NatWest Social and Community Capital: Coronavirus Response Fund

Overview

S&CC has launched a £1 million Coronavirus Response Fund. They are offering £5,000 - £50,000 grants to organisations across the UK that employ people from vulnerable or disadvantaged groups. Organisations must have an annual turnover between £50,000 and £1 million and must generate at least 30% of their revenue from trading income.

These grants are unrestricted and can be used for any purpose, including core costs. Organisations must have an annual turnover between £50,000 and £1 million, must have been generating at least 30% of revenue from trading income before the crisis and must have suffered a loss in trading income due to lockdown restrictions. Full eligibility criteria are outlined below.

Eligibility criteria:

• Organisations must employ people from vulnerable or disadvantaged groups
• Organisations must generate at least 30% of revenue from trading income
• Organisations must have had a pre-coronavirus annual turnover of between £50,000 to £1 million
• The organisation must have suffered a loss of trading income since March 2020, caused by lockdown restrictions
• The organisation must have been founded and trading prior to 1st January 2019
• The organisation must have been financially sustainable (or on a path to financial stability) up to March 2020
• The organisation must be constituted, operating and delivering impact in England, Scotland, Wales, and/or Northern Ireland
• The organisation must have one of the following legal structures: Community Interest Company (CIC), Company Limited by Guarantee, Community Benefit Society, Co-operative Society, Unincorporated association, Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO), Charitable Trusts, Registered Charity
• Full information on the grants, including the application form and how to apply, will be available here from Monday 22nd June.

Grant Requests

Grant requests should be proportional to organisation size and must not exceed either 25% of annual turnover or be higher than £50,000. E.g. Organisations with a turnover of £50,000 can apply for maximum £12,500.

The use of funds must:

1. Have demonstratable impact.

• These grants are to help you continue or resume delivering impact. They ask you to detail how the funds will help you to deliver impact in the application form

2. Help you to survive or adapt

• Grants can be used to fund your usual business activities or help you to adapt your delivery model to coronavirus constraints. These grants are unrestricted and can be used for any purpose, including core costs.

3. Be traceable.

• Organisations must retain proof of spending.
• They ask that grantees complete a simple monitoring form after 6 months. They will ask you to tell us how the funds were spent. and to report on how many jobs have been reinstated or created, and for the number of individuals/groups helped. .
• The S&CC team asks that grantees be available for an over the phone check in within the first 3 months of grant disbursement.