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| Guidelines |
Contents:
- Introduction
- General Information
- Essential Criteria
- Exclusions
- Good Practice
- Current Funding
- Making an Application
- Preliminary Application Form
Scottish Churches Community Trust is an inter-church
initiative in Scotland. Rooted in Christian principles, it seeks to relieve
poverty by providing grants, resources and support for local work with
disadvantaged people which addresses spiritual, social and economic needs.
The Trust is a partnership between most of the churches in Scotland.
Current members are:
• Baptist Union of Scotland
• Church of Scotland
• Congregational Federation
• Methodist Church in Scotland
• Religious Society of Friends
• Roman Catholic Church
• Scottish Episcopal Church
• United Free Church of Scotland
• United Reformed Church (Scottish Synod)
Our grant-making policy is based on certain core values,
including:
• the belief that poverty in Scotland is unacceptable and has damaging
effects on communities, families and individuals.
• The belief that people are equal in God's sight and that the churches
are called to work together with others to tackle poverty and injustice.
• The belief that the churches can use their collective resources more
effectively alongside disadvantaged people.
The Trust was set up in 2000. The level of funds available for distribution varies each year as the Trust receives funding from each of the participating churches. Information on the past year of operation can be found in our current Annual Report.
1. What type of work and organisations will the Trust
consider for support?
Your project should meet the following criteria: Either a. or b. plus
c. and d. Think about how you can provide evidence to demonstrate this.
(a) Work directly developed by local churches, motivated
by a clear faith perspective, and which is based primarily on a partnership
with local churches and the community working together to meet local
needs.
Notes
Are there other groups active locally dealing with the same issues? Would
it be more effective to work with them?
(b) Work developed by community or non-church groups
but which is actively supported by local churches.
Notes
Have you approached local churches for support? Are they involved formally
in the project? How are they providing support, e.g. financial, volunteers,
in steering group, use of premises?
(c) Work which meets real and identified needs in either
a local community or amongst particular groups of disadvantaged people.
Notes
What evidence can you find (from local authority reports, community surveys
or other sources) to support the case for the type of work you are proposing?
(d) Work which encourages local people to identify and
tackle problems for themselves, bring about change and develop their
own skills and knowledge.
Notes
How will your project have a lasting impact on the community or group
you seek to benefit? How have they been involved in the development and
management of the project?
Priority will be given to churches and other organisations with minimal
resources operating in areas of greatest disadvantage. Other organisations
will have to demonstrate clear evidence of need.
Projects, which fail to meet the basic criteria listed here, will not
be considered for funding.
Preference will be given to projects demonstrating inter-church/ecumenical
working.
What type of work is the Trust unable to support?
There are certain areas of work which the Trust is unable to support. This is not necessarily because it believes that these are not valuable in themselves, but because of the principles on which the Trust was set up and to which it must operate.
- Work which is developed by organisations working in isolation from others.
- Building work will not normally be supported.
- One-off, short-term activities such as trips or excursions, holiday clubs, mission events and festivals.
- Work developed by organisations whose primary purpose is the promotion of abortion, euthanasia or artificial contraception.
- Work which is not being carried
out by recognised charities or properly constituted groups.
Notes: The Trust will not support local branches of national organisations except where the local group is financially autonomous.
Please note that in order to promote principles of good practice in employment, the Trust has the following policies:
- Salary levels must be realistic and offer proper remuneration for work being carried out.
- Posts must be advertised and open recruitment and selection procedures undertaken.
- Appropriate pension arrangements must be put in place.
Notes: Applicants will be expected to provide evidence of good practice through their policies on health and safety, use of volunteers and (where applicable) child protection and/or vulnerable adults. The Trust cannot provide legal advice on pension rights or employment conditions. Advice on rates of pay and employment conditions is available from the Scottish Low Pay Unit, Citizens Advice Bureau or the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (Contact details are at the end of the guide).
What level of Funding is available?
- Grants will normally be in the region of £3,000 to £5,000 per annum and may be non-recurring or for a period of between one and four years. The maximum grant normally available will be £20,000 over four years. The Trust will not normally support more than one third of the cost of a project.
- A Training allowance up to a maximum of £750 per year is available to successful applicants.
You are advised to submit a preliminary application form available from the Trust (see address below). This will save you time in preparing a full application and allow the Trust to assess whether your organisation and proposed work are likely to meet the criteria. We will then advise you whether the application can be taken further. Please note that an invitation to submit a full application does not imply that a grant will be awarded. Due to limited funds the Trust cannot support every worthwhile application and has to prioritise which projects can be supported.
The person submitting the application on behalf of the
project should sign and date the application at the bottom. Full applications
should be submitted on no more than four sides of A4 paper (word-processed
where possible) and should be organised under the following paragraph headings.
Notes
Your application should state clearly the name and address of the main
contact person.
This information should give a clear summary of the aims of the application
and how it will be carried out.
(a) Organisation Details
Give the name of the legal body applying for the grant, together with a
brief description about its background, history, aims and current activities.
Include details about how the organisation is constituted and structured;
and whether it is a recognised charity in Scotland.
(b) Project Details and Purpose of application
- What is the work you want to do and why do you want to do it?
- If it is being directly initiated by local churches, how does it relate to the life of the congregations involved?
- What background research have you carried out?
- What positive difference will the work make in peoples' lives and how will you know this? Where will the work be based and what will happen on a day to day basis?
Notes
How will our support help your project to be more effective? In order to
be able to assess the impact of its support the Trust has a preference
for supporting specific items of work or elements of a larger programme.
(c) Partnership & Management
- Give the names of the different churches and/or community groups involved in the project.
- How are each of these groups involved in the work and management of the project?
- How are the beneficiaries involved in the work and development of the project?
- Explain who is responsible for carrying out the work and how this relates to the structures and oversight of the legal body applying for the grant.
Notes
Who will be on the management group?
Be clear about the roles of staff and volunteers and how they relate to
the legal body presenting the application.
(d) Training
- What skills do those involved already have?
- What additional skills might be developed through training?
Notes
Think about the training needs of the management group as well as staff
and volunteers.
(e) Funding and Budget
Give a detailed breakdown of the non-recurring and/or annual budget, then
summarise the total costs over a period of time as appropriate. State
how much you are applying for from the Trust and explain what other sources
of funding you will approach.
Notes
Please give, as clearly as possible, details of likely costs of the specific
work the application seeks to support.
If the application covers only a part of your work, please give a summary
of the other activities, their costs and how these are funded.
(f) Referees
Please give the names and contact details for two independent referees,
neither of whom should be directly involved in the oversight or management
of the work. If the application is from a non-church group, the referees
must be from local churches which are supportive of your work.
Referees should be familiar with the application details and have signed
the bottom of the application form along with the person submitting the
application on behalf of the project.
Please enclose the following items with your application:
- A signed, dated copy of the constitution of the legal body applying for the grant. If the lead body is a local church or a larger denomination, please give appropriate details.
- A signed, dated copy of the organisation's most recent annual accounts.
- A copy of the Inland Revenue letter of recognition as a Scottish Charity, if appropriate.
- A work/action plan to cover the first year of proposed funding (Form available from the Trust. See address below).
- Any other
relevant supporting documents:
Job description
Policies, e.g.
• Child Protection (Disclosure)
• Equal Opportunities
• Volunteers
• Vulnerable Adults
• Health & Safety
• Other
6. What happens after an application is submitted?
- Once you submit an outline application you will receive an acknowledgement which may ask for more information on the application.
- The Development Coordinator will contact you to discuss the project in detail and perhaps arrange to visit.
- You will then be asked to submit a full application with supporting documentation listed above.
- The project summary will be discussed by the Grants Group who will make a recommendation to the Board of Trustees.
- Once the Board has made its final decision you will receive official confirmation of any award agreed together with information on any standard and specific conditions required.
Notes
Successful applicants will have one year from the date of award to meet
any special conditions and seek additional funding.
- Once you have agreed to
accept the award and conditions, the staff of the Trust will liaise with
you to implement payment.
Notes
Payment is normally made in annual instalments by electronic transfer. - You will be required to report on how the grant has been used. If the grant is being paid over a period of time, ongoing reports and annual accounts will have to be submitted.
Notes
Evaluation and monitoring is an essential element of any project. It provides
a management group with the information needed to direct the project and
provides the evidence needed to demonstrate accountability to funders.
There will be an annual progress report required. A form for this purpose
will be provided by the Trust.
Sources of Information
Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations
The Mansfield
Traquair Centre,
15 Mansfield Place,
Edinburgh EH3 6BB (www.scvo.org.uk)
Citizens Advice Scotland
Spectrum House
2 Powderhall Road
Edinburgh EH7 4GB (www.cas.org.uk)
Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Scotland)
151 West George Street
Glasgow G2 2JJ (www.acas.org.uk)
Scottish Low Pay Unit
24 Sandy ford Place
Glasgow G3 TNG (www.scotlpu.org.uk)
Volunteer Development Scotland
Stirling Enterprise Park
Stirling FK7 7RP (www.vds.org.uk)
Scottish
Churches Community Trust
Preliminary Application Form
For a preliminary application form please contact:
Scottish Churches Community
Trust
200 Balmore Road
Glasgow G22 6LJ.
Tel: 0141 336 3766
Fax: 0141 336 3771
Email: admin@scct.org.uk