Am I Eligible


It is important that you read our eligibility guidelines below before you think about applying to make sure that you meet the criteria for a grant.

If you have any questions about the criteria of any of the funds, please email the grants team grants@cumbriafoundation.org or call us on 01900 825760 and we will be happy to help.

We make grants to a wide range of organisations. We are particularly keen to help grassroots community groups and small-to-medium-sized voluntary organisations. We do not normally make grants to large UK-wide charities, but we might do so where there are strong relationships in our area and the proposal has the potential to achieve a substantial impact.

We want to ensure that our funding is distributed across our priority areas and reaching communities in greatest need by prioritising organisations that are addressing current issues, e.g. supporting people to address financial concerns, helping people move towards training and/or employment, helping people rebuild their lives following a crisis, supporting interventions to reduce harmful behaviours and services that improve health outcomes. We prioritise funding the delivery of services directly to beneficiaries, over capital build requests.

You do not have to be a registered charity to apply, but the work you ask us to support must be legally charitable.

The table below shows the requirements that must be met before considering an application:

Volunteer-led organisations, registered charities and CIOs must: Social enterprises, Community Interest Companies (CIC) and other companies must:
• Have a management committee with a minimum of three unrelated members Have a management committee with a minimum of three directors, or four directors if two are related. The majority of directors should be unpaid. Directors should have equal voting rights.
• Have a bank or building society account in the name of the organisation/group, with a minimum of two unrelated bank signatories. • Have a bank or building society account in the name of the organisation/company, with a minimum of two unrelated bank signatories.
• Have charitable aims, evidenced by the governing document. • Have clear charitable purposes and a defined social benefit, evidenced by Articles of Association and community benefit statement. Please also supply your CIC 34 report (if this has been made available).
• Provide evidence of good governance practices and sound financial management including being registered with the Charity Commission, Community Amateur Sports Club (CASC) or other governing body, depending on the size of the organisation, annual accounts. • Provide evidence of good governance practices and sound financial management, including having a recognised status (e.g. a company limited by guarantee), and be registered with the necessary relevant body (e.g. Companies House, CIC regulator, annual accounts.
• Register with the Charity Commission if your charitable organisation is based in England or Wales and has over £5,000 income per year. • Ensure an Asset Lock body is named and has objectives both charitable and similar to the CIC, ensuring benefit to the community.

NB: We will ask you to provide evidence of the above as part of your funding application
For most funds, you can apply whatever your income level. Some funds may have more specific requirements about the size and type of organisation eligible.

Please note: if you have previously had a grant from us:

  • We will not consider any new application unless you have submitted any outstanding end of grant monitoring reports.
  • Applicants must speak to a Grants Officer before applying if they have been successful with three or more applications in the last 12 months.
  • Ideally, grants from CCF should not contribute to more than 50% of an organisations income.

What we will fund:

  • Projects where the majority of people who will benefit are disadvantaged
  • Groups working with children where the majority are disadvantaged or have special needs
  • Groups with 12 months or less running costs in unrestricted reserves
  • Groups operating within the county of Cumbria (Except Beckburn Windfarm and Cumberland Building Society Community Fund – please refer to the fund pages for the full area of benefit)
  • Groups with a registered address and/or local voluntary management committee or Board of Trustees in Cumbria (Except Beckburn Windfarm and Cumberland Building Society Community Fund – please refer to fund pages for the full area of benefit)
  • Core costs and overheads for your organisation
  • Salaries and equipment purchases
  • Capital projects that meet our fund criteria

What we won’t fund:

  • Animal welfare
  • Contact boxing, except where donor-advised
  • Businesses and personal profit
  • Deficit funding
  • General large appeals
  • Medical research and equipment, except where donor-advised
  • Activities that are normally the responsibility of central or local government
  • Awards from the same fund in a 12 month period
  • Projects which duplicate an existing service in an area
  • Fundraisers, appeals and fundraising events, including fundraising consultants
  • Advancement of religion including buildings solely for religious purposes, except where donor-advised
  • Party political activities
  • Retrospective funding unless through a disaster appeal
  • Purchase of a vehicle, except where donor-advised
  • Groups or individuals who have not returned their monitoring form
  • Beautification projects, except where donor-advised
  • Gifts for participants e.g. presents, commemorative items
  • Theatre production costs, unless where donor-advised
  • National organisations that do not have a local presence within Cumbria