Valencia Communities Fund

In Stage 1 we need to know the name of the main applicant. This will be the main contact for all correspondence relating to your application. We need to know your position within the organisation, postal address, telephone numbers and email address.

If your application progresses to Stage 2 we will also need a secondary contact.

The main and secondary contacts are the only people with whom Valencia Communities Fund is able to discuss your project. Please ensure that the person who is named as the main contact will be available during the weeks after the application is processed. Most communication from Valencia Communities Fund will be by email so check your inbox and spam folder regularly. If we request further information and none is received by the deadline given your application will automatically be declined.

This is the organisation which will sign and be legally bound by the terms of the Funding Agreement for the project, if the application is successful.

This organisation must own the land on which the project is taking place, or have a signed lease in place of at least 10 years and must be responsible for the day to day management of the site and upkeep of the facility.

To access funding from Valencia Communities Fund, a community group must be properly constituted. People coming together to form a community or voluntary organisation to pursue objectives in which they have an interest will usually have a written agreement between the organisation and its members. This is frequently referred to as the organisation’s constitution.

There are usually a set of rules that govern any organisation and this can simply be a short statement with a few clauses but could also run to many pages and clauses. The basic issues which are likely to be covered by a constitution are:

Purposes and Objects. In simple terms this is a statement of why the organisation exists. The objects should be distinguished from powers.

Powers. These relate to the organisation's internal administration such as the ability to borrow money, employ staff and the like.

Membership. A constitution should clearly state who is eligible to become a member and any qualifications that may be required.

Structure of Board/Management Committee. This section covers a whole series of issues. Normally those involved in the management or control of the organisation will have been elected or nominated in which case procedures for such appointments should be included in the constitution. Provisions detailing the actual powers and authority which the members have delegated to those in management or control will usually be included.

Any constitution that contains a clause that allows for profits to be distributed among directors, or distributes assets or funds to directors in the event of dissolution of the organisation will render your application ineligible.

If you are a registered charity please let us know. We need to know your charity number too.

If you are registered as an environmental body please select "Yes" and complete this page. If you are not registered, please select "NO" and click on "Next".

A registered environmental body is an organisation that is enrolled with our regulator in England, Entrust. An environmental body will been allocated a registration number. An organisation will normally need to register as an environmental body because it receives and manages Landfill Communities Fund funds, but it may also have registered as because it was a requirement of a previous Landfill Communities Fund funder. We do not require applicants to register as an environmental body. Please visit ENTRUST for more information.

Being registered as an environmental body has no bearing on the likelihood of being successful with your application. We need to know because of minor differences in our internal administration between environmental body and non-environmental body organisations.

Valencia Communities Fund will not consider any project that has already been registered with Entrust.

Please create a short project title of your own choosing in the following format. This must include the project location and the aim of the project. For example, Thornbury Village Hall - Kitchen Refurbishment or St Mary's Church, Croydon - Heating

Your project site must fall within ten miles of an active Valencia Waste Management landfill or Energy Recovery Facility (ERF) location. The postcode checker on our website allows you to easily see whether your project location falls within a funding area. If you haven't already checked, please press the "Save and Exit" button at the bottom of the application form page and go to our main website at www.valenciacommunitiesfund.co.uk. Under the section "Get started on your application", put the postcode of your project site into the box and press "Find". This will tell you if you are eligible to apply for a grant for a community or heritage project.

If you are within 10 miles of an ERF site you may apply for up to £50,000.

For funding for a biodiversity project your site must be within 10 miles of any licenced landfill site. Again, we can check this for you.

The current active Valencia Waste Management landfill sites are at:

North Region - Erin, Ling Hill and Pilsworth.

South West Region - Walpole and Heathfield.

South East Region - Shelford and Masons with ERF sites at Beddington and Ardley.

We calculate the distance as the crow flies.

If you do not own the project site, there must be a current, signed lease in place between the applicant organisation and the site owners that has a minimum of 10 years left to run at the time of application. We are unable to consider any other document in place of a secured lease.

If the lease contains any break clauses in the ten year period, you will not be able to continue with your application

Please provide a brief description of the overall project being undertaken at the project site.

Whether Valencia Communities Fund funding is intended to contribute part of the finance towards a much larger project or be the only source of funding, please provide a narrative description of the overall project.

We will also need to know the specific elements of the project for which a Valencia Communities Fund grant would be used.

If you don't have a membership scheme in place click on the 'No' box. If you do then we need to see a copy of this. This must include all the following details:

Who may become a member?
If there is a charge to become a member what is the annual fee?
How does one join?
Are there any restrictions on who can join?
Can members of the public use the facility without becoming members?

In order to be eligible for funding, membership must be open to all members of the general public. If your organisation asks for prospective members to be proposed or seconded in, Valencia Communities Fund would not consider your organisation's membership to be open to all.

For Stage 1, we need to know roughly the total cost of the entire project. This should include any items which you are not asking Valencia Communities Fund to fund. Your overall project cost should not include the contributing third party payment but it should include any preliminaries, fees and contingencies.

We also need to know how roughly how much funding you will be able to secure yourselves. If you are approaching Valencia Communities Fund to be the sole funder and to fund all of the cost please put £0.00 in the secured funding box.

Whilst we are able to consider funding 100% of a project cost, the funding group may look more favourably on applicants who have carried out fundraising or who have submitted applications to other grant making organisations.

Valencia Communities Fund can only consider funding capital costs. There are certain elements which we absolutely cannot fund such as professional fees, preliminaries, staff costs or contingencies. We also cannot pay deposits or any upfront payments.

Valencia Communities Fund will base any funding on the lowest of the three quotations which you will be asked to supply in Stage 2. Your lowest quotations should form the basis of your total project cost.

Some applicants may be able to recover VAT. Also, VAT may be recoverable or exempt for certain types of projects (for example, work to the fabric of a listed building may not be liable to a VAT charge).

You must check the VAT status of the applying organisation and the project before completing your application form.

Valencia Communities Fund will not pay the VAT element of any project costs if VAT is recoverable at a later date. If you are sure that VAT is recoverable for your project, do not include VAT in the amount requested from Valencia Communities Fund.

If VAT is not recoverable you may include the amount of any unrecoverable VAT in the amount of funding requested from Valencia Communities Fund.

For churches and religious buildings we treat the Listed Places of Worship grant scheme in the same way as a VAT reclaim.

The project start date is when you anticipate drawing down funding for the aspect(s) of the project you are asking Valencia Communities Fund to fund. These elements must be underway or completed by the start date. No Valencia Communities Fund funded aspects of your project can begin until all paperwork is signed and returned to us and your project has been approved by Entrust. It will always be advisable to allow between 2 and 4 weeks from the date of the funding group or Board meeting to begin your project. Your start date must also comply with the timescales of the Funding Scheme for which you are applying.

Main Grant Scheme projects are to be started within six months and completed within twelve months of the date of the offer letter.

Large Grant Scheme projects between six and eighteen months.

Failure to meet these deadlines may result in the withdrawal of funding.

It is essential that the facility will be run by the applicant, who will have a management and a maintenance plan in place. The management plan tells us how the facility will be administered, such as the booking process and how the facility will be run. The maintenance plan tells us how the facility is physically maintained, such as cleaning schedule, details of any sinking fund, and a schedule of regular checks to the fabric or structure of the building, including any part funded by Valencia Communities Fund.

The relevant insurance(s) must also be in place at the time of application.

Improvements to a village hall kitchen may increase the number of visitors to the hall, resulting in an improvement to the social environment of the community by encouraging more people to socialise with each other.

Coppicing a natural woodland to encourage ground-level plant species to flourish would improve the natural environment.

Recladding a sports pavilion so that it is both structurally sound and better aesthetically would be an example of an improvement to the built environment. If this will also increase membership of the sports club, then this would also improve the social environment.

Please give details of any permissions or consents that have been obtained for the project, including any reference numbers and the dates they were obtained.

All permissions relating to project works must be granted before completing the stage 1 application form. Any project that has permissions pending, or requires permissions retrospectively will be ineligible for consideration.

The contributing third party payment is a transaction between a third party (that is neither the applicant organisation nor Valencia Communities Fund) and Valencia Waste Management.

The amount is based on 10% of the value of the amount awarded and is the sum payable by the contributing third party to Valencia Waste Management.

Applicants must identify their contributing third party provider prior to applying, and it must be paid within one month of any offer of funding from Valencia Communities Fund.

Anyone can contribute to the contributing third party payment providing they do not gain a unique benefit from the project. Below is a list of examples:

Private Companies
Public Sector organisations - Local Authorities, County Councils
Charities
Voluntary Organisations
Private Donors
Monies from fundraising - this can be paid from the applicant bank account but all the donors must be aware that the money will be paid to Viridor Waste Management and we will need a letter to this effect

Who is excluded from being a contributing third party?

Any individual or organisation directly connected to the landfill operator, Valencia Waste Management, or a contractor of the project
Any individual or organisation who gains a unique benefit from the project
Other environmental bodies - see guidance from Entrust. For further information visit www.entrust.org.uk
Legacies cannot be used to pay the contributing third party

Q: When should I make the contributing third party payment?
A: The payment is due within one month of the offer of funding, and before you are able to draw down any of your award.

Q: I am applying to Valencia Communities Fund for £5,000. Does the contributing third party payment mean I can only apply for 90% of the project cost and the contributing third party payment makes up the other 10%?
A: No. Applicants may apply for 100% of the capital works cost of the project. The Contributing Third Party payment is always 10% of the award. Applying for 90% of a £5,000 project (£4,500) will require a Contributing Third Party payment of £450 and £4,500 will be available to the project from Valencia Communities Fund.

Q: I am applying for 100% funding from Valencia Communities Fund. Does the contributing third party payment mean I will only receive 90% of that amount?
A: No. If you are awarded 100% of the funding, that is what will be available to the project. The contributing third party payment cannot come out of the award from Valencia Communities Fund and must be paid by an independent third party or through fundraising specifically for this payment.

Q: Is the contributing third party payment refunded on the completion of my project?
A: No. The contributing third party payment is not deducted from the award from Valencia Communities Fund, does not form part of the total project cost and is not refundable. If any portion of your award is withdrawn, then anyone that donated funds towards the contributing third party payment will receive back a proportion of their donation.

An environmental body is allowed to fundraise the contributing third party payment provided that it is made clear to each person at the time they make their contribution that the money will be paid to a landfill operator to secure Landfill Communities Fund funding for the environmental body. Donations to the contributing third party payment should be made directly to the landfill operator by the donor.

The environmental body is permitted to act as an intermediary for the contributing third party payment where it is not practical for each donor to pay the landfill operator directly. The environmental body will need to contact us to obtain approval before acting as an intermediary, and in every case must keep the contributing third party payments separate from their own funds as the donations do not belong to the environmental body.

Where the environmental body has used fundraising, it should record the names and addresses of the individual contributing third parties where possible (and particularly where there are large individual payments). Where this is not possible then the name and date of the fundraising event may be given. The environmental body should keep this record in its own project files which will be checked during a compliance visit. Please see the Guidance Manual or contact Entrust for more information on the requirements where the contributing third party payment comes from fundraising.

This is where you must list all of the funding towards the overall project cost which is not being requested from Valencia Communities Fund. This includes monies from your organisation's own funds or funding secured from fundraising/donations. If you are approaching Valencia Communities Fund to be the sole funder and to fund all of the project costings please leave this section blank. Secured funds must refer to funding for which you have already received written confirmation and we need to know where the funding has come from. You must provide evidence of confirmation of funding from other grant-making bodies.

Please note that we will also need to know in Part 6 how you intend on funding any shortfall. This will include grant applications where a decision is pending or future fundraising.

If your project is to refurbish an entire village hall you must list the items you would like Valencia Communities Fund to fund. For example new flooring, LED lighting, entrance ramp etc. These items must be clearly listed here and for each item we require three like-for-like quotations.

Valencia Communities Fund is also able to consider funding 'money in the pot' projects (for example a masonry project costs £300,000 and you already have £250,000 funding secured from other sources. You therefore need £50,000 from Valencia Communities Fund). However, your application may be viewed more favourably by the funding group, if they know which specific element(s) you would like us to fund. Instead of asking to add money to the pot you could ask us to fund the restoration of the entrance masonry. To do this, you need to ensure that all three of the quotations for the masonry works have the same element broken down in their costings.

You need to supply three up to date and like-for-like quotations or tenders covering all aspects of the work involved in the total project. We especially need to see the quotes broken down to show the specific aspects which you are asking Valencia Communities Fund to fund. These must be dated within the last three months or they must be accompanied by a note from the contractor to confirm that they will remain valid for the length of the anticipated work.

To ensure that the project provides value for money, any funding awarded will be based on the lowest quote supplied so please ensure that the quotes are correct and valid. You may choose to use one of the more expensive contractors if you wish but you will have to fund any shortfall yourself. If funding is awarded we will only pay for work covered by these quotes and contractors.

You must ensure that the quotations are comparable. For a play park, for example, we need to see three quotes for each item required and each aspect of work. Please do not send in quotes for different contractors designs as these invariably are not comparable.

The only circumstances by which you do not need to attach or supply three quotations is if your works are specialist. If your project requires specialist works, we would expect you to upload letters from contractors declining to quote for the project due to its specialist nature.

Valencia Communities Fund does not accept QS or architect's costings in place of full tenders or quotations.

Neither the applicant nor the contributing third party payment provider may act as a contractor.

Further funding is any amount over the total amount of funding secured added to the figure requested from Valencia Communities Fund.

We need to know how you expect to bridge any funding shortfall and when you anticipate funds to be secured.

Although Valencia Communities Fund is able to consider funding a project where all of the funding has not yet been secured, priority will be given to those projects which would be fully funded if successful with us. Therefore, it may be beneficial to ensure you have all other funding secured prior to applying to Valencia Communities Fund. We require you to be as ready to start your project as possible in order to meet our deadlines for drawing down funding.

You need to show how the local community support your project and so letters of support must be submitted with your application. The letters do not need to be stamped and addressed, they need only to be either written or typed statements of support. Although these can come from authority figures, such as MPs or councillors, we would expect the majority to come from the local community and current/potential users of your facility. Petitions of support may also be supplied.

If the provision of funds from Valencia Communities Fund results in the generation of new or additional income please let us know how much is expected, who will receive it and how it will be spent. This figure should only take into account how the Valencia Communities Fund-funded elements will increase income, not the increase in income from the total project.

Please be aware that any income generated by Landfill Communities Fund monies must be spent on the upkeep and maintenance of the amenity. This includes any Government grant for renewable energy.

A youth is someone who is between the ages of 16 and 25 when they start working on the project.

A volunteer is somebody who has offered their time to participate in the project and will receive nothing more than reasonable out-of-pocket expenses whilst carrying out works on the project site. Volunteers that are already involved in the running of the site or organisation would not be counted as additional volunteers in this case.

3 possibilities :

- The email address you entered doesn't match any of the email addresses registered in our database. In this case, please check which email address you used to create your account (a confirmation email was initially sent to you), then click on "Lost password" and enter the correct email address.

- You have made a typing error when entering the email address to which the link to create a password must be sent. Click on "Lost password" and enter the correct email address.

- You haven't entered the correct email address when creating your account. Please contact the organisation for which you submitted, or you would like to submit, a request and ask them to replace the first email address with the correct email address.

Tip: If you have clicked more than once on "Lost password", only the last link received will be valid.

If you have clicked more than once on "Lost password", only the last link received will be valid.

If you use Internet Explorer 7 or 8, please try again with a more recent version (Internet Explorer from the 9th version) or with Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, etc.

You can look over your project by :

- opening the PDF you received in the confirmation of reception email after you submitted your first part.

- going to "My account / Manage my requests" and by clicking on the link "view" under the first part of your project.

Once the person you invited will have completed her part and clicked on "validate and send", you will be immediately notified by email.

every 2 minutes

every 30 seconds after a data has been entered or a change has been made
after having entered a first answer and started replying to the second question

when clicking on “previous screen” or “next screen”
when clicking on another screen on the menu on the left hand side of the interface

If you are sure you have the correct address, please check if your cookies are activated in your browser by clicking on this link: https://www.whatismybrowser.com/are-cookies-enabled. If the answer is "yes", you will have to delete the cookies.

Below is a link where you will find the steps to follow in order to delete the cookies based on the browser you use: http://www.allaboutcookies.org/manage-cookies/clear-cookies-installed.html.

FAQ