Every year, the council allocates grant money from its budget to local charities and voluntary groups and a key part of this process is making sure the money is distributed as widely and fairly as possible.
For the year 2022/2023, a total of £249,143 was allocated in grants to community and voluntary organisations. This splits into two parts: £221,348 on major awards to voluntary sector organisations such as Tandridge Voluntary Action and Tandridge Citizens Advice Bureau and £27,795 in smaller grants to 20 organisations, from the money raised by people buying tickets for the Tandridge Together Lottery.
To try and ensure the grant funding goes to the most suitable applicants and projects, in December 2022 criteria were drawn up against which applications are assessed.
For the major community grants, the criteria that applicants are scored on include the number of residents supported by the service, evidence of need for the service and of financial stability, working collaboratively with volunteers and demonstrating how success will be measured.
For the smaller grants of up to £2,000 from the Tandridge Together Community Fund, the money is for initiatives which will directly benefit residents in the district through one or more of the following activities:
- Supporting people to be able to live independently for as long as possible
- Supporting people to improve their emotional and physical health
- Targeting services at under-represented and / or hard to reach groups
- Effectively safeguard people from abuse, neglect or poor treatment
- Reducing social isolation
- Helping to reduce reliance on alternative, higher cost state interventions
- Supporting and enabling carers to carry on caring for as long as possible
- Supporting youth provision projects
The council is now inviting voluntary groups to apply for these smaller grants. The deadline to apply is Thursday, 30 November and details of how to do so are here: tandridge.gov.uk/communityfund.
The allocations will be decided in January 2024, with £24,000 available to be distributed from the proceeds raised from lottery ticket sales. The Tandridge Together Lottery was launched in 2018. Tickets are £1 and there are weekly draws with a top prize of £25,000.
So, if you are aged 18 or over, fancy a flutter and want to support a local good cause, please buy a ticket at tandridgelottery.co.uk.
If you have any comments/questions, please get in touch at: Cllr.Catherine.Sayer@tandridge.gov.uk
