These grants are aimed at projects for children and young people aged 0 to 19, or up to the age of 25 if they have a disability.
Organisations able to apply for a Youth Activity Grant
Examples of the type of organisation we're looking to fund, include:
- charities providing services locally in Derbyshire
- voluntary organisations
- community interest companies
- social enterprises
- community groups
- parish councils
Individuals, schools, local government departments, statutory bodies such as the police and the NHS, and organisations that make a profit are all ineligible for a Youth Action Grant.
What you will need to have in place
Your organisation should have a written constitution, outlining the following:
- your group's name, clearly stating your aims and objectives
- clear roles of members managing your group
- your own bank account with at least 2 independent signatories
You must also have the following policies in place:
- a safeguarding children policy
- an equality policy
- an incident and accident policy
- codes of conduct for staff and young people
- insurance policies
Your project must be allowed within the terms of your constitution or rules.
If you are not a registered charity, you may need to send us a copy of your constitution or set of rules. If you still want to apply but do not have the above in place you can get help to become a constituted group from your local Council for Voluntary Service (CVS) or through one of our youth and community engagement workers.
What we do and don’t fund
The following are examples of the things we are looking to fund:
- new activities such as short-term holiday programmes, and the costs involved
- developing the quality of existing provision via such things as staff training, new equipment, or improvements to buildings.
- expanding the range of existing provision through more equipment, or the creation of new activities.
- equipment and resources which support Derbyshire's recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
- events, specialist training or other ways to encourage different groups of young people to attend activities.
- increasing attendance rates
What we don’t fund
The following are examples of what we don't fund:
- Retrospective funding for projects that have already taken place.
- Applications from groups providing services in the Derby City area. However, groups based in Derby will be considered if their proposed project delivers a service in the administrative area of Derbyshire. The application will have to demonstrate how you will be reaching people in Derbyshire.
- Projects where statutory funding has been withdrawn or where services should be provided by statutory agencies.
- Core costs as these costs relate to the whole organisation and generally not specifically to one project. These include regular rent and bill payments.
- Capital funding. This means that we cannot fund the purchase of land, permanent buildings, or fixed structures.
- Projects that promote religious or political beliefs. However we will fund applications from church projects that are open to all members of society such as play schemes and youth clubs.
- Grant making bodies or bodies providing funding to other organisations.
If you'd like to check whether the project and items you are requesting funding for are eligible please email yag@derbyshire.gov.uk
Make an application for a Youth Activity Grant
To make an application for a Youth Activity Grant, simply download and complete the attached application form. You can email the completed form to yag@derbyshire.gov.uk
We're expecting a high number of applications for the Youth Activity Grants so our panel will prioritise applications that show they will have the biggest impact locally and contribute to children and young people's wellbeing. We welcome applications from organisations who are seeking funding to enable them to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tips for completing your application
Setting aside some time and thought to fill in the application form will greatly strengthen your grant submission. The following may help when filling in the form:
- Answer each section carefully and concisely.
- Provide sufficient detail for us to know what it is you will deliver with the grant.
- Be specific about what you will be spending the grant on. Break down how the grant would be spent to enable the project to take place. If there isn’t enough space to include the costs of all the items you are requesting funding for, you can attach a separate sheet.
- Evidence of need: we're keen to support projects that meet the needs of young people in your community. Therefore, it's important to explain why the project is necessary in terms of where it is being delivered; this could be as simple as demonstrating that there are already young people waiting to take part or through a simple consultation exercise to gather support.
- State clearly on your application how will you know that your project has been successful. You should have an idea of what the impact will be on young people in your local community. You should have clear, measurable aims and objectives that you stand a good chance of achieving.
- Your application should consider how the project will provide a sustainable element demonstrating that the items you are spending the grant on will continue to have a long term benefit to your organisation.
Connecting your application to the Council Plan
It is important that you set out how your project helps to achieve one or more of the key wellbeing priorities in the Council Plan. Think carefully about how your project helps to meet these priorities and explain on the application form exactly how it contributes.
The wellbeing priorities are:
- support young people’s physical, mental and emotional development
- help young people to understand how to protect themselves from harm and neglect
- help young people to get more personal satisfaction out of their education, training and recreation time
- enable young people to make a contribution to society through volunteering programmes
- help young people to become socially responsible and economically independent adults
Deadline for applications
We want to be as responsive as we can to the applications we receive. We're committed to making a decision for applications for funding over £10,000 within 6 weeks, and for all others we're committed to making a decision within 3 weeks.
If you have any questions about the Youth Activity Grants or the application process, email yag@derbyshire.gov.uk