Applications for Gannett Foundation community grants are now closed

COMMUNITY groups and charities in West Cornwall could land a cash jackpot of over £10,000, thanks to your Packet newspaper.

Application forms are now available for the latest round of grants from the Gannett Foundation.

GANNETT FOUNDATION APPLICATION FORM 2016.docx

The Gannett Foundation is the charitable arm of Gannett Co, Inc., owner of Newsquest Media Group, which publishes regional and local newspapers, websites and magazines across the UK. The Gannett Foundation provides funding to support local projects and organisations in areas where Newsquest operates. The funds are managed by the Quartet Community Foundation. In the last 10 years alone, the Gannett Foundation has made grants in the UK alone totalling nearly £4 million.

We value practical and creative projects that bring lasting benefits to the communities and neighbourhoods served by our newspapers and online audience. That includes schemes for neighbourhood improvement and local problem-solving, economic development, youth development, education and cultural enrichment, care of the elderly or infirm, help for the disadvantaged or disabled, and environmental conservation.

We particularly invite clearly reasoned applications asking for specific items of equipment or materials. Most of our applications are for relatively modest sums meeting every-day needs, but we will consider worthwhile projects on a bigger scale. And we are also able to join with other contributors to support elements of more ambitious projects. While preference will be given to ideas which create a durable legacy for the community, we will consider single events or projects of limited duration that otherwise meet our criteria.

Each year we choose a special theme and encourage relevant applications. The needs of rural communities is the chosen theme for 2016. But of course we will give equal consideration to all other applications we receive that meet our general criteria.

Restrictions:

• Applicants must be registered charities

• Applicants must not have received a grant from us within the last two years

• We will NOT fund:

- salaries, professional fees or day-to-day running or maintenance costs

- general appeals as opposed to specific projects

- projects that do not bring benefits to our local communities

- political or religious objectives

- state or privately run schools (other than special needs) or hospitals (other than hospices)

We will favour projects that demonstrate good planning, oversight and financial responsibility. You must supply copies of your most recent accounts (where required by the Charities Commission) or other appropriate financial information, together with any supporting materials and details of your organisation’s managing committee. The grants will be monitored by the relevant local newspaper Editor, and it will be a condition of each grant that the recipient must report back on it use to the Chairman of the Trustees within 12 months of the award.

The following are just some examples of the grants we made in 2015 all over the UK:

£6,000 to pay for 100 home starter kits for rough sleepers on the South Coast;

£6,940 for an “eye-gaze” tracker for the disabled in East Sussex, enabling computer control by eye movement;

£3,680 for a polytunnel, fruit trees and gardening tools for a horticultural project in Glasgow

£3,000 for the Wales Deaf Rugby Union.

£2,500 to modernise the stage at a busy community hall in the North West.

£7,200 for a walk-in cold room for a community farm shop in North Yorkshire.

£2,500 for a new pony for disabled riders in Cheshire.

This application form must not be altered in any way.

We will not accept applications that are not made using this form.

Applications must be sent initially to paul.armstrong@packetseries.co.uk by no later than 5pm on Friday 14th October 2016. Please complete this questionnaire and return it electronically to the email address given in the newspaper, on the website and repeated at the end of this questionnaire, together with scanned electronic copies of supporting documents. Alternatively, type or print clearly and put the form and documents in the post to the relevant newspaper address, which is also repeated at the end of this questionnaire. We may reject incomplete questionnaires. If you need more space to answer our questions, please attach a detailed proposal on no more than two pages.

Please note that completed application forms and any attachments (including discs or USB sticks etc) are non-returnable.

GANNETT FOUNDATION APPLICATION FORM 2016.docx