Community Fund

Welcome to Formby Parish Council’s Community Fund Page. Below you will find our guidelines for applying for a community grant. At the end of the page you will be able to download the application form and a guide on how to fill it in.

Guidelines For Applying to the Community Fund

The Community Fund was set up by Formby Parish Council to provide funding for community-based projects within Formby. Anyone applying for a grant should be aware that this is public money, funded from taxation. That means that we would normally look for three things:

  1. We will need you to show us that the money has been spent and has been spent on what it was given for. This would be accomplished by supplying us with receipts for the full amount of the grant. Receipts must be received within 3 months of receiving the grant.
  2. The money should be spent of something that benefits the community of Formby, either directly or indirectly.
  3. We would like a commitment from you to inform the people of Formby what their money was spent on – this could be in the form of a letter or article for the local newspaper, for example.

Once the money has been approved, we would normally expect it to be spent within 3 months, although where necessary we will negotiate an extension to this.

If individuals or other organisations will match our funding with extra funding themselves, this would be an advantage. You should state this on your application form.

The application form should be filled in carefully and neatly, using a black pen – for ease of photocopying.

We Would Not Normally Give Grants to the Following:

  • Applicants from outside the parish of Formby
  • Individuals
  • Companies
  • Sponsorship
  • Political organisations
  • Pressure groups
  • Feasibility studies
  • Wages/commission/research fees

Who Can Apply?

Your organisation must produce documentary evidence that you are a bona-fide organisation by supplying one of the following with your application form:

  • A copy of your constitution
  • A set of rules of your organisation
  • Your latest accounts

This evidence must be included with your application. If you do not send evidence your application will not be considered.

Payments

We expect all applications to have a bank account in the name of the applicant, as given on the application form under “Name of Organisation”. This is the name on the account that payment will be made to.

Please note that any grant must be spent for the precise purpose for which it is given. Permission to spend the grant on a different purpose should be sought, in writing, from the Parish Council, but this permission is unlikely to be granted. Please be sure and clear about the purpose of your application and have accurate up-to-date costings available for inspection.

Please be Aware of the Following:

  • No retrospective applications will be accepted.
  • Items must not have already been purchased.
  • Should your application be successful, invoices and/or receipts must not pre-date the “confirmation of grant” letter which you will receive.
  • We would not approve payments for “running costs” of an organisation.
  • We would not approve payments to buy goods which a landlord should supply, or for maintenance which is the responsibility of a landlord.

What We Will Ask You For

Please be aware that it is possible that we will ask you for proof of the amount of the grant sought.

We will require you to send receipts for the grant awarded, which must be for the items applied for. You must send these to us automatically. If you do not supply receipts it will bar you from applying again to the fund at any time in the future.

Repeat Applications

To enable the Community Fund to benefit wide and diverse groups of people in Formby, no applications would normally be considered for further funding within a 12-month period following a successful application.

Timing of Applications

Please note that applications are considered by the Finance and General Purposes Group who meet once a month. They will then recommend the application for approval which must be given by full Council. The full Council meet on the third Monday of every month except for August and December. You need to be aware that it can, on occasions, take a few months for consideration and approval of application. You should bear this in mind when you consider when to apply.

Application Forms can be downloaded below in the downloads section. You can request an application form to be sent to you by contacting the Parish Clerk at clerk@formby-pc.gov.uk or The Parish Clerk, Formby Parish Council, Formby Library, Duke Street, Formby, L37 4AN.

Once you have completed the application form, please send it along with all relevant information to the Parish Clerk.