Home Office: Community Engagement Fund 2025/2026

Overview

Summary

The Community Engagement Fund (CEF) is a £150,000 grant fund to support grassroots and community organisations to engage communities and raise awareness of priority Home Office policy areas and the support available.  The fund is offered by the Home Office.

This fund is best suited to support short and easy-to-deliver projects, rather than a programme of work, as all allocated funds needs to be spent within the financial year 2025-2026.

Some nationality groups, including Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nigeria, Ghana and India, despite possibly having been impacted, may not be coming forward for compensation to the Windrush Compensation Scheme. 

The fund is looking to address these issues.

The purpose of the Community Engagement Fund 2025/2026 is to:

1. Raise awareness of and address any misinformation about the Windrush Compensation and Windrush Schemes (Documentation) with a focus on non-Caribbean communities and encourage them to apply to these Schemes.
2. Build on the insights and learning taken from our existing work on Windrush (e.g. the Windrush Community Fund and Windrush national communications campaigns) to understand:
   1. why individuals are not applying for the Windrush Compensation Scheme and/or the Windrush Scheme (Documentation); and
   2. how best to encourage eligible individuals to apply to these Schemes.

Eligibility

You can apply if you are: 

• An unincorporated charity or community organisation, a community interest company, or a company with a charitable purpose.
• A grassroots organisation.
• A registered charity.
• A consortium or partnership (with a lead organisation that is one of the above).

Unincorporated charities, community organisations, community interest companies and companies with a charitable purpose

You can apply if you:

• Were established for charitable and public benefit purposes.
• Have a governing body with at least 3 members.
• Can provide a valid governing document for your organisation with a set of rules on how your organisation is structured and its purpose.
• Can provide audited accounts for the last 2 financial years or an income-expenditure statement for two years if you were established after April 2021.

Grassroots organisations

You can apply if you can support your application with:

• A governing document for your organisation with a set of rules on how your organisation is structured and its purpose.
• A copy of your 2022/23 audited accounts and current bank statement.
• A projected cashflow statement for 2024-25.

Registered charities

You can apply if:

• You can provide a valid registration number issued by the Charity Commission.
• Have a governing body with at least 3 members.
• Can provide a valid governing document for your organisation with a set of rules on how your organisation is structured and its purpose.
• Can provide audited accounts for the last 2 financial years or an income-expenditure statement for two years if you were established after April 2021.

Your details on the Charity Commission website will be checked as part of the assessment process.

Consortiums or partnerships

You can work with other organisations on a project and apply as a group. There is no limit on the number of organisations that can be involved in a consortium. 

You can apply if you have:

• A lead organisation that meets one of the above criteria for eligibility.
• Details of the lead organisation and how it is structured.
• Details of partners you plan to work with and their role in your project.

Audited accounts will need to be provided for the lead organisation. Any funding awarded will be paid directly to the lead organisation.

What you can get funding for

Examples of how funding could be used include:

• Holding events, for example cost of venue, refreshments, and other related costs.
• Creating and sharing marketing materials, like leaflets and posters.
• Running communications campaigns both in person and online.
• Accessing and using communication channels, for example social media or local radio.
• Getting support from corporate partners, public figures, or advocates.
• Funding can also be used to cover costs for staff time to work specifically on the project (you will have to clearly justify this).