Culture and Recreation Investment Fund

The Culture and Recreation Investment Fund provides support for a programme of investment in the strategic cultural and recreational infrastructure within Hampshire. Applicants must support the priorities and outcomes of Hampshire County Council’s ‘Open for Business Plan’ 2011-13:

• Enhance community engagement and partnership working – strengthening and empowering communities.
• Support and enable sustainable economic development – ‘place shaping’.
• Enhance Hampshire’s environment and promote sustainability.
• Develop new models of service provision, meeting the challenges of reduced resource and evolving national policies, whilst improving the quality of services for users.
• Improved quality of life for all, particularly those who are vulnerable and disadvantaged.

When to apply

This grant stream is currently closed.

The Culture and Recreation Investment Fund is an annual programme and has one round per year. It is open for applications from 1 August until 1 October each year.

Grant criteria and eligibility

The grants programme is open to organisations, partnerships and consortiums delivering cultural and recreational services in Hampshire, who meet the following eligibility criteria.  Applications can be for up to three years, however funding is only committed on an annual basis and organisations must apply every year.

• The services, projects and activities of the cultural and/or recreational organisation clearly deliver against the priorities above.
• The services, projects and activities of the cultural and/or recreational organisation benefit Hampshire residents and visitors, improving the quality of life for all.
• Cultural and/or recreational organisations must be properly constituted with clear and effective management and governance structures.
• Consortiums of properly constituted cultural and/or recreational organisations must have clear terms of reference.

Where appropriate, depending on the grant sum requested, the organisation will be expected to submit supporting documentation, detailed in the application form guidance. For grants up to £5,000, there are no additional supporting documentation requirements.

All successful applicants will be required to provide appropriate reporting and/or monitoring for their service, projects and/or activities.

Financial Eligibility

Organisations will not normally be eligible for grants where they hold unallocated reserves in excess of one year’s running costs. Where it is judged that unallocated reserves are unreasonably in excess of what is required or not allocated for legitimate purposes, those organisations may receive a reduced grant.

What is funded

The grant can be awarded to contribute towards the organisation’s service/project costs and/or core running costs, including salaries. Applications will be assessed against the following Fund Criteria. Organisations do not need to meet all of these priorities, but must be able to demonstrate that they deliver against some of these within their application.

• Organisations providing flagship cultural and recreational experiences of national and/or regional standing
• Programmes of work that are of high quality, innovative and appropriately aspirational
• Programmes of work that inspire young people to have ambition and improve their level of educational or physical attainment
• Organisations that support the development of Hampshire’s home grown talent
• Organisations that provide local people, including young people and hard to reach older audiences, access to inspiring experiences
• Organisations that can demonstrate actively increasing the numbers of people experiencing and participating in cultural and recreational activity
• Organisations enabling and/or supporting other organisations to provide cultural and recreational services
• Organisations working towards optimising their economic, social and environmental sustainability.

What isn't funded

• Services and organisations that do not meet the Fund’s criteria
• Individuals
• Organisations already in receipt of funding from other Hampshire County Council departments for the majority of their core costs and/or service/project activity delivery
• Services provided solely within the unitary authority areas of Portsmouth City Council and Southampton City Council
• Capital projects or capital grants for equipment
• Parish/Town Councils
• Schools.

Application guidance notes and online form