Groundwork NI: TESCO Centenary Fund

Overview

How does Tesco Centenary Fund work?

The Tesco Centenary Fund is open for applications from not for profit organisations in Northern Ireland.

Applications are assessed by Groundwork to ensure they are eligible. Tesco colleagues will shortlist the projects to determine which go forward to the customer vote.

Three community projects will be voted on by customers in Tesco stores throughout Northern Ireland, in July/August and November/December 2019. Following the vote, the project that receives the most votes will receive a grant of up to £50,000, the second place project receives up to £30,000 and third place project gets up to £20,000.

Who is eligible to apply for a Tesco Centenary Fund grant?

• Grants will be awarded to not for profit organisations including registered charities, community interest companies, health bodies (e.g. Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), NHS Hospital Trusts, Foundation Trusts), local authorities and social housing providers.

This list is not exhaustive and there will be many other types of organisations that will be funded.

They encourage partnership working to enable a project to be delivered across the whole of Northern Ireland, however, you will need to identify a lead organisation to make the application and manage the funding.

What types of projects will Tesco Centenary Fund support?

Projects funded through the Centenary Fund will provide community benefit across the whole of Northern Ireland, or a significant part of it.

The types of projects funded will be very broad and will cover the direct costs needed to deliver the project, this could range from:

• Improvements to a building of regional or national significance that benefits the whole community such as a museum, hospice, specialist hospital ward, art gallery, heritage centre, wildlife centre or an ancient monument.
• Improvements to an outdoor space of regional or national significance such as walking/cycling routes, gardens, nature reserves, wildlife areas, waterways or woodlands.
• Delivering activities or charitable services such as health and wellbeing support activities, foodbanks, community clubs, homelessness support, sporting activities, recycling/upcycling programmes, regional school focused programmes and community festivals or events.
• Providing equipment that will such as medical equipment, minibuses, mobile libraries and safety equipment.

The Centenary Fund can fund 100% of your project costs so you do not have to have any match funding. However, if you secured additional funding, there is no limit to what this amount can be and any funding awarded by the Centenary Fund can form part of your wider project costs.

Your project can be a stand-alone project or discrete, self-contained part of a larger scheme or part of a phased project. You will need to complete your project within twelve months of receipt of the grant.

For any projects that are making a physical improvement to an outdoor space or a building you will need the landowner’s permission and you might also need other permissions – e.g. planning permission. These need to be in place before you submit your application and the landowner permission form will need to be completed and signed as part of your application.

How much is available?

Groups are encouraged to apply for the top amount of funding £50,000 with a scaled down budget in case they are awarded one of the lower amounts (£30,000 or £20,000). Groups will only be awarded the amount they apply for even if they come first in the voting.

For full details see the guidance notes

See also FAQS