Recreation & Culture Grants

What are Culture and Recreation Grants?

They are funded by Ribble Valley Borough Council, their purpose is to help voluntary and not for profit organisations in the Borough deliver projects which ensure residents have the widest opportunity to benefit and help them to improve their lives and enrich their experience of living in the Borough.
RVBC allocates over £33,000 annually to the grant budget for allocation. Grants are awarded in March of each year for the following financial year, starting in early April.

Who are Culture and Recreation Grants for?

Local not for profit organisations are invited to apply for funding to help deliver projects and activities that help provide residents with cultural and recreational experiences, either as part of a long-term project or as a one-off programme. Projects and activities must be implemented within one year from award of grant, unless the Council grant is being matched by a larger funding body which may take longer to determine their application to the organisation. However, that detail will need to be made clear on the application form. Organisations bidding for funding need to ensure that their intended project does not duplicate existing projects or activities and does not already benefit from Council support.

Who is eligible?

Organisations wishing to apply for a grant must be not for profit. Schools and faith groups are not eligible for this grant. Applications from private sector organisations will not be considered as it is not acceptable to generate profit from initiatives delivered with this public funding. 

What can be funded with this grant?

Ribble Valley Borough Council must ensure that allocation of the grant budget available is done fairly and transparently to achieve the greatest impact for the sums available. Therefore, evidence of additional funding for a project either from the organisation itself or other sources is necessary. Ongoing support is not eligible, (i.e., organisations making the same request for the same activity or project, year on year), although a project may run over more than one year.
Revenue support for the day-to-costs of running an organisation or club, e.g., wages, utilities etc are not eligible for grant support.
 Examples of the types of support that we could fund include, but are not limited to: 
•Construction work to create, extend or enhance a facility. 
• Funding to enable a one-off purchase of equipment to enable a project or activity to be set up.

Where will programmes be funded? 

Only programmes that benefit Ribble Valley residents will be considered; applications from across all areas in Ribble Valley are eligible. There is no quota system applied to the grants. They are evaluated on merit and past success should not be considered an indicator of likely success in any given year.

Will applicants require match funding?

The Council expects that at least 50% of the project cost will be funded by the applicant or other sources. In exceptional cases the grants panel may award a higher percentage of funding to a project; however, this is rare.

How do I apply? 

Applications should be made using the online grant application form published on the website.  The application form seeks information about the grant applicant, the amount of funding being requested, including details of how it meets the eligibility criteria, and details of who it is intended to benefit from the services or project delivered because of any grant funding. 

How will the grant be evaluated? 

Each grant application will be evaluated by a panel of Borough Councillors (which is then submitted to the Council’s Community Services Committee for the actual award decision to be made) and a decision made based on the extent that:

• The grant meets the eligibility criteria.
• It is clear who and how many beneficiaries there will be because of the funding. 
• The Council can be confident of delivery within the timescales set out by the applicant. 
• The grant offers value for money. Based on this evaluation, the panel may decide to award the total grant sum requested or a partial amount of the total grant requested, with applicants expected to provide at least 50% of the project cost from their own or other sources.
• Feedback can be provided for unsuccessful applications; however, there is no right of appeal for grant decisions made.

How long will it take to find out if I have been successful with my application? 

Following submission of a completed grant application, we aim to evaluate and confirm whether your application has been successful by the end of March in that financial year.
A grants panel consisting of Councillors meets in Feb/March each year to determine the funding allocation which is submitted to the March meeting of the Council’s Community Services Committee for consideration; applicants are informed by letter/email shortly after that meeting.

What information will you need if we are successful?

Grants are paid when the Council receives evidence of expenditure. Preferably this would be by way of receipted invoices referencing the expenditure approved for the awarded grant although in exceptional cases where such receipted invoices are not available, other evidence may be acceptable such as redacted bank statements together with associated copy invoices.  No grant award is paid in advance, they are always retrospectively paid on production of this evidence. Therefore, it is important that organisations applying can pay the invoices for the project and claim the grant award back. 
The Council requires evidence that the grant award has been used for the intended purpose and that the Council has been referenced in any media material issued either publicly or to the recipients or the members of the organisation itself. Any grant funding unclaimed within a year of award will be forfeited by the applicant unless approval has been sought from the Council and a carry forward agreed. If Ribble Valley Borough Council has any grounds for suspecting financial irregularity in the use of any grant paid under this scheme, an investigation will take place. For these purposes ‘financial irregularity’ includes fraud or other impropriety, mismanagement, or the use of grant for purposes other than those for