£1.2m in council community funding now available to apply for

Nottinghamshire community groups can now apply for £1.2m worth of grants to help support their work in communities via the new-look Local Communities Fund (LCF).

This community-improving grant scheme is all part of Nottinghamshire County Council’s continued commitment to encourage healthy and sustainable communities by financially supporting community groups and charities via a two-year LCF programme that will run from 2026 to 2028.

Mansfield group Jigsaw was one of the groups to benefit from the last round of funding. Photo: Submitted

placeholder image — Mansfield group Jigsaw was one of the groups to benefit from the last round of funding. Photo: Submitted

Eligible community groups have until July 24 unless stated otherwise, to apply for a range of grants, including a new pot of money aimed at supporting new or recently set-up grassroot organisations.

These grants are:

Large revenue grants to help with essential running costs, such as paying wages and bills – these grants will be paid annually for the next two years (NB this type of grant has been open for applications since June 1 so will close on Friday, July 3).
Small revenue grants (up to £5,000).
Capital grants of up to £20,000 – these are designed to support improvements to local facilities which have match-funding.
A one-off foundation grant is targeted at new or recently set up organisations – these groups can apply for up to £1,000 to help them get more established.
A building financial resilience grant of up to £5,000 aimed at projects that address the root causes of financial crisis and help people build longer-term financial resilience, as part of a new Government funding package.

Coun Jody Stoll (Ref), cabinet member for communities and public health, said this latest funding was vital to help support residents to lead healthier and independent lives.

He said: “We are proud to continue supporting groups via the LCF in a way which builds resilience, rather than reliance.

"We know that the work groups do makes such a big difference to residents’ lives. 

"We have designed this new version of the fund to focus on those communities who need the help the most.

“We hope there’s a fund to suit all groups and rest assured when an eligible community or voluntary group successfully applies for this funding, we’ll assess behind the scenes which pot of money is best suited.”   

The  revised LCF will be a two-year programme to help plan for future local Government reorganisation.

The improvements to the fund include: 

To help those organisations that have previously been unable to meet the funding criteria, a new foundation grant will be available for new or recently set-up groups to help them get established and help position them for more funding opportunities in the near future – this is in addition to getting general support from the council’s communities’ team
To speed up the application process for capital grants, groups will be able to apply without having their match-funding finalised but will need to provide evidence if and when they are successful in their application 
To free up more funding towards projects which offer community resilience, the Local Communities Fund will no longer fund projects such as village or gateway signs

For more details on the LCF and how community groups can apply, go to nottinghamshire.gov.uk/business-community/community-and-voluntary-sector/the-local-communities-fund-lcf