Community Chest

We welcome applications from charities, not-for-profit organisations, clubs, constituted groups and informal groups. Platform customers can apply but the application must be for the benefit of multiple customers.

We will not fund profit-making businesses or political parties. We will only fund religious groups if they can demonstrate that their funding will be of equal benefit to members of the community who have different faiths and no faith. We will not fund groups who we feel will exclude any members of the community from funded activities on grounds such as ethnicity, gender or disability.

Applications from informal groups must come from a Platform customer and the group must include at least 50% Platform customers. However, applications from charities, not-for-profit organisations, clubs and constituted groups do not need to come from Platform customers.

Applications must, though, demonstrate how they will benefit Platform customers.

Applications must demonstrate how a positive difference will be made to people in Platform communities, with benefits in at least one of these areas:

• Community Cohesion - Helping to bring people together and making sure that no groups of people are left out.
• Community Safety - Making Platform neighbourhoods safer for everyone.
• Digital Inclusion - Helping people in Platform communities to access and use the internet safely and effectively.
• Environmental Sustainability – Helping to reduce negative impacts on the natural world around us.
• Health & Wellbeing - Improving physical health and mental well-being for people in Platform communities.
• Skills & Employability - Creating opportunities for Platform customers to develop life skills and skills needed to gain work.

No - Platform Community Chest will not provide funds to support individuals. However, Platform’s Wellbeing Fund does provide support for households in need and our Successful Tenancies Team can provide a range of support for customers.

Yes – if an application comes from a group of Platform customers, who can demonstrate that enhancements would make a positive difference to the wellbeing of people in their block or area. These must be easy to maintain, must have the support of neighbours and must not cause any significant problems.

The annual budget for Community Chest is £160,000, so we need to make sure that it supports as many great projects as possible, to benefit communities across our geographical areas. All applications are assessed on their own merits by a panel of Platform customers.

Applications can be made for up to £5,000 funding.

Not necessarily – the panel may offer you part of the amount you requested. It would then be up to you whether to accept, or refuse if you felt that a reduced amount would make your project unviable.

We ask you to provide links and/or quotes for items you intend to purchase or work to be carried out through the project. We reserve the right to request that alternative items or providers are used if we feel they provide better value for money.

Members of the Platform Housing’s Customer Experience Panel, who are customers themselves, will assess all applications.

We have a scoring matrix, through which applications are assessed. Elements assessed include:

• Contribution towards our community priorities
• Evidence that projects are needed and wanted by local communities
• Numbers of beneficiaries, particularly Platform customers
• Good value for money
• Whether additional funds have been secured from other sources
• Lasting benefits of a project
• Supporting our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion aims
• Plans to measure and celebrate success

Different levels of funding will be considered depending on overall scores given to applications. A smaller value application may be approved with a relatively low score, whereas higher value applications will need to achieve higher scores to be approved.

Applications will be assessed at panel meetings, which are usually held once a month. If an application is being made for an event or activity, then please apply at least three to four months in advance of the planned date. We’ll contact applicants after the meeting to let them know the outcome and arrange payment, if successful.

No – if funding is granted to an informal group without its own account, then Platform will purchase items requested on the group’s behalf and arrange delivery with you.

Requests for sponsorship will be assessed against the same criteria. If there is a strong case that by providing sponsorship, something will take place that is of significant benefit to Platform communities, then the application will be considered. Sponsorship is not part of Platform’s marketing strategy, so we would be doing it for community benefit rather than for promotion.

Yes – we ask you to help us to publicly celebrate what you achieve with the support from Platform and to keep receipts and records of your purchases. As part of your application, we ask you when and how you will be able to share (in the press, on social media) the story and photos from your project, mentioning your support from Platform. We also ask when you’ll be able to give us details of how the project has gone, providing copies of receipts from purchases.

We ask you to complete a Feedback Form to let us know the project is complete and what has been achieved. Your local Community Engagement Officer will be available to support you with this and may also visit you to see the impact of the funding.

We won’t demand money back if you say your project will benefit, for example, 50 Platform customers but only benefits 35 as long as you let us know what you did and any learning you’ve taken from it (that may be useful to others).

However, if you don’t end up spending all of the money you were granted on items requested in the bid, then we will ask for you to return the funds you didn’t spend, as this money can then be used towards other projects.

If your application demonstrates significant benefits to customers through our scoring system, then more than one application will be considered from the same group, as long as the group has met the expectations outlined above in terms of reports, receipts and sharing stories. However, the total amount awarded is capped to no more than £5k in any financial year.

Platform covers a large geographical area, with many different communities, so our customer panel particularly welcome applications that benefit communities that have not previously received Community Chest Funding.