West Sussex County Council

Your local councillors want to get behind projects that have the support of the community and make a positive impact on people’s wellbeing and support The West Sussex Plan.

Ideas may include:

• Increasing group membership and widering participation
• Starting-up new activities and expanding existing services for members of the community
• Encourages individuals or groups to discover a physical activity that can be tailored to varying levels of mobility and fitness
• Organising community events and activities
• Providing specific items for community spaces
• Organising one-off events to increase visitor numbers to the local area
• Activities aimed at developing skills for residents to benefit them and the area
• Providing improvements to community infrastructure and developing communally-held assets
• Helping groups and organisations to develop their assets and/or resources to support future financial independence
• Helping communities influence the planning and delivery of local services
• Protecting the environment and promoting sustainable local development
• Taking note of significant events and community achievements

Your pitch to the Community Initiative Fund should show evidence of supporting one or more of the council’s key priorities as featured in The West Sussex Plan;

• Giving our children and young people the best start in life
• Ensuring West Sussex is a prosperous place
• Our communities will be strong, safe and sustainable
• We will support you in later life to remain independent

In order to be eligible for CIF consideration, projects must have started fundraising by Monday 8 October. Your projects must remain fundraising for at least 7 days after the meeting at which the pitch is considered to allow for payment processing.
Funding decisions will be taken at the relevant County Local Committee up until Friday 30 November (please see the link below ‘CLC dates and funding windows’ for your local decision date).

• West Sussex Crowd Movement – understand more about this programme
• Eligibility Criteria – check your project is eligible
• Funding Guide – check your project is eligible
• CLC dates and funding windows – find out when you can pitch
• Who is my local County Councillor?

Below is a brief guide to submitting an application:

• Talk to your local County Councillor to gain their support for your project idea

• Create a project page on Spacehive outlining what your project is all about and what it will deliver

• Your project will be automatically matched to the Community Initiative Fund along with other funds on Spacehive – so you can then decide to pitch to the fund

• Locality, a third party that Spacehive work with, will then verify your project – check the costs and permissions

• Once all checks are complete you will be advised when your project is ready to begin fundraising

• Before starting fundraising, consider the length of your campaign to ensure it coincides with the CIF’s three funding windows.

• Start by trying to attract lots of small pledges from your community to demonstrate a local need and support for your idea

• Decisions about CIF pledges will be made by County Councillors at County Local Committee meetings - they will want to see that the project has community support

• *The size of the pledge will depend on the size of the project, how it delivers against fund criteria, the impact it will have, and the buy-in from the community. Pledges usually range from between £100 and £5,000 maximum. *We will not fund 100% of project costs

• Hit your fundraising target and deliver your project

• Tell us how it went, complete the Impact report provided by Spacehive or celebrate your success at a future County Local Committee meeting.

Contact Information:

Do you have any questions? Speak to a member of the team about your project idea.

Email: Phone: 0330 222 2527 (Mon - Fri 9am -5pm)

Note: There are 11 CLCs that cover the county of West Sussex - your pitch may be considered at the meeting where your project is located. If your project covers a wider area spanning more than one committee, your pitch may go to more than one meeting.