Armagh City, Banbridge & Craigavon (ABC) Borough Council: Rural Linkages Grant

Overview

This fund is not for taking groups on outings or trips, nor is it to provide projects or activities, but rather seeks to reduce barriers to people attending projects or activities in their own rural community. Such barriers must be rural specific.

Programme Eligibility

Groups/projects must:

• Be community based/not for personal profit
• Have 90% of beneficiaries in Council area
• Delivering a service to a rural community

Basic Eligibility Criteria

The overarching principle to be applied to all financial assistance should be that of meeting local needs which have been identified and prioritised by Council or by others but acknowledged by Council. Any use of funding that cannot be shown to meet the following basic requirements will not be provided with funding:

• Have a clearly identified need
• Can deliver outcomes which meet this need
• Fit with a clear corporate objective or priority of Council
• Be delivered by a credible organisation with the capacity to deliver the project as stated
• Meet the specific objectives of the programme being applied to

Programme Objectives

Your project should deliver at least one of the following objectives:

• Reduce rural isolation
• Improve sustainability of rural community venues

Notes:

Applications to this grant programme are treated as an application for programme costs and so applicants should see Section 3.1 of the Manual for details of the period covered in this call if applying.

Eligible costs

• Core running costs (this only includes insurance, rent, heat and light (oil, electricity etc), water rates, telephone, broadband, cleaning materials, stationery, accountancy, equipment (up to £500 for all programmes except Sport NI’s Every Body Active 2020 Small Grant). The proportion of costs eligible for funding will vary with the programme applied to.
• Programme or activity costs which are directly relevant to the application and where need has been demonstrated.
• Travel and transport costs within the Council area where these can be shown to be fundamental to meeting the project objectives.
• Hire or purchase of equipment for meeting project needs (subject to individual approval). In some cases where funding tends to reoccur annually, purchase of small items may prove more cost effective than hire. A maximum of £500 in total in respect of purchase of small items of equipment applies to all programmes except ‘2. – Capital Projects’ and ‘6. – Sport NI’s Every Body Active 2020 Small Grant’. Where capital costs are funded Council will state a period for which the item will be retained. Any disposal within this period must be approved by Council and Council will retain the right to inspect such items at suitable intervals.
• Venue hire.
• Technical assistance.
• Training or facilitation costs.
• Festivals and events.
• Capital costs, where it can be demonstrated that this is the most cost effective means of delivering the required outcomes.
• Best practice or good relations visits.
• Inter-school activities.
• Publicity and marketing where directly relevant to the project’s success.