Community groups and organisations must have a business bank account and demonstrate that they are one of the following: 

  • Constituted community group 
  • Social Enterprise/Community Interest Company 
  • Tenant and Residents Association 

Community groups and organisations can apply for up to £,3000 worth of funding for one project. There must be at least 20% match funding. Groups and organisations can also apply to fund more than one project if they are unrelated (one project per application). 

What projects are funded?

Applications must meet one or more of the six Cobalt priorities: 

  • Healthy, happier, fairer 
    • Demonstrates an improvement in health and wellbeing, such as healthy living or tackling isolation 
    • Supports people to become more active, reducing instances of ill health or inactivity 
  • Educated and skilled to succeed 
    • Supports people into employment and training opportunities
    • Supports volunteering opportunities such as travel passes or paying for DBS checks 
  • Safe and thriving neighbourhoods 
    • Promotes community safety and cohesion and build stronger communities  
  • Low carbon and accessible 
    • Making our neighbourhoods desirable places to live through improved green spaces, upcycling events or community clean ups 
  • Strong and inclusive economy 
    • Supports the financial needs of residents, such as tackling fuel poverty or providing budget management workshops 
  • Exciting and inclusive city 
    • Increases community participation and integration and maintains a sense of place 
    • Increases opportunities for creative and cultural activities  

The project must demonstrate value for money. A full project plan (at time of submission) and impact report (at project end) must be submitted.  

All successful applicants are expected to complete the relevant monitoring and evaluation paperwork upon completion of the project, or, if ongoing, before the end of the financial year. 

What projects are not funded?

We will not fund the following:

  • Cost to cover salaries or running costs i.e. heating, lighting, printing of
    marketing materials or room hire in the group’s own premises
  • One off day trips
  • Events being organised to raise funds for charities or individuals
  • Christmas projects which include food provision/hampers – there is a separate
    pot of funding available for this
  • School applications involving curricular activities
  • A sponsorship of any kind
  • Sports teams and similar group’s kit and running costs, such as team affiliation
    fees, pitch hire, etc
  • Cobalt Housing welcome projects that incorporate objectives from the Liverpool
    City Wider plan. If your application does not meet one of the following priorities
    below, then it will not be reviewed.

We will not provide funding for any group that we have previously funded where the project was not completed satisfactorily, including failure to provide monitoring/evaluation information.

Information to support your application 

We may ask for: 

  • Constitution or articles 
  • Risk assessments for the project 
  • Safeguarding Policy 
  • Health and Safety Policy 
  • Public Liability 
  • DBS (if applicable) 

Failure to provide these documents will result in no funding being allocated. 

What is the Community Fund process?

If you are submitting an application for over £1,500, you will be asked to attend a panel to discuss your project in more detail. The panel is made up of Cobalt colleagues and representatives from our Tenant Consultative Panel 

For projects less than £1500, a smaller panel will take place with Cobalt staff. 

Once the panel has agreed an outcome, applicants will receive a decision via email within 5 working days of the meeting. Please note, all decisions made are final. 

How to apply

To apply for community funding, please complete our community funding form.

Please read through the form before you start to make sure you have all the information you need. 

Once your form has been submitted, you will receive your own copy via email. Please hang on to this email as it will act as your proof of submission.