Apply for a Community Grant

Our grant application window is now closed and you are unable to submit new applications.

Welcome to our community grants application portal. Please read the following points carefully before beginning your application:

  • The application form contains help that is designed to assist you with completing your application.
  • You can save your project and work on it again at any time before submitting it.
  • Re-read your project carefully before submitting it. Keep in mind that once your project is submitted, the grant assessment process begins.
  • The time it takes to review applications after the closing date is dependent on the number of eligible applications received and could take up to 8 weeks. Please do not contact us before this time, as we will be unable to provide any updates. If there are delays in the decision making, we will notify you by email. 

Please read our funding eligibility criteria to ensure that your project is eligible.

What we will fund:

  • People:
    • Projects that support healthier lifestyles, promote emotional wellbeing, and skills development.
  • Sports and recreation: 
    • Projects that encourage physical activity, promote sportsmanship, and provide recreational opportunities.
  • Places:
    • Projects that help create better places for communities.
  • Environment:
    • Projects that look after our natural environment, rivers, and water.

Priority will be given to projects that: 

  • Begin and conclude within a single fund application cycle. 
  • Align with our Charitable Vision and Mission.
  • Demonstrate a significant level of impact. 
  • Provide opportunities for our team members to get involved and support the project through volunteering. 

Funding eligibility criteria:

  • We will fund charities and not-for-profit organisations/community groups.  
  • Beneficiaries must possess a bank account with a minimum of 2 signatories. 
  • Beneficiaries must be based in Great Britain and/or Northern Ireland. 
  • We offer grants between £500 and £25,000, depending on available funds and the strength of the application. The full amount requested is not guaranteed.
  • While we strive to offer a number of larger grants, availability of funding will vary.
  • If you're considering applying for an amount near the upper limit, please contact us to discuss your project in more detail, as higher grant amounts may be limited and subject to available resources. Please click here to email us.
  • Whatever the amount applied for, the amount applied for cannot be less than 50% of the total project cost. 
  • You must have a set of written rules or constitution that your group/organisation adheres to. 
  • You must take care to ensure that young people or vulnerable people taking part in your activity do not come to any harm whilst in your care. To this end, you must have written procedures for keeping young people and/or vulnerable people safe, otherwise known as a Child Protection and Vulnerable People’s Policy. 
  • You must have an Equality and Diversity Policy in place.  
  • Your project must be within a 25-mile radius of a Welcome Break/Applegreen site or hotel. Please click here for further information: Welcome Break - Our Locations | Motorway Service Stations | Welcome Break Motorway Hotels | Service Area Hotels.
  • Your application must be supported by a Welcome Break/Applegreen team member. 
  • You must have adequate insurances in place to cover the project/activity. 
  • There should be at least two years between grants to the same organisation.

Please note that as a general exclusion we do not fund social enterprises with persons with significant control (PSC). 

We will not fund: 

  • Organisations engaged in religious or political activities or other lobbying groups. 
  • Animal charities where animals are the primary beneficiaries (exceptions may include projects where the primary beneficiaries are individuals, such as autism assistance dogs). 
  • Salaries or rent. 
  • Grants cannot be used to support full cost recovery models. (The ‘full cost recovery’ model of funding is designed to cover the entire cost of an activity, plus a proportion of the organisation’s overheads during its delivery. These might include rent, utilities, or administrative costs). 
  • Grants for applications where there is a statutory requirement for another entity to deliver the service. We are committed to supporting initiatives that are innovative and supplementary to existing statutory services, rather than replacing or duplicating them.
  • Retrospective funding (i.e., work that has already taken place). 
  • We do not provide individual sponsorship of any kind.
  • Organisations that hold a high level of free reserves.

Funding terms and conditions:
Please note that all funding is subject to the terms and conditions outlined in the grant offer letter, which must be agreed upon by any successful applicant. These conditions include limitations on the amount of funding, reporting requirements, and auditing of expenditure.

The Welcome Break Charitable Fund is dedicated to making a positive and lasting impact on our local communities. We encourage organisations that meet our funding eligibility guidelines to apply for support.


 

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