Renfrewshire Council

Local Partnerships are a way for communities, elected members and public organisations to work together at a local level.

There are seven Local Partnerships in Renfrewshire:

• Renfrew
• Paisley North, West and Central
• Paisley East
• Gleniffer
• Erskine, Inchinnan, Bishopton and Langbank
• Johnstone and Linwood
• The Villages

Each Local Partnership has agreed a set of Local Priorities, and each Partnership has grant funding they can allocate to support these priorities.

Find out more about the aims of Local Partnerships

Grants available from Local Partnerships

The Local Partnerships consider applications and award grant funding that reflects their local priorities. The Local Partnerships look after grant funding streams that were previously overseen by Local Area Committees:

• the General Grant Fund
• two Common Good Funds (Paisley Common Good and Renfrew Common Good)
• the Celebrating Renfrewshire Fund

It is strongly advised that organisations read this guidance before writing and submitting their applications.

When applying for grant funding, make sure you can contribute to at least one of the Local Partnership priorities for the area you are applying to. It will be important to take time to find out about these priorities before applying.

The amount of General Grant funding for each Local Partnership is based on the population of each area, split between the seven Local Partnerships. Renfrew Local Partnership and the three Local Partnerships in Paisley have additional funding available from Common Good funds.

Information events

To help local groups with their applications, prospective applicants are encouraged to attend one of the drop-in information sessions with Renfrewshire Council's Community Planning Team.

If you would like to attend the online session, please register via Eventbrite and a MS Teams Invite will be issued to you shortly after.

Although the events are free and a drop-in style, it would be helpful to know who will be attending.

Email the Community Planning team at communityplanning@renfrewshire.gov.uk to register your interest.

Who can apply

Any community or voluntary organisation with a constitution and a bank account can apply. Any organisation applying should be accountable to its members.

Community Planning Partners can submit applications for funding, but Council services cannot. Community Planning partners should not submit applications for projects that are regarded as core functions.

If your application is for an individual, it will not be considered.

Organisations that work across Renfrewshire, or in a number of Local Partnership areas, can apply, but only for projects or activities which support an area's priorities, and are delivered in that area specifically.

What types of activities or projects can and can't be funded

Activities or projects must contribute to at least one of the key priorities identified by the Local Partnership.  The fund can support a variety of projects and activities.

These types of activities can cover a range of different projects. Examples include:

• Refurbishment of community facilities for community use.
• Enhancing or creating community gardens.
• Community events such as gala days.
• Projects that help people get together to reduce social isolation.

Here are some examples of projects that we are not able to fund:

• Costs of activities that have already happened. 
• Total running costs, but you can apply to part fund running costs.
• Local Partnerships will occasionally support applications to fund activities such as day trips and lunches, but only when they provide an additional community benefit (for example tackling loneliness and isolation).
• Projects that exist mainly to further religious or political beliefs.
• Trips abroad or hospitality to other organisations.
• Events to raise funds for other charities.
• Community Council's running costs above those funded by its administration grant from the Council.

How much money you can apply for

You can apply for a maximum of £10,000 from the General Grant Fund.

Although the maximum award is for most Local Partnerships is £10,000, this represents a significant proportion of the total budget. Therefore, larger awards can be difficult to accommodate. 

If you are applying for Common Good funding, there is no specific maximum limit. However, Common Good funding is only available in Paisley and Renfrew.

Local Partnership grant funding is usually oversubscribed and has a limited budget. Therefore larger awards can often not be accommodated.

Make sure you only apply for the funding that you really need to run your project. 

Conditions of the grant

If you receive a grant from the General Grant Fund, it must usually be spent within this financial year.

Awards are one-off and are not intended to provide ongoing funding for the same or similar activities on an annual basis.

If you are successful in your application, you must accept and comply with the grant conditions. It is also expected that you report back on the impact the project has had once the funds are spent.

You should plan how you will sustain your organisation once funding from the General Grant Fund has been used.

Renfrewshire Council, along with its partners, is working to improve opportunities for Care Experienced children, young people, adults, and families, as part of our commitment to #KeepThePromise. For more information on Renfrewshire's approach to The Promis, email thepromise@renfrewshire.gov.uk.

If your project benefits Care Experienced community, you should indicate what you can do to support them specifically.

Your application must encourage equality of opportunity.

If you are applying for a project that primarily benefits young people aged 12 to 25, you should apply to the Celebrating Renfrewshire fund in April 2023 which is a fund designed to support activities for young people.

When to apply for Local Partnership funding

10 March 2023: Applications for funding are invited. Applicants write their applications reflecting local priorities

10 April 2023: Closing date for submitting Local Partnership grant funding applications for consideration at June 2022 meetings

April 2023 (date to be confirmed): Celebrating Renfrewshire - participatory budgeting work takes place to allocate funding to youth projects, Separate guidance will be available when the fund is launched

May 2023: Local Partnerships make decisions to allocate funding from the General Grant Fund and Common Good Funds

June 2023: Celebrating Renfrewshire successful applications announced

How to apply

Fill in the online Voluntary and Community Grant application form.

If you can't complete an application form online, contact the Community Planning team on 0141 487 1790 or 0141 487 1509.

You should make sure you have understood what the Local Priorities are for the area you are applying to before completing your application.

The deadline is 10 April 2023 for consideration at the May 2023 meetings.

The online form has guidance notes throughout the process to help you with the information to enter in each section. The notes below provide further information about how to make the best use of the application.

Grant

Select Local Partnership Grant. Please read the Local Partnership Grant Funding Guidance. Once you have done this, check the box and click Next to open the application form.

Details

This section is for you to provide us with your contact details, legal status, the aims and main activities of your group and the geographical areas that your organisation covers.

Upload Documents

Upload your supporting documentation in this section.  Your application cannot be considered until you submit all of the correct documentation.

You will need to provide:

• A bank statement (less than 3 months old)
• Annual accounts or Income & Expenditure Statement (this should be less than 15 months old.  New organisations should submit estimates of income & expenditure for the first 12 months)
• Constitution or Memorandum and Articles of Association (must be dated and signed)

You can also submit any other supporting documentation in this section.

Bank details

This section requires the organisation's bank details, including the names of all the bank signatories and their position in the organisation.  You must also include the organisation's current bank balance and any significant items of expenditure set against the balance.

Project proposal

This section is an opportunity to tell us about the project you would like funding for. Explain the purpose of the project and how the need was identified.

You must identify the address that the project takes place.  Local Partnerships are keen to hear of projects taking place in their own area. 

If you are unsure of the Local Partnership area, you can check this using the Local Partnership Area Lookup.

You must complete anticipated outcomes for each of the Local Partnership areas that you are applying to. It is very important that you use this section to explain how you will address the priorities identified by the Local Partnership. You should provide a good description of your project in this section highlighting clearly which priorities it will address.

These sections will be made public through the summary reports at the Local Partnership meetings. This is information that the Local Partnership Meeting will use to decide on your application.

Project costs

You should only apply for the amount of money that you require to run your project and be able to explain in your application how the full amount of funding applied for will be used.

Complete the Total Cost of the Project and the amount of funding you are applying for from the Local Partnership Grant Fund.

Tick the box beside the Local Partnership area that you are applying to and enter how much you are applying for from this Local Partnership. 

If you are applying to more than one Local Partnership, you will need to repeat this step for each Local Partnership you are applying to. The amount you are applying for from each Local Partnership area must add up to the total amount you are requesting from the Local Partnership Grant Fund.

Any previous funding your organisation has received from Renfrewshire Council in the past 3 financial years should also be noted here.

Privacy notice

Please confirm you have read and agree to the Privacy Notice by checking the box.

Declaration

Please confirm you have read and agree to the declaration before submitting your application.

Feedback on previous applications

Local Partnerships require feedback from previous applications, and your feedback may be presented at the meeting with your application for future funding.

If you received Local Partnership funding in 2022 to 2023, tell us how the funding you received for your project made a difference to the area. You will receive an email requesting feedback in March 2023.

Feedback must be received before 30 April 2023.

Local Partnerships may decide not to consider applications from organisations previously awarded funding that have not provided feedback. The Villages, Paisley East and Johnstone and Linwood Local Partnerships have taken this decision.

What happens after you sumbit your application

Your application and documents will be checked and then stored on the Council system.

A summary of your application will be prepared to be included in the papers for the relevant Local Partnership meeting.

If there are any queries or clarifications needed about your application, you will be contacted before the Local Partnership papers are prepared.

When you will hear back about your application

You will hear back after the meeting of the Local Partnership has made a decision.

The decisions will be made during the May 2023 cycle of meetings.

You will not be required to attend or expected to speak at the meeting, and so it is important your application includes all the information about your project. Meetings may take place in person or online.

How funding award decisions are made

The members of the Local Partnership in each area will make a decision on each funding application, guided by an assessment of whether the application has met the local priorities.

Base your application on the local priorities of the Partnership area you are applying to and be clear about how the project will benefit the specific Local Partnership area.

How applications for more than one Local Partnership are considered

All applications will be treated as an individual application by each Local Partnership. In this way, your activity needs to be viable as a project in each Local Partnership area it is applying to. If you are applying for funding from more than one Local Partnership area, you will need to make sure your one application covers at least one priority from each of the Local Partnership areas applied to. When submitting your application to cover more than one Local Partnership area, you will need to make it clear:

• How your project will specifically benefit people in each Local Partnership area applied to
• How much funding is being asked for from each Local Partnership
• The address(es) where the project will take place

What happens if organisations that are members of Local Partnerships apply for funding

Organisations that are members of a Local Partnership can still apply to that Local Partnership, but they will not be allowed to speak to the application at the decision meeting and will not be allowed to vote on their own application.

If money is not allocated by Local Partnerships by the end of the financial year

Where all available grant funding within a financial year is not fully committed, the balance can be carried forward only where a specific project for the forthcoming financial year has been identified and approved by the Local Partnership.  This gives the Local Partnership the flexibility to set aside a proportion of its current year grant for use on a specific project the following year. 

It is not intended that this year-end flexibility would be applied to carry forward a general underspend of available grant for which no specific purpose has been identified or approved.

Funding for Christmas lights

Unfortunately, Renfrewshire Council has very limited capacity for any further installation, storage and maintenance of Christmas lighting. If you wish to submit an application which would require additional Council resources, you should discuss this with Council officers prior to submitting your application.

If your organisation works across Renfrewshire

You can apply to one or more Local Partnership. The project you are applying for must be for the benefit of people who live in that area and the project must align with the Local Priorities for that area. You should focus on the areas where your project aligns most with the Local Priorities.

You could also think about where your project is based or where most of the people using or otherwise involved in the project will be based. It might align with more than one Local Partnership area.

If you do want to apply to more than one Local Partnership area, you will need to note this in your online application form and link the anticipated outcomes to the priorities for each Local Partnership you are applying to for funding.

What Common Good Funds are and how they are different

Common Good is funding generated from an investment portfolio where the annual income is used to support local projects.  There are Common Good funds in both Renfrew and Paisley, which are distributed through the Local Partnership. In Paisley, the fund is split across the three Local Partnerships, based on the population of each area.

The general eligibility criteria for the common good funds are the same as for the General Grant Fund, although there is no specific maximum award. The main difference is that the Common Good Funds are charities and so any projects funded through the common good funds must meet their charitable objectives (the advancement of civic responsibility or community development) to benefit people in Renfrew or Paisley.

What the Celebrating Renfrewshire Fund is

The Youth Challenge Fund is allocated using participatory budgeting and is called "Celebrating Renfrewshire - By Young People, For Young People." This funding round will be launched separately in April 2023.

Young people aged 12-25, or organisations who work with young people, are invited to pitch for a share of a £150,000 fund designed to enhance the lives of young people in Renfrewshire. Young people are given the opportunity to vote for projects they want to happen in their community.

Who to contact

Questions about your project or application

If you want to talk to someone about your project, please get in touch with the Community Planning team at communityplanning@renfrewshire.gov.uk or phone 0141 487 1790 / 0141 487 1509.

Questions or issues submitting your application

If you're having technical issues with your application form, or need to submit a paper copy, email rcgrantapplications@renfrewshire.gov.uk for advice or call 0141 487 0962.

Where you can find other sources of funding

There are other sources of funding for community groups and people who can help you to access this funding or help develop your organisation or group.

Engage Renfrewshire can be found at https://www.engagerenfrewshire.com/ or by telephone on 0141 887 7707.

The Invest in Renfrewshire Communities Team can be contacted by email on Econdev.community@renfrewshire.gov.uk, via their web page  www.investinrenfrewshire.com/communities or by telephone on 0300 300 1180.