Answer. No, but because we are a registered charity, we can only invest in activities that are charitable in law. In practice, we fund many types of organisation, most of which are charities. But we also fund social enterprises, community interest companies, credit unions and other not-for-profit, third sector organisations. Your organisation must be properly constituted and able to take on the work you propose. We will look at the activity for which you are seeking funding to see if it is charitable. However, please remember that if your purposes are exclusively charitable, you may be required by law to register as a charity. You can find out more from the your local council for voluntary service or from the Charity Commission www.charity-commission.gov.uk
Answer. The charitable status and legal structure of organisations are separate, but overlapping, things in law. An organisation’s legal structure determines whether it has its own legal identity. Some types of legal structure also protect members against being personally responsible, in most situations, for the organisation’s liabilities and debts. Charity status is given to organisations established to do things that are exclusively charitable in law and which are for the benefit of the public.
As a registered charity, Northern Rock Foundation can only offer funding for activities that are charitable in law. But we can fund work that is charitable even if it’s done by an organisation that’s not a registered charity. That is why we also ask about your legal structure and for a copy of your governing document.
If you are unsure of your legal structure or charity status, you should seek advice from your local council for voluntary service or from the Charity Commission.
Answer. We offer funding exclusively for work that takes place in North East England (Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, County Durham and the Tees Valley ) and Cumbria . If your work takes place outside these areas, please do not apply.
Answer. No, we do not fund general appeals or sponsorship of any kind for individuals. If this is the purpose for which you are seeking funding, please do not apply to us.
Answer. First check that your organisation and its work do not fall into our list of exclusions – things we will not fund. Also make sure your proposed activity will take place in our area of benefit: North East England and Cumbria . Then read the guidance for our grant programmes to see if your work fits. Each programme focuses on outcomes (changes or results) that we are interested in. Within some of the programmes there are approaches that we think work best to bring about those changes. Because our programmes work in this way, you should read all the guidance before applying rather than looking to see if we have a category that names your group. Once you’ve read the guidance, if you have any questions you can contact us.
Answer. The easiest way to apply is to use our online application form. You can find this in the ‘Applying to us’ section under ‘apply online’. Full instructions are given. Alternatively you can download applications in Word or PDF formats. If you use the Word version of the application form, you can save the document and your answers to your computer. The free Adobe Acrobat Reader that you can download from the internet does not allow you to save draft copies of PDF documents. If you use the PDF version it must be completed and printed either a page at a time or all at once. We will also accept hand-written applications, but please complete the form using black ink and BLOCK CAPITALS and write as legibly as you can.
Answer. Yes, but the completed application must be posted back to the Foundation. If you have email it may be easier for you to use our online application form – go to ‘Applying to us’, click on ‘apply online’ and follow the instructions.
Answer. You should first read our guidance in full, and make sure your organisation is eligible for funding and that your work fits clearly within one of our grant programmes. Once you have done so, if you have any questions you can contact us to speak to the relevant programme manager. Please remember that our Trustees make all final decisions on funding and staff cannot guarantee that a particular application will be successful even if it fits within our programmes.
Answer. You should carefully work out the genuine costs of your proposal, and apply for what you need to do the job. We will, if necessary, go through your budget with you to see if it is sound and to test whether you could manage with less if we cannot offer you all you need. While we are willing to fund 100% of a project’s costs from time to time, we cannot do this for all applicants. Most projects benefit from having multiple funders. If you are applying for core funding, bear in mind that our Trustees are very reluctant to be the sole funder of any organisation. We make most of our grants over one, two or three years, but we will consider making grants over longer periods if there is a good reason to do so. We will not consider applications for less than £1,000.
Answer. If you want to apply to continue your core or project funding, you should discuss the matter with your programme manager at least nine months before your current grant expires. We may fund work we have supported previously, but you should not assume we will offer another grant. If you want to make a new application under the same programme, but for a different project, you should still speak to your programme manager before applying. If you have applied and been rejected you cannot re-apply for the same project unless there is something in your rejection letter that says otherwise. If in doubt ask your programme manager.
Answer. We normally discourage people from making multiple applications and from holding several grants at the same time. Sometimes an organisation that serves a wide variety of people will find that it can apply to different grant programmes in the Foundation. If you already have a grant from us and you wish to make a new application to benefit a completely different set of people, then talk to your programme manager before applying to see if another bid might be possible.
Answer. We acknowledge receipt of your application very quickly and let you know whether or not it is eligible. If you are asking for an amount less than £20,000 we will try to get you an answer in two to four months. Amounts over £20,000 can take four to six months.
Answer. We need to know how you manage your money, however modest the amounts are. A well-run organisation will set out a budget and each month or quarter, or however frequently the governing body (committee or board) meets, the staff or volunteers will put together an up-to-date picture of the organisation’s finances. This tells the governing body how well the organisation is doing measured against its planned income and expenditure. These are the figures we need to see.
Answer. We will ask you to report back on your work, usually at the end of each year of your grant. This helps you manage your grant successfully, and ensures that lessons from your work can be shared.
Answer. If there is any money left over then you need to discuss with your programme manager whether or not you can apply it for some similar purpose. If the sum is very small we are very likely to say yes, but if there is a large amount then we need to consider whether the Trustees would wish to apply it to some other purpose.
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