Community funding

We're proud to be able to support our community by providing grant funding to help a wide range of projects in our local area.

We have two funding routes to give applicants the opportunity to access the funding they need to realise their potential - Starting Blocks and Springboard.

Springboard and Starting Blocks logos

Starting Blocks is here to support individuals and entrepreneurs with smaller grants that help them to set up a business, project or event that makes a difference to the community. It can also be used by Red Kite tenants to help to pay for training or qualifications that will help them to secure a promotion or employment. Grants are also made to provide seed funding for pilot projects that are responding to new challenges that we face as a community. The application form is less detailed and a decision is usually made within 10 days of receiving an application.

Springboard provides larger grants to charities or groups that play a vital role in supporting our communities. The application form is a little more detailed and the decision making process is longer as these are usually for larger and more complex projects. We always encourage applicants to get in touch with us to discuss their application before submitting their bid. This allows us to fully explore opportunities for partnership and makes it quicker and easier for applicants to complete the application form.

You can find out more below:

Starting Blocks

Starting Blocks is for a maximum grant of £2,000

Springboard

Springboard awards grants over £2,000

(Applications will only be considered from people or for projects based in communities where Red Kite operates.)

A graphic of someone holding a funding board with coins stacked up next to it

Four funding areas

We have four priority areas which most requests for funding will fall under:

Tenant potential

Funding is available for people living in a Red Kite home. This could fund a course, training opportunity or pay for some equipment that helps someone in work or study.

Key partner

These partners will come in all forms; small businesses, large charities, CICs or multi-agency projects. As a key partner for Red Kite they will be facilitating, enabling or directly delivering projects that link explicitly to our vision and values.

Grass Roots project

Our communities are made up of individuals who are delivering small-scale but high impact initiatives. It could be a coffee morning, a single parent group or a community barbeque organised by families living in the same street.

Enterprise

Supporting individuals with a business idea which enhances the potential of the communities that we are supporting. We can only support enterprise projects that benefit the wider community or that are submitted by our tenants.

FAQs

Funding decisions are made by panels that include Red Kite tenants and a small number of supporting staff members.

The funds are two different routes to access grants from the same funding pot. If you are looking to apply for £2,000 or less, you should apply via Starting Blocks and if you are looking to apply for more than £2,000 you should apply via Springboard. You cannot make an application to both at the same time.

We know that there are many fantastic projects and causes that need our support and we want to make sure we allocate our grant funding across a range of organisations that support different areas of our community. This gap between repeat funding being allocated helps to ensure that the fund is more accessible to a wider range of community partners.

You must get in contact with the team and let us know. We will then consider whether we need you to return the funding or if the panel would consider you using the funding for another purpose.

We are an organisation that makes many payments, and these are subject to stringent checks. This means it can take up to a month for payments to be made, although ensuring you complete and return the required paperwork promptly will often mean that payment is received more quickly.

Got another question?

Use this form to ask us anything we haven't covered in these FAQs - we'll get back to you with an answer, and we'll add it to this list if we think other tenants will find it useful as well.

By submitting this form you are confirming that you have read and understood the following data protection statement: The information you provide will be held by Red Kite Community Housing in accordance with our data protection policy, privacy notices and retention schedules; the Data Protection Act 1998; and the General Data Protection Regulation 2018. It will be used solely for the purposes described on this form. The information you provide will not be passed on to any third parties without your permission and Red Kite Community Housing does not sell any data to third-party organisations.

We're always happy to discuss your funding needs before you decide to apply. For more information, please contact the Resident and Community Engagement team on 01494 476 288 or email springboard@redkitehousing.org.uk.

Funding for neighbourhood and environmental improvements

As well as Springboard and Starting Blocks, we also have a dedicated fund that's available to spend on neighbourhood and environmental improvements. Since the creation of our Environmental Improvement Group (EIG), we've been able to use this funding to make a difference to the places where our tenants live. We've helped invest in playgrounds, parking spaces, community projects, communal spaces and more. Find out more and apply for funding.