MICRO FUND FOR COMMUNITY AND BUSINESS
There are two rounds of Micro Fund per year – one opens on June 1st and closes mid-August and one opens on December 1st and closes mid-February.
Round 15 of the Micro Fund will open on 1st December 2023 with a closing date of mid-February. Decisions will be announced at the end of March 2023.
Round 16 of the Micro Fund will open on 1st June 2024 with a closing date of mid-August. Decisions will be announced at the end of September 2024.
Please contact us by emailing enquiries@penycymoeddcic.cymru or calling 01685 878785 to discuss application deadlines
When the rounds are open you can apply online here
We recognise that great ideas can sometimes be realised by the injection of relatively small sums of money at the right time – on a one-off basis. The Micro Fund offers one-off grants up to £6,500 to support important aspects of community life and to support enterprise development. This could include, for example: buying small items of equipment; minor capital works; activities, events and projects; business development and start-ups; pilot projects.
Micro Grants can help cover the costs of community events, give the finishing touch to a larger scheme or can be the stimulus to a start-up; they can help publicise a service or support feasibility studies to develop bigger schemes. Grants have an upper limit of £6,500 but we expect many awards to be for smaller sums, and we actively invite those applications.
There are two Fund strands:
Micro Fund: Community – for voluntary and community organisations, social enterprises, community and town councils, and school PTAs.
Micro Fund: Micro Business – for those looking to develop or start up an enterprise.
Although statutory bodies cannot apply for a Micro Fund grant, we welcome projects or activities developed and delivered collaboratively. We welcome partnership working with the statutory sector. The Micro Fund cannot support ongoing costs and you shouldn’t expect to apply every year for the same activity.
How to make a Micro Fund application
You’ll need to complete the Form that best fits with what you want to do. You can start your online application here https://penycymoedd.flexigrant.com/ when the round is open.
We’ll read carefully through your application and get in touch if we have any queries or need more information. Decisions about whether or not to award funding are made by the Community Interest Company Directors – normally within 6 weeks of each application round closing date.
It’s best to take your time in putting an application together, to ensure that you can make the best possible case. We’ll be looking closely at these aspects of your proposal:
A. ELIGIBILITY
•General eligibility and links with Fund aims and themes
B. VERIFICATION
•Identity and verification checks – our standard fraud prevention procedures to safeguard the Fund. These are not credit checks – they are just to ensure that you are who you say you are.
C. IMPACT and DELIVERY
What difference will the activity or project make?
The evidence of need for your proposal, who will benefit, how the activity will make a real difference, how you know no-one else is doing it? What will have been achieved when your activity or project is completed?
D. YOUR ORGANISATION
Your track record of delivering similar activities – or if the work is new to you, how well you’ve prepared, what advice you’ve obtained etc.
How your organisation is managed – policies you have in place, insurances etc.
E. COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND INCLUSION
How you engage and link with your community or customers – how you make sure that people know about you, how they can join in and benefit, how they are involved with how the organisation is managed etc. If some groups of people are excluded, is it clear why that is?
F. PLANNING AND DELIVERY
How the activity costings have been arrived at, will additional funding or permissions be needed to enable you to get going? Will these take time to put in place? Are you working with partners? How realistic is the delivery timetable?
Over time, we’ll also be aiming to ensure a balance of funding awards across the area of benefit.
WHAT THE COMMUNITY FUND CANNOT SUPPORT
- activities that don’t deliver clear benefits to communities within the Fund’s Area of Benefit
- applications for activities or projects which exclude certain groups of people without very clear and legally defensible reasons
- applications from public sector bodies
- activities which are the statutory responsibility of public sector bodies
- applications from individuals other than those wishing to set up or develop a business
- activities which are exclusively party political or religious
- past expenditure / costs incurred for activities that have already taken place
- VAT that can be recovered
- projects which promote, provide, develop, operate or otherwise support any non-renewable energy scheme or associated resource.
Please contact the PyC staff team if you would like to discuss this: enquiries@penycymoeddcic.cymru / 01685 878785