The Julia and Hans Rausing Trust: Foodbank Fund

Overview

The Fund is open to applications from foodbanks for funding to help meet costs such as the purchase of additional food items and increased running costs.

The definition of a foodbank for the purposes of this Fund is a venue which regularly gives out emergency food parcels at least once each week and has been running for six months or more.

KEY APPLICANT INFORMATION

• You must be a not-for-profit organisation established before 1 January 2020
• Your annual income is between £25,000 – £1,000,000
• Applications accepted until 6 December 2022

ASSESSMENT

Applications that meet the eligibility criteria and have submitted all requested information, will be assessed against the following:

• Impact: how many people you help, whether you provide additional support.
• Beneficiary need: increased need from beneficiaries.
• Financial need: reduced ability to meet that need (e.g. increased costs, additional food stocks required to meet demand).
• Value for money: fundraising costs, how you make use of volunteers (ratio of volunteers to staff).
• Quality assurance: they will look for some form of independent quality assurance. This may be either confirmation that you receive food via a reputable independent distributor such as FareShare, or a letter of endorsement from a person independent of your organisation in support of your work (see How to Apply section below).
• Location: priority may be given to foodbanks in areas of high deprivation or for other geographic considerations (e.g. to ensure a balance of funding across regions).

The funds for this initiative are donated through private philanthropy and all funding recommendations are at the discretion of Mr and Mrs Rausing. Their decision is final and there is no right of appeal.

GRANT AMOUNT & PAYMENT

They ask you within the application to tell us how much funding you think you need for eligible costs. The minimum request is £500.

They do not normally give grants that are greater than 20% of an organisation’s annual expenditure (this should not be taken as a target amount to request).

Successful applicants may not receive the full amount requested. The grant amount will be determined by how well the assessment criteria have been met and the relative need.

Funding decisions will be taken on an ongoing basis once the Fund has opened. The intention is that all applications are considered by mid-December and funds distributed as soon after a successful outcome as possible and ideally before Christmas.

GRANT CONDITIONS AND REPORTING

Successful applicants will need to sign and return a short grant agreement which sets out the terms of the funding. The agreement may be viewed on the Trust’s website.

A brief report will be required by the end of July 2023, summarising how the funds were used, the difference they made and number of people supported over the funding period. A simple reporting template will be provided in order to make reporting as easy as possible.

ELIGIBLE ORGANISATIONS

Eligible organisations are those that meet the following requirements:

• A legally constituted not-for-profit organisation, including registered charities, exempted charities, or other forms such as a company with social purpose (if not a charity, you must be able to provide evidence of your not-for-profit status, e.g. constitution with a relevant clause).
• The organisation is based in and operates in the UK.
• The organisation runs a regular foodbank (as defined above)
• The foodbank is an established service which has been running for at least 6 months.
• The foodbank is open to all, based on need.
• The organisation running the foodbank was established or registered as a not-for-profit organisation before 1 January 2020 and has at least one set of accounts.
• The organisation’s annual income is between £25,000 - £1,000,000.
• Unrestricted/undesignated reserves are not above 12 months’ operating costs.

ELIGIBLE COSTS

Costs which the Fund can cover are:

• Rent.
• Utility and insurance costs.
• Food (including other needed household items) purchase.
• Core staffing costs for roles required to deliver the foodbank.
• Volunteer costs (e.g. travel).
• Storage and distribution costs (including existing vehicle maintenance/running costs).

Funds should be used within six months of payment. Where the organisation runs broader services, costs such as rent or staffing that may be covered can only be the portion of such costs that relate to the foodbank service.