Grants Guidelines

Here are the guidleines for applying for a Goundswell Grant. You can download these guidelines as part of the Application Pack on the Applying For a Grant page. If you have a question which isn't answered here, or would like to speak with a member of our team, please call us on 020 7737 5500 or email us:

Download Grant Guidelines as a document at bottom of page

How do I apply?
What is Groundswell?
Who can apply for an award?
What do we mean by homelessness?
What do we mean by project?
Groups or individuals?
Some examples of the type of applications we are looking for?
Some examples of things that won’t be considered?

What happens after I apply?

How are decisions made?

How do I Apply?

Please fill in the Groundswell Grant Award Scheme application form and contact form, and send them in to Groundswell. These are available on the Apply for a Grant Page..

What is Groundswell?

Groundswell is a national charity. We believe that the only way to tackle homelessness is with the direct involvement of homeless people themselves. We support homeless people to: set up their own projects, to get involved in running services and to influence homelessness policy.

Who can apply for an award?

• Anyone with experience of homelessness.

• You are only allowed one Award per group, so if you have won one previously then, move over and let someone else in! If you are a previous winner see the UK Wide Funders and Local Funders pages on this website for other potential grants.

• If you are agency who works with homeless people then please do not apply on behalf of your clients – encourage people to apply themselves.

• You must be based in the UK.

• We are aiming at new or small projects so you can only apply if your group has an annual turnover that is between £0 and definitely no more than £20,000 each year.

What do we mean by Homelessness?

Anyone who is insecurely housed, i.e. if you are rough sleeping, living in a hostel or other short-term accommodation, Travelling, squatting, a refugee, asylum seeker, living in a Bed and Breakfast, a half-way house – anyone without a secure tenancy.

What do we mean by project?

We mean a wide range of activities – a client group at a hostel or day centre, an arts group, a business venture, a charity, more or less anything!

Groups or Individuals?

We prefer examples of people working together, but if you are working alone you can still apply, as long as you can show a collective benefit for your project.

You can apply for a grant with us if you are an informal collection of people or a more formal group with a constitution. If you have plans to grow then it is probably worth getting a constitution at some point, as most other funders make this a requirement. To find out more about getting a constiution download an info sheet at the bottom of the page.

Some examples of the type of applications we are looking for:

• A group of people who all use a day centre and want to set up a magazine.
  
• A group of hostel residents who want to start running a Resident Action Group.
  
• A community of Travellers who want to convert a vehicle to be used as a classroom.
  
• A group of squatters setting up an allotment.
  
• A group of former rough sleepers setting up a market stall selling crafts.
  

Some examples of things that won’t be considered:

• Any workers in services asking to do anything on behalf of
  their clients.
  
• An individual asking for fees to send them on a course.
  
• A project based outside the UK.
  
• A UK-based group who want to do work outside the UK.
  
  

What happens after I apply?

Awards are made four times a year, but you can send in your application form at any time. We will confirm that we received your form within two weeks. So if you do not hear from us, get in touch. Your application will then be forwarded to our committee to be considered at the next deadline. This happens four times a year:

15th January
15th April
15th July
15th October

We will let you know the decision within a month of the deadline.

How are decisions made?

Groundswell has a committee just for this job. It is comprised of people from Groundswell’s network with relevant experience (like setting up their own projects, grant making and homelessness). It meets four times a year and assesses applications against these criteria:

• Need - are you addressing an important need?
  
• Impact - will your project really address this need?
  
• Clarity - is it clear what will happen if you get the money?
  
• Realistic - is your project likely to happen?
  
• Budget - do the figures add up?

Good Luck with your application!

This information is also available to download and print off. DOWNLOAD GUIDELINES NOTE: this download is a PDF (Portable Document Format). If you are unable to open the document after downloading it you can get Adobe Acrobat Reader for free by clicking here

There is a short info sheet on Getting a Constitution which includes a sample for you, download and print off. DOWNLOAD Getting A Constitution NOTE: this download is a PDF (Portable Document Format). If you are unable to open the document after downloading it you can get Adobe Acrobat Reader for free by clicking here