Severn Trent’s Community Fund makes £400,000 available for ‘core costs’ funding

This comes after the Community Fund team opened core costs applications at the end of 2023, making £500,000 available, and receiving a massive 238 applications, worth over £3.5m demonstrating the real need for this financial support.

This is why the decision was made once again to make core funding available for groups so that they can continue to provide their vital services, with applications open from Thursday, August 1st until midnight on Sunday, September 1st.

Paul Evans, Community Communications Lead at Severn Trent, said: “We knew there was a huge need for core funding when we opened applications late last year, but we didn’t know the huge scale of help that was needed by organisations. This is exactly why we have made a further £400,000 available for organisations across our region to apply for.

“We have helped hundreds of groups with core costs since the Community Fund launched, which meant that they could be out in the local communities delivering their services and we hope this latest round of funding has the same positive impact.”

Since the Community Fund launched in 2020, Severn Trent has supported 40 organisations in Leicestershire and Rutland with £219,397 of core costs funding including Leicester Community Benefit Society, Helping Hands Community Trust, Age Concern Syston, Elliott Hall for Youth and Community CIC and Confident Communities.

Beverley Radcliffe, CEO at Helping Hands said: “Receiving this funding will make an enormous difference to the services we are able to offer. The people we see are often at their most vulnerable and in despair - not knowing where else to turn. When you are unable to put food on the table for your family or help keep them warm, you can feel like you are letting them down by not providing the basic essentials. Despite their best efforts, many more people are just not coping to keep up with the rising cost of living, so they turn to us for help and support. This grant will directly help us to help more people. We are very grateful for this support.”

Core costs are essential costs than an organisation must pay to keep running. This might include management and administration, general office costs (rent and utilities), accountancy and audit, fundraising, communications and governance/compliance costs.

The Community Fund’s core costs grants are awarded as restricted funding. They must be used to cover your organisation’s essential running expenses which you detail in your application.

Eligible charities and organisations can apply to be considered for a restricted grant of between £5,000 - £20,000 - depending on the size of the organisation - for one year to help them and our communities get through this challenging time.

Grants from the Severn Trent Community Fund are available to non-profit organisations and local charities that deliver a vital service for the benefit of local residents, especially supporting those most vulnerable, and who need urgent financial help to keep their activities and services running.

To find out more about the Community Fund: core funding, and how to apply visit www.stwater.co.uk/corefunding

Applications for new projects are open all year round at www.stwater.co.uk/communityfund