Eligibility: Inclusion Grant

The Inclusion Grant supports initiatives that encourage Economic and Social Inclusion.
Applications will be assessed on how they meet our primary objectives and then how they meet our secondary objectives

Primary Objective – Economic inclusion:

• Removing barriers to employment, training and volunteering
• Reducing child poverty
• Tackling Fuel Poverty
• Improving financial wellbeing

Secondary Objective – Social inclusion:

• Reducing isolation and loneliness
• Promoting independence
• Building citizenship, confidence and aspiration

Amounts

Grants between £5,000 and £10,000 are usually awarded although we will consider amounts outside these guidelines where they demonstrate significant community value.

Where

We are particularly interested in projects that reach and support communities where Bernicia tenants live.  See our Operating Area for details.

When assessing applications, we take into account the volume and value of previous grant awards, relative to our presence in that community.  See the Geography section below for our priority funding areas

• Registered charities, including charitable companies
• Constituted voluntary or community organisations

We will not fund Community Interest Companies (CICs), co-operatives and social enterprises that are not charities, except in these very specific circumstances. We will only fund

• charitable costs of setting up the enterprise
• charitable costs of developing new goods and services
• charitable costs of setting up to trade in a new market
• We will not fund the cost delivering services or make a contribution to core running costs. These should be financed by the sale of goods and services in line with the organisation’s governance model.
• A sound business plan must be included with your application

Applicants will only be considered if they:

• are based or working in Tyne and Wear, Northumberland, County Durham and Teesside (see our Geography section for current priority areas)
• have an annual income under £750,000
• have no more than 6 months’ running costs in reserve
• have a governing document (a constitution, rules, articles of association etc.)
• have a governing body of at least three unrelated individuals
• have their own bank account
• have a safeguarding policy in place (where working with vulnerable people or children)
• Organisations who have received funding from us in the past will usually not be considered a high priority for further funding for 3 years from the grant award
• Delivering sports activity or requesting funds for club refurbishments will not be considered a high priority for funding. Sports and arts applications should be able to demonstrate a strong community benefit against one of the key fund criteria.

The Programme will not fund:

• Community Interest Companies (CICs), Cooperatives and other social enterprises that are not charities, except in very specific circumstances outlined in “who can apply” above
• Contributions to general appeals or circulars
• Religious and/or political activity, which is not for the wider public benefit
• Routine building or equipment repairs and maintenance
• Activities which have already taken place/retrospective funding
• Grant making by other organisations/third party funding
• Privately owned and profit-distributing companies or limited partnerships
• Organisations which have received funding from us in the past 3 years will usually not be considered a high priority for further funding for 3 years from the grant award
• Delivering sports activity or requesting funds for club refurbishments will not be considered a high priority for funding. Sports and arts applications should be able to demonstrate a strong community benefit against one of the key fund criteria.

When assessing applications, we take into account the volume and value of grants awarded in each area relative to our presence in those communities.

High Priority – We are actively interested in applications delivering activities in Northumberland, which is considered a High Priority area.

Low Priority – Projects primarily active in the following areas have previously received proportionately high levels of grant. These are currently considered a low priority for funding.

• Sunderland
• County Durham
• Redcar
• Newcastle
• Gateshead
• South Tyneside
• Darlington
• Middlesbrough
• Stockton-on-Tees

We will continue to review and adapt these funding priorities as our grant programme develops