We believe in a Bedford where everyone can thrive. Our grants programme is a key part of our long-term strategic plan, Together for Bedford, and it’s designed to support a resilient, inclusive, and opportunity-rich community.
Over the past few years we’ve listened to hundreds of local people and organisations and looked long and hard at data about Bedford Borough. We’ve used all this information to focus our grantmaking to best support the community sector to meet local needs and tackle the cyclical relationship between disadvantage, lack of opportunities, low educational outcomes and future poverty. We’re excited to share our five year plan for achieving that through our grants. Click on the link or read the summary below.
Our Priorities and Focus Areas
When demand is high, we will focus our funding on projects that address inequality and disadvantage and address two key priority areas; Poverty and Disadvantage and Stronger Communities.
These priorities tackle issues where data and community voice tell us there is the greatest need and the most potential for our funding to make a difference to the lives of local people.
Poverty and Disadvantage
Financial, health, housing and educational inequalities are growing in our Borough. They’re all interlinked and individuals and families can become all too easily trapped in a cycle of poverty and inequality. We aim to break the cycle by funding projects including:
- Poverty Alleviation (e.g. credit unions, financial education)
- Food Security (e.g. community pantries, foodbanks)
- Advice Services (e.g. welfare benefits advice, debt advice)
Building Stronger Communities
Bedford has a well deserved reputation for positive cross-community relationships. But growth in our population is putting pressure on our services, and there are significant inequalities between more and less affluent areas, so some people feel left behind and left out. We support projects that build on Bedford’s unique strengths and foster resilience, including:
- Community Facilities (e.g. village halls)
- Community Cohesion & Development (e.g., bringing different parts of the community together and developing communities so that people feel they belong)
- Inclusion Initiatives (e.g. enabling people who don’t normally have the opportunity to take part in community life to get involved)
- Helping the Voluntary and Community Sector to become stronger and more sustainable (e.g. supporting organisations like Community and Voluntary Service Bedfordshire to provide training and advice for voluntary groups)
- Youth Work (with a focus on disadvantage)
We also fund projects in the following core categories:
- Housing and Homelessness
- Health and Wellbeing
- Mental Health
- Education and Training
- Crime and Safety
- Sport and Recreation
A Note About Funding in Schools
We believe that education plays a crucial role in helping to break cycles of disadvantage. So unlike many independent funders, as well as funding community based education initiatives we do fund work in schools. But any educational initiative we fund should:
- Raise aspirations, broaden horizons, and break the link between inequality and unfulfilled educational potential.
- Be sustainable or have long term impact once funding has ended.
Other Grants Requests
Sometimes projects don’t fit neatly in our priority areas or one of our categories. We’ll consider these requests if they have potential for significant impact in areas of need and support our three charitable objects. Please get in contact with our grantmaking team.
Want More Detail?
Further guidance is available in our Grantmaking Guidance for Applicants and our Grants for Charities and Community Groups page.
