Leven Parish Council
Grants and Donations Policy
Date Agreed: 2nd July 2024
Review Date: 1st July 2025
1. Definitions
A grant is a financial award made by the Parish Council to an organisation for a specific application which will benefit the community of Leven.
• A donation is a one-off payment made by the Parish Council for general or charitable purposes within the parish of Leven
2. Powers under the Local Government Act 1972, s 137.
In common with all Parish Councils, Leven Parish Council (“Council”) regularly receives requests from third parties for donations. The power of the Council to donate is contained in the Local Government Act 1972, Section 137, which allows a local authority to spend a limited amount on activities for which it has no specific power, but which the authority considers ‘will bring direct benefit to the area, or any part of it or all of some of its inhabitants’. The Local Government and Housing Act 1989 added the requirement that the benefit obtained should be commensurate with the expenditure incurred.
The total annual amount available to a Parish for this purpose is prescribed by Government and is a ‘resident rate’ multiplied by the number of residents on the Parish Electoral roll. The resident rate is linked to the Retail Price Index. (The resident rate for 2024/25 is £10.81). Any grants made available for such purposes are funded directly from the Parish Precept or from Parish Council reserves.
3. Policy
a) Any grant made by the Parish Council must directly benefit the Parish of Leven and its Parishioners. The Parish Council cannot make donations to individuals unless the community directly benefits. (Thus, the Parish Council cannot, for example, make a grant to a disaster appeal unless the disaster in some way affected the Parish or a substantial number of Parishioners.)
b) Grants and donations cannot be made to fund political activities.
c) All proposed expenditure must be detailed in the Parish Council’s annual budget meeting, to enable calculation of the Council’s precept.
d) The organisation making a grant request should be a non-profit making voluntary organisation where membership is open (i.e. no discrimination of membership on grounds of gender, race, religion etc.).
e) The Parish Council will consider applications for funds in situations where:
• There is no other way of obtaining the relevant funds;
• The funds will enable the relevant group or organisation to access or “unlock” funds or assistance from third parties; and or
• Monies have been donated or raised but these are insufficient, and funds are needed to bridge the resulting gap.
4. Grant Application Requirements
a) Applications for grants will not be considered unless the Leven Parish Council grant application form has been completed and sent to the Clerk for consideration at the appropriate meeting of the Council.
b) Applications for grants can only be considered from organisations whose work benefits the community of Leven Parish and its residents.
c) Applications from national charities will not be considered unless it can be shown that any donation made will be used locally and exclusively within Leven Parish.
d) Applications from individuals cannot be considered, nor can applications where the grant would benefit an individual. However, see Footnote 1 for clarification.
e) Applications for retrospective grants, where a project has already been completed, will not normally be considered.
f) All grants will be conditional upon submission of a financial statement (which must be audited accounts where available) in support of the application and supporting documentation detailing costs of the expenditure for which the funding is being sought.
g) The Council will only consider one grant application per organisation per financial year unless there are extenuating circumstances.
5. Special Grants and Donations
An application for a special grant or donation may be made at any time throughout the year, funds permitting, and the Council will consider applications where there is a genuine immediate need, such as a community project experiencing financial hardship.
No applicant may submit more than one special grant or donation application in a single financial year.
6. Total Grant Fund
a) The maximum total sum available for all grants and donations varies year upon year.
b) Where the total value of all grant and donation applications exceeds the available funds and the Council considers the applications of equal merit, the Council may offer a reduced grant to applicants.
7. Ongoing Grants
Repeat applications for grants year upon year will not normally be considered unless there are exceptional circumstances which the Council considers an appropriate use of its grant fund. For example, the need to prevent a worthwhile project from stalling or failing and other funding is not available. Such grants cannot exceed three years unless the applicant can demonstrate that other attempts at funding have been made.
8. Proof of Spend
A recipient of a grant must provide evidence of how the grant was spent in the form of a written report, supported by financial evidence where available. The report must be received by the Clerk within 12 months of receipt of the grant.
The report will become a document available to public inspection under the provisions of Section 228 of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended).
Failure to comply with this requirement may affect consideration of future grant applications.
9. Acknowledgement of Grant
Recipients of grants are asked to acknowledge Leven Parish Council’s support on promotional material, press releases and/or stationery where appropriate.
10. Conditions
a) The Parish Council will assess applications with reference to the number of Parishioners likely to benefit, or whether any category of Parishioners would receive specific benefit (e.g. children, the elderly, persons with any form of disability etc.)
b) Where a request for a grant/donation is agreed, the Council shall determine the amount, using the figure stated by the applicant as a guide only.
c) The grant or donations shall be used only for the stated purpose otherwise the monies shall be returned to the Council, except where the Council’s prior written consent has been given for the funds to be used for another purpose.
d) The Council reserves the right to request repayment of any grant/donation where an applicant is found not to comply with these conditions.
e) The Council’s decision on any application is final and there is no right of appeal.
f) The Council reserves the right to decline any application without giving reasons for its decision.
g) The Council will not commit to any continuing expenditure.
h) Nothing in this Policy prevents the Council from providing a grant for donation to a group, organisation or project without application where the Council considers that the giving of such a grant or donation will bring benefits to residents of the Parish.
i) Where a Member of the Council is a member of a group/organisation applying for funding, that Member must declare, in accordance with the Code of Conduct, a prejudicial interest in the matter and refrain from voting. Advice may be sought from the Monitoring Officer.
Foot Note
1. The normal use to which this power is applied by local Councils is to provide funding to local organisations, e.g. Pre-School Groups, Scout Groups, Senior Citizens Groups etc. but clearly, one of the most important restrictions (as underlined above) is that a grant cannot be made to an individual for their own use, no matter what use and how good a cause that use may be (e.g. sponsorship for studying exchanges). However, there may indeed be occasions where the grant can be paid to an individual where that individual is carrying out a service which benefits the local population e.g. A Community First Responder (a NHS trained volunteer) whose role is to be the first on the scene as the result of an emergency call within a designated area (the Parish) to provide immediate life-saving support.
Leven Parish Council
Application Form for Grant/Donation to Voluntary Organisations
(Local Government Act 1972, Section 137)
Please note that this application will not be considered unless it is accompanied by a copy of the latest set of annual accounts showing the organisation’s income, expenditure and level of bank balances. If the organisation does not prepare annual accounts, copies of the bank statements covering the previous six months must be enclosed.
Description Details (attach additional sheets if necessary)
- Name of Organisation
- Name, Address and Status of Contact
- Telephone Number of Contact
- Is the Organisation a Registered Charity?
(if yes please state registered charity number)
- Amount of grant/donation requested and Bank details, if successful.
Bank Sort Code:
Account Name:
Account Number:
- For what purpose or project is the grant/donation requested?
- What will be the total cost of the above project?
- If the total cost of the project is more than the grant/donation, how will the residue be financed?
- Have you applied for funding for the same project to another organisation? If so, which organisation?
How much?
- Who will benefit from the project?
11. Approximately how many are Leven Parishioners?
You may use a separate sheet of paper to submit any other information which you feel will support this application.
Signed…………………………………………………………………… Date………………………..