All Main Grant Applicants will need to show:
- Capacity to Deliver: Show that your organisation has the resources, experience, and systems in place to manage the grant and deliver the proposed activities effectively.
- Impact: Describe how your work aligns with the programme’s goals and provide evidence of the positive outcomes it delivers.
- Commitment to Equalities, Diversity and Inclusion: Show how your organisation embeds inclusive practices and actively works to advance equality — including how you engage diverse communities, remove barriers to participation, and reflect the lived experiences of the people you serve.
Neighbourhood Infrastructure and Capacity Building
In each of the four neighbourhoods, we seek to fund one organisation or a formal partnership with one lead applicant, delivering on a package of Neighbourhood-focused services offering:
- A service front-door to help residents find the services they need in the community
- Identifying unmet needs in your local area and working directly with communities and local organisations to develop services that meet need
- Offering fundraising support including direct bid writing for priority services in your neighbourhood
- Capacity building for local organisations, groups and residents in order to:
- Increase the level of provision in the neighbourhoods
- Improve the ability of local groups e.g. friends of parks groups, Tenant and Resident Associations, to engage more vulnerable residents
- Increase ability of local residents to start up new initiatives
- Develop a mutual support network between all those involved in community activism in the neighbourhood
- Integrated Neighbourhood Team (INT) Keyworker to support linking in health to the wider VCS
- Developing a mechanism for dispersing funds within the neighbourhood to support the capacity of local organisations and the provision of services. This might include:
- Ring-fencing a proportion of the Main Grants allocation for the Neighbourhood
- Raising funds externally through grant applications or other methods
- Distributing funding identified by the council and health partners
The four designated neighbourhoods include the following wards:
- North: Brockley, Deptford, Evelyn, New Cross Gate, Telegraph Hill
- East: Blackheath, Crofton Park, Ladywell, Lee Green, Lewisham Central, Rushey Green
- South: Bellingham, Catford South, Downham, Grove Park, Hither Green
- West: Forest Hill, Perry Vale, Sydenham
A total of £900,000 per annum is available across four neighbourhoods. However, we expect that some neighbourhoods will have greater needs in some areas and some may be awarded higher levels of funding than others. The four neighbourhood areas (North, South, East, and West) consist of different numbers of wards and currently have varying levels of support, capacity, and infrastructure. Therefore, the model of support proposed in each neighbourhood may differ because each area has unique needs that require different levels of infrastructure support. We expect the North and South neighbourhoods to have a higher level of need and as such expect that the model will require more capacity building, networking and development in these neighbourhoods.
Lead organisations could work in partnership with a number of other organisations to deliver the range of capacity building activities, signposting and keywork support as outlined but in all cases must show how they will bring local knowledge and expertise to the model, ideally working with neighbourhood-based organisation/s.
We also propose to fund a Voice and Representation grant of up to £20,000 (only available for one of the Neighbourhood leads) to ensure that work across the borough-wide and neighbourhood infrastructure services are brought together and key issues fed back through the Stronger Communities Partnership Board and other strategic forums. This function should bring together the needs and experience of our VCS through existing and new networks and actively represent them in order to help shape and co-design our policies, strategies and services moving forward.
For both Neighbourhood and Borough-wide Main grants, you will need to show:
- Understanding of Local Needs and Strategic Fit: Demonstrate a clear understanding of the neighbourhood or priority area you’re working in — including current issues, gaps in provision, and community needs — and explain how your proposed activities are designed to address these effectively.
- Collaboration and partnership working: Outline how you will engage with other organisations to share knowledge, avoid duplication, and strengthen outcomes. Show how your organisation works collaboratively with others to empower the communities you serve. If you are applying as the lead partner in a formal partnership, show us your track record of leading on and working in partnership with delivery organisations, including managing budgets, delivery milestones and monitoring and reporting requirements.
Expertise and track record: Provide examples of your organisation’s experience and achievements that demonstrate your ability to deliver similar work successfully.