Merseyside Community Investment Fund
About the Fund
The Merseyside Community Investment Fund aims to bring together businesses, organisations and individuals to address urgent social issues whilst making a modest financial commitment, to collectively achieve a greater impact towards the improvement of our communities.
The fund aims to support projects that may struggle to access funding from other sources. This fund can be used to respond to local issues of concern to the community or pro-actively tackle an urgent social need.
The Merseyside Community Investment Fund Programme distributes funding raised from a variety of different sources, including fundraising donated by Professional Liverpool Ltd.
Fund Criteria
Projects that target disadvantage and or deprivation…
…including projects which support young people, older people and people with disabilities.
Projects that encourage the community to take a pro-active approach to make a difference in their communities
Ongoing activities rather than one off events
Groups with small reserves as long as they are viable
Innovative projects that would not be normally considered for funding by corporate driven criteria
Specific projects rather than a small general contribution to ongoing running costs or to a much larger project.
Specific eligibility criteria
The fund is available across the entire Liverpool City Region:
- Halton
- Knowsley
- Liverpool
- Sefton
- St Helens
- Wirral
Groups must have an annual income below £400,000 according to their most recent accounts.
Amount Available
Grants of up to £3,000 available
What cannot be funded?
- Statutory organisations or work that is their responsibility
- Organisations with less than 3 unrelated Trustees/ Directors/ Management Committee members
- CIC’s limited by Shares
- National organisations that cannot demonstrate local governance /autonomy (permanent base within Merseyside, bank account and Management team)
- Commercial ventures/Projects for personal profit
- Purchase/maintenance of vehicles
- Activities that will have already taken place before we offer you a grant
- Politically connected or exclusively religious activities
- Organisations that are established for the benefit of animals or plants
- Debts and other liabilities
- Reclaimable VAT
- Travel outside UK
- Gifts or projects exclusively for the purpose of entertaining
How to Apply?
An online application form can be completed via the “Apply Now” button below. You can attach supporting documents to your online application, or email them to us at applications@cflm.org.uk.
If the “Apply Now” button is not available, please check the fund’s opening and close date at the top of the page before contacting us.
Documents which need to be included with your application:
- A copy of your governing document.
- A copy of your latest annual accounts or income/expenditure document.
- A copy of a recent bank statement for your group. If you do not have a bank account in place, you must be able to nominate another organisation to hold the funds (CVS, another local charity, church etc.).
- A list of your Trustees/Directors/Management Committee members. A minimum of three un-related must be in place.
- A copy of the group’s current Safeguarding Policy. All applicants must ensure that they hold relevant policies and procedures in place to undertake activities, such as Disclosure and Barring Service checks and/or a health and safety policy, depending on proposed activity. If unsure about what you need please contact the Community Foundation for help (details below)
If you have applied to us within the last 12 months and provided this information, we do not need you to send it again, although we may require a more recent bank statement.
Completed applications are considered by Community Foundation staff to check eligibility. You may be contacted for more information after applying and a decision-making panel will make recommendations based on the fund’s criteria and the budget available.