Projects > FAQS
FAQs
Working together to strengthen Barking & Dagenham
What WON'T be funded?
- Any work taking place outside of Barking & Dagenham.
- Any work which goes against the core values of Barking & Dagenham Giving (Collaboration, Inclusivity, and Sustainability) or our charitable purpose.
- Any work which promotes specific political parties or are aimed at carrying out specifically religious activities.
- Activities already delivered, or normally covered by statutory services.
What checks do we carry out?
- Is the application about Barking & Dagenham? You would be surprised.
- Have all the questions been answered fully? This does not need to mean it has to be a long answer – our shortest successful application was about 100 words long because the idea was fully expressed.
- Have all the questions been answered clearly? While we won’t judge anyone’s spelling or grammar, our decision-makers do need to be able to understand what they are being asked to fund – ask someone you trust to read through your application beforehand.
- Does the project fit in with core values of the charity? These are Collaboration, Inclusivity, and Sustainability – we think these are broad enough to not be restrictive.
Why do we do this if we use community decision-makers?
Our experience with community-led funding over the last 18 months has taught us a lot. At the start, we let our decision-makers see every application that came in. They found the experience to be very tiring and often frustrating, with applications that made no mention of the borough or used a lot of jargon without saying what they would do. The feedback from them was that they expected us to do preliminary checks so that they don’t feel their time has been wasted. Remember, even though they are paid for their time, it’s not their full-time job! We have to carefully manage their workload so that they can give applications the attention they deserve.
Do you fund individuals?
Yes, but we may need to carry out additional checks or ask you to partner with a registered organisation.
We do not currently give individual grants that only benefit the individual.
Do you give emergency grants?
Unfortunately, this is not something we are able to do.
Since our work is participatory, meaning all decisions are made by residents, we cannot respond quickly to requests for money.
Do you accept unsolicited or late applications?
No.
In order to keep things fair for all applicants, only those applications received during an application window are eligible for assessment.
