Guidance Notes
for Applicants

Application Form Guidance

Section 1 – Contact Details

1.1       Please state the name, address and the postcode of your organisation. Please also provide a contact name for any correspondence; this must also be the person who signs the form on behalf of the organisation. If any of these details change whilst your application is being processed it is essential that you contact us and update the details.

Section 2 – About your Organisation

2.1       Your organisation can apply if you:

• Are a community led organisation.
• Are a not-for-profit group with charitable aims.
• Are working in, involve, and benefit people from the communities of the above four Community Council Areas.
• Have a bank account, in the name of your group, which requires at least two signatories, who should not be related
• Have a constitution or Articles of Association, dated and signed as “adopted” by the Chair, or other senior office holder on behalf of the group
• Can spend the grant within one year or return it, or part of it, to the Fund, unless otherwise agreed.

2.2       Please give details of what your organisation does. Do not simply copy the aims and objectives from your constitution. Describe the work your group does in your own words, as this will help with the assessment process. Your group does not need to be a registered charity to apply for a grant but must in some way benefit the local community.

Section 3 – Reason for Application

3.1       The directors must ensure that grants are used for the purpose of supporting local environmental, educational, amenity or other appropriate charitable initiative within the Black Hill Community area, which meet one or more of the following three objectives:

3.1.1     Environmental sustainability.

3.1.2     Energy efficiency and conservations: and

3.1.3     Social sustainability

Please indicate in your application which of the above three objectives your application addresses.

3.2       Over recent years the fund has made awards in support of:

• Building community capacity and fostering the sustainability of local initiatives.
• Increasing community involvement in local regeneration and development.
• Supporting the acquisition, development and use of community assets.
• Supporting skill development and non-for-profit initiatives that will help lead to job creation and a diverse local economy.
• Fostering social networks and increasing community engagement with local organisations, activities and initiatives.
• Overcoming the barriers that can prevent disadvantaged or excluded members of the community from enjoying a high quality of life, particularly young people and the elderly.
• Involving local people in the sensitive and sustainable stewardship of the natural environment.

3.3       Grants will not be made to support the following:

• Organisations without a constitution.
• The advancement of religion or politics.
• The repayment of loans or payments of debts.
• Retrospective funding – Costs already incurred or likely to be incurred before a funding decision is made.
• Any initiative which could reasonably obtain funding from an alternative, more appropriate, source.
• Any service that the local and/or national public authorities are statutorily obliged or committed to provide.
• Anti-Wind Farm/renewable energy activities, including activities contrary to the interests of RES.

3.4       In exceptional circumstance grants may be awarded to:

• Groups outside the Blackhill Community where there is clear evidence of a significant impact within the catchment.
• Initiatives with no alternative source of funding.
• Initiative where alternative sources of finding have been explored and exhausted or where funding has only been secured for oar of an initiative: and
• Initiatives which should or might be supported through the public sector if it were not for budgetary restrains on public sector spending. 

Section 4 – Details of Funding Requested

4.1       It is important that you provide a detailed breakdown of all the costs for your project, and for applications in excess of £1000 provide, where possible, at least two quotes/estimates from suppliers.

If you want, for example, sports equipment, it is important that you provide an itemised and costed list. It is not enough to say that you want equipment without itemising the costs.

4.2       If you are asking for a contribution toward the costs of a more expensive project it is important that you provide us with a detailed breakdown of the total costs and the contribution you require. In addition you will have to demonstrate how you are going to raise the balance required to undertake the project you are planning

4.3       There is no limit to the number of applications a group can make, but no group would be expected to apply for more than one grant in any financial year.

4.4       If your group wants funding from the Fund to carry out improvements to a building or land used by the community then we need to know how this grant will make a difference to the usage of the building/land. You should also let us know if you own the building and if not how long your lease is, and supply us with a copy of the lease and have other statutory consents and landowner agreements in place where necessary.

If you want funding to purchase equipment for the organisation your group runs then you need to tell us what difference this grant will make to the organisation.           

Section 5 – Financial Details

5.1       A copy of your current approved annual accounts must be included with your application, preferably electronically. We will be unable to process your application if you do not submit these or include a set of accounts that are out of date. Groups who have not yet completed one full year must provide a projection of income and expenditure for the group’s first year of operation, and also complete Section 4 with any information relevant to this. Please also include any evidence you can of funding pledged or secured, and include details of all your group’s income and expenditure, not just that which relates to the project that is the subject of this application.

5.2       Please tell us what the difference was in your last year’s accounts between the money coming in and going out (your surplus or deficit).

5.3       Please also tell us about any unrestricted reserves you have. If you are not using these for the project you are applying for help with, please explain why. (Unrestricted reserves are general funds held by the organisation, as opposed to restricted reserves, which will have been provided by a funder or donor only for a particular purpose or project). Applicants whose accounts show unrestricted cash reserves well in excess of the grant requested, may be given low priority.

5.4       Please note that grants will not be eligible for goods or services purchased prior to the date of grant award.

Please Note – If you do not complete all the relevant boxes and supply us with the supporting documents outlined in this document your application will be returned to you with a request to complete the missing information or provide the missing documents. It is only when we have received the completed form and all the information that we will be in a position to start the assessment process of your application.

What happens next?

• • As soon as we have received a completed application form with all the necessary documentation, you will receive an acknowledgement letter, this letter will contain a reference number and it is important that you quote this if you contact us again;
  • When a decision has been made about your application you will receive a letter telling you what the Fund panel have decided. The panel may attach conditions to an offer of grant and may offer an amount less than requested by the applicant. The panel’s decision is final.
  • Applications can be submitted throughout the year and each application will be considered on its merits. If your application is refused feedback will be provided. 

Completed and signed application forms should be sent to: 

Sharon Cleghorn,

Administrator

Blackhill Windfarm Community Fund

Clockmill Cottage

Duns

TD11 3QH

It would assist in processing the award if the application and supporting documentation could be submitted electronically via email to: info@blackhillcommunityfund.co.uk