The Neighbourhood Forum Support Fund helps Neighbourhood Forums in Birmingham with their running costs. It is a small annual administrative grant worth £500-£1,500 per Forum depending on the number of households in the area covered. Neighbourhood Forum Support Fund is only be awarded to Neighbourhood Forums which can demonstrate that they have met the funding requirement as well as completion of the grant application form which will undergo an internal appraisal and approval process by Birmingham City Council.
Before applying for Neighbourhood Forum Support Fund you should ensure that you have an up-to-date copy of the application form and have read through the guidance notes at the end of the form so you can ensure that you are providing the information required.
Criteria for Neighbourhood Forum Support Grant
Your forum should have clear and agreed geographical boundaries, which must be located in Birmingham and should take in no less than 500 households and no more than 8000 households.
Only one grant can be claimed per Neighbourhood Forum accounting year.
Any household can only be represented by one Neighbourhood Forum – there cannot be two neighbourhood forums covering the same area.
Only residents living within the Neighbourhood Forum area can be full members of the Neighbourhood Forum.
To qualify for grant aid Forums will need to:
- Complete and return the Neighbourhood Forum’s Grant application form and along with the application form provide the following documents:
- copy of the governing document – your Constitution
- copy of the Equal Opportunities Policy
- copy of the Safeguarding Policy
- copy of the independently examined accounts which must show the start and end date of the forum’s accounting period
- copy of the most recent bank statement.
- Provide evidence demonstrating that 4 public meetings have been held (annually) one of which should be an AGM that is quorate. Evidence of the forum’s AGM in the form of approved minutes and signing sheets should be submitted along with the application form.
- Ensure that evidence detailing how any Neighbourhood Forum Grant paid by the City Council in the previous year has been spent is available for inspection and that, on request, such evidence is made available to the City Council.
- Confirm that the committee understands the Forum’s liabilities for any claims for damages against it and that it has taken out any necessary insurance to cover such liabilities, for example, public liability insurance.
Spending Neighbourhood Forum Support Grant
The grant must be spent as detailed in the Neighbourhood Forum Support Grant Application Form.
Receipts and invoices should be kept for all expenditure. This evidence of expenditure will be needed by the independent person who examines the forum’s accounts at the end of your financial year. You will need to be able to show evidence of expenditure, if requested, when you claim your next Neighbourhood Forum Grant from Birmingham City Council.
A minimum of 75% of the grant awarded must be spent within the Neighbourhood Forum’s financial year, except: There may be occasions when Forums’ are not able to spend 75% of the grant, for instance if they have managed to secure free room hire so did not have to pay for these costs. Funds can be spent on other activities promoting the forum or for the benefit of the community, for instance a community event or distributing information that would be useful to residents. In these circumstances, a Forum should consult with Birmingham City Council.
Constitution