Your Voice Your Town Southall Community Funding Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

We are looking to support the best projects that:

• develop and promote ‘pride in place’ – helping us all be proud of a clean and pleasant Southall.
• inform, educate and motivate residents and businesses to keep Southall clean and inspire long lasting behaviour change
• encourage businesses to comply with waste management responsibilities
• address the underlying reasons that increase fly tipping and waste challenges in Southall.

There is a total of £120,000 for the Southall Community Fund.  The Town Team have split the Fund down into three streams:

• Smaller grants of up to £1,000.
• Medium grants up to £5,000
• Larger grants of up to £80,000. Larger Grants will be very limited and will only be awarded for exceptional projects, which show strong, visible and lasting impact on the more than one of the community fund priorities.

Good ideas can come from anywhere, and we need everyone to help make Southall more clean and pleasant. That’s why the funding pots have different rules of who can apply:

For our small grants up to £1,000, we want to support grassroots community action so any of the following people and groups can apply:

• Individuals or groups of residents who live, work or study in Southall
• Formal groups (constituted charities, CIOS, CICs, Coops)
• Informal (unconstituted) community groups, although funding will need to be hosted by another group.
• Schools, colleges and universities
• faith groups
• businesses (although the funding can only be used for community benefit and not personal benefit)

For our medium grants of up to £5,000 the following groups can apply:

• Formal groups (constituted charities, CIOS, CICs, Coops)
• Informal (unconstituted) community groups, although funding will need to be hosted by another group.
• Schools, colleges and universities
• faith groups
• businesses (although the funding can only be used for community benefit and not personal benefit)

For our large grants of up to £80,000 the following groups can apply:

• Formal constituted community groups including charities and social enterprises (constituted charities, CIOS, CICs, Coops)
• Schools, colleges and universities

You can find the application for small grants up to £1000 at: https://forms.office.com/e/h0w69M6aZ4?origin=lprLink

You can find the application for medium grants up to £5000 at: https://forms.office.com/e/XAB8UPynWr?origin=lprLink

You can find the application for large grants up to £80,000 at: https://forms.office.com/e/jCQu0BVe8T?origin=lprLink

Do you need help with your application?

Chat to a Town Team member at one of the information sessions or email dosomethinggood@ealing.gov.uk

The deadline for applications is midnight Sunday 8th March 2026.

We want to support a wide range of ideas, but there are some rules and restrictions about what can and can’t be funded including

• We can’t fund projects that includes political or religious promotion, including political campaigning
• We can’t fund projects that include profit-making activities
• We will not cover costs that have already been spent
• We can’t fund projects that benefit only the applicant
• We can’t fund costs of setting up a new group including legal and registration costs.

If you are a project applying for the large grants up to £80,000 you will need to show a proven track record of successful delivery, a track record of handling the size and scale of budget applied for, and a strong understanding of the type of project that you are planning to deliver.  As this funding is only for up to 6-month period, you will already need to be an organisation who is set up to handle all elements of the project including insurance, safeguarding permissions etc if required.

If a project is awarded the funding must:

• only be used for the purposes as stated in the application
• only be used to provide a benefit to people or places in Southall
• not be transferred to another project

For all successful applicants we require the funding to be used by the end of September 2026.  We hope that where appropriate you will be able to sustain the action or project beyond the funding, but the legal grant period will be for up to 6 months only.

All projects will be checked to ensure that they are eligible to apply and that the activities are not prohibited.

Projects must benefit and be delivered in Southall only. They will also be assessed against criteria, to ensure fairness. The criteria will be used proportionately – that means projects applying for £80,000 will be expected to meet more criteria, and have a higher threshold, than a project for £5,000.

The criteria will look for projects that

• Align with at least one of the Southall Priorities

• • develop and promote ‘pride in place’ – helping us all be proud of a clean and pleasant Southall.
  • inform, educate and motivate residents and businesses to keep Southall clean and inspire long lasting behaviour change
  • encourage businesses to comply with waste management responsibilities
  • address the underlying reasons that increase fly tipping and waste challenges in Southall.

• Are feasible
• Are good value for money
• Are impactful
• Show strong opportunities for lasting change or continued activity beyond the funding period.
• Involve the local community in design and/or delivery.

If your project involves working with children, young adults, and/or vulnerable adults, you will need to have some basic safeguarding measures in place. 

Safeguarding measures are steps that help protect children, young people, and vulnerable adults from harm when they take part in community projects. For a community group, this usually means having a safeguarding policy in place, which is a simple document that explains how you will keep people safe. You should also make sure that anyone working directly with these groups has passed the necessary background checks (such as a Disclosure Barring Service check), and that there is a named person responsible for safeguarding who people can talk to if they have any concerns. Training for volunteers and staff on how to spot and report concerns is also helpful. These steps make sure that everyone involved is protected and knows what to do if something does not seem right.

If you are a constituted group you may already have a safeguarding policy in place, a named safeguarding lead person and DBS checked staff/volunteers, information you can provide on request if your application is successful.

If you do not have this, and need support if your application is successful, you should contact the Ealing and Hounslow CVS for support.

If you intend to collect personal data on users of your service, this information will require a clear process on how you will handle, share, store and retain that data.

If you do not have this, and need support if your application is successful, we can help you put the right steps in place, including signposting you to the right support.

This is dependent on the nature of your project.

• If your project involves using land or property that does not belong to you, you may need to get permission from the owner or Ealing Council before starting.
• If you are running activities where someone could get hurt or something could get damaged, you should have public liability insurance to protect your group.
• If your project involves making or selling food, you might need food hygiene certificates to show you can handle and prepare food safely.
• If you are planning on employing people you will need to ensure you comply with the law and requirements from HMRC.

It is important to check what is needed for your project and make sure you have everything in place before you begin. If you need help with understanding what permissions and documents you may need, you can contact Ealing and Hounslow CVS.

If you are awarded a grant, depending on whether you are a constituted group, an un-constituted group or an individual, we will require documents that will help with due diligence and support the audit of our payment process:

• your group’s constitution if you are a constituted group
• a recent bank statement, within the last 3 months, for either the group’s account or your individual account
• if you are awarded as an individual – 2 referees

The deadline for applications is midnight Sunday 8th March 2026.

Your full application, which includes personal information such as your group’s name, contact details, and project info etc. will be shared with a small number of people from the community known as the Town Team.  The Town Team make recommendations to Ealing Council officers. You can find out more about who the Southall Town Team is here.

Southall Town Team will only use this information to assess your application and Ealing Council officers may contact you to request additional information if required.

For more details on how the information you share with us will be stored, used, retained, and restricted please read the Data Sharing Privacy Notice.

The Southall Town Team will review your application and may get in touch for more information.

Successful applicants for the grants will be notified by email by the end of March 2026.

If you are shortlisted for the large grant, you will be invited to meet the Southall Town Team on Monday 16 March, from 6pm, to share more about your application. You will receive more information and an invitation to the meeting by 12 March.  If you can’t make this meeting, we will be unable to take forward your grant application on this occasion, so do ensure it is saved in your diary.

If your project is selected, we will carry out some simple checks – known as due diligence.  This may include asking for references or financial information and checks online.  Once due diligence is completed you will then be asked to sign a grant agreement for the Funds.   This will include agreement about how money will be given to projects, including a schedule of payments.

Yes, the Town Team will ask you for a short report or feedback at the end, including how the money was spent and what difference it made.   For small and medium grants this will be a simple process. For the exceptional large grants, we will require more reporting and information to understand the difference the project has made.   We will ask for some information to be made public about your project and learning, on the Do Something Good website, to enable Southall residents, groups and businesses to know what is going on in their Town.

In some instances, the Town Team may wish to visit your project and will arrange a date and time with you. We also ask that you take photos if possible and think about ways that you might want to share the story of your brilliant work.

If the project isn’t able to proceed for any reason, we will ask you to return any money already received and will then work with you to amend the grant agreement.  Ealing Council officers will be happy to discuss your project at any time and help make support you to know what to do if you are unable to take your project forward.

If you need help with your application, please email dosomethinggood@ealing.gov.uk using ‘Community fund – Southall’ in the subject line.

You can also get more information from Town Team members at one of the teams information sessions.