Four Ways of Funding Village Initiatives
1. Charitable Trusts and Foundations Funding
As a Community Interest Company (CIC), we are able to apply for a wide range of funding in the same way charities can. With carefully created proposals and appropriately selected funders, generating resources from funding could be an important part of our overall financial plan.
We are currently registering for newsletters from a number of organisations (local and national) that can send us tailored and general information about funding that might be suitable for us.
2. Publicly Funded Bodies Funding
The CIC structure also enables us to receive public funds as a legitimate company, whether this is from the local authority, Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), or other publicly-funded bodies. Whilst this will not be a big part of our income, having a structure in place that can receive funds such as these is helpful for the future.
3. Village Fund-Raising Events
Fund-raising events organised by village residents such as the Summer Fete/Cars on the Green will form an important part of the match-funding contribution from the community and the CIC committee is very keen to hear from anyone with an idea for a village event that would raise money to support the Norwood Green Better Place initiative programme.
4. Donations from Residents and Businesses
As some residents may recall from the open meetings and previous discussions (remember those times when we all used to be able to meet up together!), donations from residents as well as businesses in the village was a source of income that was felt to be central to how projects could be resourced.
We would welcome donations from residents and businesses either for specific projects that are of most interest and/or small, ongoing donations that are entrusted to Better Place to use for projects where there has been a need or interest identified. For example, people might like to see lights at Christmas or picnic benches in the children’s play area etc.
Public bodies and charitable trusts & foundations may look very favourably on us if there is also a match-funding contribution from the community, as this shows engagement and support for a project or initiative.
Raising Funds for the Benefit of Norwood Green
The more money we can raise, the more we can achieve for Norwood Green.
Norwood Green Better Place CIC is a non-profit company. This is a similar entity to a charity* and, like a charity, all monies received must be used for the social benefit the CIC has been set up to progress, ie to improve Norwood Green village.
If there is any surplus remaining at the end of each financial year, this must only be used for the benefit of Norwood Green.
Businesses can make a donation to a Community Interest Company and we would recommend that, if you are interested in doing this, you speak to your accountant to have confidence in the best way of doing this.
*Unfortunately, as the CIC does not have charitable status, current legislation doesn’t allow Gift Aid on donations made by individuals.