager@gloucestershirecf.org.uk

Please complete an online Expression of Interest form using the link at the bottom right of the screen marked ‘Apply Now’

You can return to your online expression of interest form as many times as is needed, and save it as you go along. The online form link can also be shared with colleagues, or other parties, if more than one person needs to contribute to the form.

Once received, our Grants Team will review the expression of interest form and contact you to let you know the next steps, either inviting you to complete a second stage application form and the application timelines or advising you of the reasons why your proposed funding request is unlikely to be eligible.  Each expression of interest will be reviewed against all of our open grants programmes so that we can advise you of any relevant funding available for your proposed project so there is no need to duplicate expression of interest forms across our different grant programmes.

As part of the full online application process you will be asked to attach the following supporting documents:

  • A constitution/governing document/set of rules, that sets out the purpose of your organisation and how it is managed.
  • A copy of your most recent annual accounts or financial records (if not already publicly available). If you do not have financial records that cover a full year then you will need to provide the records you currently have.
  • A safeguarding policy if your organisation works directly with children or vulnerable adults.
  • If your application is successful, we will also request a copy of a bank statement or other evidence of a bank account in the name of your organisation. The bank account must have at least 2 signatories. Alternatively, if you belong to a small organisation that does not have a bank account another charitable organisation can look after the funds for you, but you must provide written authorisation from the organisation that will do this.

If you wish to see a Word version of the questions you will be asked in the main application form, you can view them HERE

 

interested in applying for this grant?