Funding

To view all of our funding opportunities, please scroll down this page

Are you part of an organisation or community group in need of grant funding support?

Co-operative Community Funding

Your Co-op Community Fund (grants of up to £2k) is now open.

To apply please click below.

Check if your project type is covered within our scheme

Project Impact

Your application for grant funding will be assessed by a panel of our members, who will be looking at the impact your project has on your local community, including the number of beneficiaries that any funding awarded will support; and the impact the grant will make to those beneficiaries. This will ensure that funding is awarded to community projects that demonstrate the greatest added value and measurable impact.

It will help your application if you can provide measurable examples of the economic, social, or environmental impacts that the grant will help you achieve.

Successful examples in the past have included:

The Wiggly Worm based in Gloucestershire: This project focused on providing access to a thriving community kitchen to support predominantly those with mental health issues but also the wider community, delivering courses based on food education, ranging from preparation, cooking and sharing of food
Hook Norton Low Carbon based in Oxfordshire: This project focused on helping the community reduce its energy consumption, carbon emissions and save money through education schemes, support for solar provision and insulation in homes and community buildings.
Community First Initiative based in the West Midlands: This project focused on engaging with hard to reach young people that are maybe on the fringes of and or involved in gang culture through the provision of skills-based workshops around behaviour, consequences of actions, target setting, and employability skills.
Justice in Motion based in Oxfordshire. The group exists to advocate social change, raise awareness of issues such as modern slavery, encourage debate and inspire action through theatrical performances, workshops and talks.

Overall we will prioritise our funding on projects demonstrating impact that align with our current priorities:

Positive Environmental impacts for example projects that focus on or the promotion and education in the reduction of single use plastics, recycling or energy saving
Development of young people (aged 16 – 24) developing individuals to be the best they can be through educational, training or community led projects
Community cohesion projects that promote work towards building better community cohesion and trust, and encouraging respect and understanding in the local area.
Social inclusion, for example provision of services for members of the community to overcome inequality and disadvantage arising as a result of the circumstances and challenges they find themselves in. For Example the provision of foodbank support, bespoke community run support groups or projects that develop life skills.

Download Criteria PDF

Apply Now

Criteria

Please see below if your group meets with the main fund criteria. Funding is currently ring fenced to specific key locales of The Midcounties Co-operative core trading area, please be aware that groups based outside of these areas will not currently be eligible to apply. Please click here to read the full criteria, including details of our core funding areas.

The base of your group should be no more than five miles away from the nearest Midcounties trading branch located in our core funding areas (see full criteria for details)
Groups must be either a registered charity and/or a fully constituted community group holding a bank account in the name of that group and have been established for a period of at least one year; evidence of this should be made available if requested.
The person making the application for funding must have a direct ongoing involvement with the group and be a member of The Midcounties Co-operative, with at least 3 months membership prior to application. You will be asked to provide details of this membership number at the first stage of the application process.
We cannot support individuals, third-party applications (groups who distribute funding to others), groups promoting or linked to political issues, businesses, or for the provision of services to asylum seekers when those services are inconsistent with immigration laws or Home Office policy.
We cannot support requests for support in excess of the upper limit of £2k where 75% of the overall project costs have not been raised
We cannot fund statutory (Government funded) organisations, including schools or NHS linked organisations*
Groups may only be in receipt of one award in any 3 year period.

*please note – whilst schools are not eligible to apply, independent groups within schools such as PTA’s can apply

Tick the box if you agree that you meet all the requirements above

Download Criteria PDF

For any questions or further information about Co-operative Community Funding, please contact the Community Team by e-mail: communityteam@midcounties.coop

Community Groups that have benefited from our Community Funding:

What Happens Next?

Step 1

Apply for a Community Grant

Fill in the online application ensuring you meet the specific fund criteria.

Step 2

Use your Member Dashboard to track your progress

Once your application has been submitted. You can track your application via your dashboard.

Step 3

Keep an eye on your inbox

You will be contacted by us via email

Step 4

If you are successful...

You will be asked to provide more information to enable us to make a payment to you, we’ll send you the funds, and a marketing pack.

Step 5

Feedback

Come back and tell us about how you’ve spent the funding