Bentley Advancing Life Chances Small Grants Programme

Overview

Bentley’s Advancing Life Chances Small Grants Programme provides grants up to £500 to support charitable organisations working with vulnerable, disadvantaged or under-represented communities.

The programme is aimed at supporting communities in 19 locations across the UK. This localised approach has been selected to maximise the impact of the programme, allowing grants to improve outcomes for communities in multiple and intersecting ways and amplifying the impact in each area.

The locations selected are those where Bentley has a presence in the community. They are made up of 18 Bentley retailer partner locations across the UK and additionally their HQ and Manufacturing site in Crewe.

To be eligible, organisations must be located within a 20-mile radius of the sites in the locations listed below. To be sure that you are eligible, you can find a full list of eligible postcodes here.

Northern Ireland postcodes - Belfast BT12 6LR

Priorities

In working to advance life chances, their priority is to support organisations working with vulnerable people, disadvantaged and under-represented communities. The programme’s areas of focus are below:

• Access - Remove the barriers and improve access to services, education and employability.
• Empowerment - Development of the life skills that enable people to be more self-confident, successful and thrive in life.
• Quality of Life - Provide support to live a healthier life both physically and mentally.
• Better Future - Safeguarding the environment, improving nature-deprived areas, drive improvement to “place” and boosting community spirit.

Full details of priorities and eligibility for grants can be found in their Bentley Advancing Life Chances Small Grants Policy.

Through the Bentley Advancing Life Chances Small Grants programme, they are keen to support organisations and communities within the vicinity of key locations for Bentley, where they have a local presence.

The envision supporting short, medium, and long-term results and aim to contribute to tackling the most pressing social issues affecting people and communities across their operating areas.

Funding

Awards of up to £500 with the minimum grant size being £150. Applications below this will not be considered

Eligibility

The programme will support charities and not for profit organisations with charitable purposes based within 20-mile radius of the specified Bentley location.

• Registered charities, including CIOs
• Constituted organisations and non-registered charities
• CICs and community benefit organisations (where there is a minimum of 3 unrelated directors)
• Churches and other religous organisations (so long as funded activity is not deemed to be proselytising)

Criteria

Grants must be spent within 12 months of award. Applications for the Bentley Advancing Life Chances Small Grants Programme will be considered on a quarterly basis.

In response to the challenging environment that smaller charities are operating in and reflecting Bentley’s aim to maximise the impact of its grants, the Advancing Life Chances Small Grants programme is restricted to organisations with an annual income of less than £1m.

• Have been running commuity activities for a minimum of 12 months in the local area.
• Have appropriate insurance in place for activities, staff, and volunteers.
• Have appropriate information, governance, policies, and procedures (such as Data Protection, Confidentiality/, and Information Security) that are sufficiently robust for your organisation and activities and comply with all current legislation.
• Have safeguarding policies and procedures (including DBS/Access Ni checks for staff, volunteers and trustees) that are appropriate for your organisation and activities and comply with all current legislation.
• Have Health & Safety Policies, Risk Assessments and Procedures that are appropriate for your organisation and activities complying with all current legislation.
• Have an Equal Opportunities Policies and Procedures appropriate for your organisations and its activities and comply with all current legislation.

Note: All organisations who engage with the programme agree to report on the outputs and outcomes of the Bentley Advancing Life Chances small grant and its supported community activity.