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The Elephant & Castle Community fund aims to build on the strengths of local people, celebrate the rich cultural diversity of the area, and support the people who are most in need at this time of change.
The Elephant & Castle Community Fund was set up in 2012 with a donation from Lendlease to support the local Elephant & Castle community during the regeneration of the area. Since then, the fund has continued thanks to generous donations from both Southwark Council and Lendlease and more recently Get Living.
What can the fund support?
Location
Projects must be of benefit to people who live, work or study in the Elephant & Castle Opportunity Area. Here, you can view a boundary map of the area this fund covers.
Themes
Applications must address at least one of the following themes
- Further education, skill building, training and entrepreneurship: Helping residents to increase their educational attainment, develop skills, access training and gain employment. We are keen to support projects that create pathways to employment, volunteering, and work experience, and encourage socially enterprising activities which are of benefit to the community. We are also keen to see applications for digital training for residents who are currently digitally excluded.
- Arts and culture: Promoting engagement in arts and cultural activities, in particular, those that celebrate the diversity of the area and improve the local environment.
- Young people: Engaging and improving the lives of young people in the area, providing youth activities and supporting young residents to reach their potential.
- Wellbeing: Promoting wellbeing, helping people to connect with others and addressing what are known as the Five Ways to Wellbeing. These are: Connect, Be Active, Take Notice, Keep Learning and Give. – activities that individuals can do in their everyday lives to increase their wellbeing. Please visit https://www.mind.org.uk/workplace/mental-health-at-work/taking-care-of-yourself/five-ways-to-wellbeing/ for more information. Applications on food insecurity and obesity will also be considered under this theme.
- Environment: Increasing access to green spaces and improving the local environment within the Elephant and Castle Opportunity Area, with particular emphasis on projects where residents are involved in making the improvements themselves. We are also interested in proposals that respond to the climate emergency to achieve emission reduction.
The theme of the environment has been underrepresented in previous applications. We are therefore keen to hear from organisations looking to deliver work on environment issues and building partnerships to benefits the environment.
Please read the fund guidelines (link below or on the right of this page) for a complete list of criteria and priorities.
Income threshold
There is no income threshold for groups applying to this fund, however, we are looking to support local community projects and priority will be given to locally based community and resident organisations. If your organisation has an income of over £1m per annum, please call and speak to us before you make an application. In a competitive situation, priority is likely to go to smaller organisations.
Grant size
Organisations can apply for grants between £3,000-£12,000 to be spent within 12 months of the grant award date for projects that support residents of the Elephant and Castle Opportunity Area.
One grant of up to £20,000 may be awarded to one organisation to deliver a project within 24 months of the grant award date. The grant will be released in two instalments: £10,000 in year 1 and £10,000 in year 2. This will go to a project which is able to demonstrate progression over the two years and clear outcomes. Organisations will be provided the opportunity to register interest for this multi-year grant when completing the application. In addition, the fund will offer capacity building sessions to all successful organisations.
Source of funding
This fund receives funding from Southwark Council, Lendlease and Get Living.
How to apply
If you’d like to understand more about the fund please take a look at the guidelines by clicking on the buttons below or at the top right hand side of the screen. The online application form guidelines are also there to help you when filling out the form online.
Deadline
The deadline for applications is 12 noon on Wednesday 12th June 2024.
Contact details
If you have any queries about the fund, please contact us on 020 7582 5117 or at applications@londoncf.org.uk.