Evan Cornish Grassroots Fund

The fund aims to make life more comfortable, easing distress and isolation for those in need. The fund follows the key themes set out below:

• Social cohesion: Community activities; access to essential services; support for people leaving Prison and their families, women’s groups, projects that contribute to strong and cohesive communities.
• Advice and Support: Debt counselling; Citizens Advice Bureau; welfare advice services, nutrition, and diet.
• Older People: Care at home, integration projects; projects tackling isolation, loneliness and dementia, volunteer costs, sitter, and companionship.
• Homelessness: Interventions/support to assist vulnerable homeless people, e.g., accommodation, advice, food/clothing.
• Food Security: Seed swaps, community growing schemes, advice about food sovereignty and sustainability

Eligible groups are:

• Locally run and managed voluntary or community organisations.
• Priority may be given to smaller volunteer led community groups.
• They are unlikely to fund organisations that are local branches/organisations of a larger regional or national organisation.

They will fund:

• Local projects that encourage and/or assist those included in the target group.
• They can provide funding to cover equipment, travel, venue hire, telephone, stationery, refreshments, volunteer training and activities that meet an identified need.
• Funded activities must benefit the local community.

They will not fund:

• Political or predominantly religious activities
• Individuals
• Statutory agencies/provision
• Animal welfare
• General contributions to large appeals
• Building work/purchase of vehicles
• Grant making bodies applying for funding to redistribute to others
• Retrospective projects/activities