Emergency Fund

What is the Emergency Fund?

The council has a vision to support and invest in the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) to help it improve the lives of residents.

To support this vision the council provides funding to local Voluntary and Community Sector organisations who are facing an emergency.

The Emergency Fund has an annual budget of £100,000 per year and organisations can apply for up to £10,000.

What organisations will we fund?

To be considered for funding, organisations must:

1. be a voluntary and community sector organisation
2. have a Constitution, Memorandum and Articles of Association or other recognised governance document
3. have been in receipt of council funding in the past two years
4. be able to show long-term financial viability
5. be in danger of closing or unable to continue to provide funded services
6. have already taken measures to address the emergency
7. not owe the council a debt of over £1000
8. be registered in Tower Hamlets, have a base in Tower Hamlets or be able to demonstrate a track record of successful service delivery within the borough.

How much money is available?

The total budget for the Emergency Grant Fund is £100,000 per year. Organisations can apply for a one-off grant of up to £10,000 per year.

What will we fund

The Emergency Grant will fund:

1. building repairs for essential emergency work or health and safety requirements
2. legal costs
3. redundancy costs
4. staff salaries/wages (to cover unforeseen medium/long term absences)
5. recovery from damage or accidents

This is not a complete list. If you are unsure whether the issue you are seeking funding for is an emergency, contact the Voluntary and Community Sector team at vcs@towerhamlets.gov.uk.

Bidding process

To apply for Emergency funding you need to submit an application form via the council’s grant management portal, Blackbaud.

There is no deadline for submitting bids. Applications will be considered when they are received.

Assessment

The council will assess your application against the grant criteria and will aim to let you know if you have been successful within four weeks of receipt of your application.

The assessment is to see whether your organisation and emergency meets the standards the council expects of organisations it supports with public funds.

We will ask you questions about:

• your organisation
• your emergency
• what you want funding for
• your organisations links to the council
• your reserves
• your accounts

Download the income and expenditure form

Monitoring and evaluation

All successful organisations will be required to complete a monitoring and evaluation form three months after the grant award.

This will ensure the grant has been spent correctly and the council is able to continue to improve the fund.

This will need to be completed via council’s online grant management portal Blackbaud.

Get in touch

If you have a question or need support, then please get in touch with the Voluntary and Community Sector Grants Team by emailing vcs@towerhamlets.gov.uk.