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Home > My community > Community Fund

Community Fund

To mark our 25th anniversary, we’re adding an extra £25,000 to our Community Fund in 2026-27, bringing this year’s total to £55,000. This is accessible to both individuals and new and existing groups and projects. 

Sorry, due to a high number of requests, we're not currently processing new Community Fund applications at the moment. Any already received and acknowledged will be assessed as normal. You can still apply, but we'll hold your application until the fund reopens. Thank you for your patience.

We help local charities and voluntary groups improve local communities by offering grants of up to £5,000.

If you live in a Cottsway home you, or family members who live with you, can apply for a grant of up to £250 to support your education, learning and skills development.

Our funding can be used to help with:

  • Items of equipment
  • Local events and one-off projects
  • Training to improve your group / project’s effectiveness, eg. management, budgeting etc
  • Printing and publicity
  • Course costs, books and equipment

Funding available

There are four different levels of funding available:

Individual learning (up to £250)

To help Cottsway customers and their immediate family to learn new skills and increase job prospects. For example, training courses, sports coaching courses, qualifications and / or materials to support your learning.

Neighbourhood activities (up to £500)

To fund a particular project or activity which will be of benefit to your neighbourhood.

For example, activities and trips that involve or bring the neighbourhood together.

Community projects (up to £2,500)

To help community groups with one-off and ongoing environmental, social or educational projects which are accessible to Cottsway customers.

For example, funding for equipment, printing and publicity and training to improve services.

Environmental projects (up to £5,000)

To help community groups with one-off and ongoing environmental projects which will directly benefit Cottsway customers.

For example, community clear ups and improvements to communal areas.

Eligibility criteria

Anyone within West Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire or Worcestershire can apply, provided the project meets one of the following aims:

  • Encourages local people to get involved (contributing to an inclusive and active community)
  • Supports learning and skills development (increasing employment prospects for our customers)
  • Tackles rural exclusion or social isolation (increasing well-being)
  • Provides financial advice (reducing poverty and preventing debt)
  • Helps people get online (reducing digital exclusion)

How grants are decided

All applications that meet the eligibility criteria will be reviewed and assessed by our customers. This helps ensure funding is awarded to the projects that matter most to our communities.

We will not award more than one grant to the same group or individual within a 12-month period. In some cases, you may be offered less funding than the amount you applied for.

If you're one of our customers and would like to help decide which projects receive funding, join our private Facebook group: Communities@Cottsway

Cottsway Community Fund: Annual report 2025-26

Our annual report highlights some of the great causes that we supported last year: Read our latest Community Fund Annual Report

Other useful information to read before you apply

  • Individuals looking to gain skills and/or improve employment prospects.
  • New groups / projects starting up.
  • Existing groups to start up projects and / or expand their services.
  • Groups / projects that:
    • are led or managed by local people.
    • encourage local people to get involved.
    • are working with ‘hard to reach’ groups.
  • Activities that do not deliver at least one of our funding aims. 
  • Work that will overlap with or repeat what others are already doing in your community.

We cannot help with:

  • Political or religious groups or activities.
  • Constructing or buying buildings.
  • Freehold or leasehold rights over land.
  • Activities carried out outside of the UK.
  • Interest charges.
  • Service charges arising on finance leases, hire purchase and credit arrangements not related to the grant funded project.
  • Any costs resulting from not making payments to creditors on time.
  • Payments for unfair dismissal, private pension schemes or unfunded pensions.
  • Redundancy payments.
  • Compensation for loss of office.
  • Bad debts arising from loans to trustees, proprietors, partners, employees, directors, shareholders or guarantors of the programme manager, or a person connected with any of these.
  • Gifts.
  • Travel and living costs that would lead to a taxable benefit if a person is responsible for the cost but does not pay it.
  • VAT that your group can claim back during the period the group benefits from grant funding.
  • Other tax.
  • Fines and penalties you must pay by law.
  • Criminal fines and damages.
  • Any costs that are not a direct result of work carried out for the Cottsway Community Fund programme.
  • The cost of work or activities that any other organisation or person must carry out by law.

Everyone has a contribution to make to our society and a right to be treated equally.

We aim to ensure that no individual or group involved with our organisation will be discriminated against on the grounds of age, disability, gender, gender re-assignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race or ethnic origin, religion or sexual orientation.

We’ll confirm when we’ve received your application and let you know when it will be considered.

Once a decision has been made, we’ll be in touch to let you know the outcome. If your application isn’t successful and you’d like some feedback, we’ll be happy to provide this.

If you have any questions or would like further information, please contact our Communities Team on 01993 890000

Any personal data in this form is being collected to allow Cottsway to assess your application and to contact you regarding the outcome.

In accordance with data protection laws, we need a "lawful basis" for collecting and using information about you, the lawful basis for processing the information in this form is your consent.

By completing this form, you are giving your consent for Cottsway to use this information to administer and assess your application.

  • Any amount awarded must be used solely for the purpose outlined in the application. The amount awarded is final and will not be increased if the individual/group/project overspends.
  • Only one member of a family can be a signatory for a group or project.
  • If you do not spend the whole amount, any unspent funds must be reported to Cottsway.
    For audit purposes, you must provide receipts for any money spent, balance of money in your group / project’s bank account and, if asked, any planned spending.
  • Cottsway is not responsible for any money spent by you/your group/project prior to you receiving confirmation that you have been awarded funding.
  • Once funding has been given, there is no ongoing commitment from Cottsway to issue further funding to you/your group/project. 
  • You agree to acknowledge Cottsway’s support in all subsequent positive publicity relating to your grant, training or the group / project. You will contact Cottsway to check whether we wish to be included in such publicity before it goes out - call 01993 890000 or email communities@cottsway.co.uk
    You agree to allow Cottsway representatives to visit your group/project and talk to participants.
  • Cottsway will withhold payment/part payment if:
    • It becomes apparent that the application form contained incorrect information.
    • You withdraw from your course / training.
    • Your group/project ceases to exist, closes or the purpose of your group/project changes in any way that is not in line with the grant given.
  • Cottsway reserves the right to inform media organisations of support it has given to you/your group/project.
  • The information you provide will be stored securely on Cottsway’s computer systems and will be processed in accordance with UK data protection legislation. If your application is successful, the information will be kept for 6 years before being deleted. If your application is not successful, the information will be kept for 12 months before being deleted. Only relevant members of staff will access the information you provide to us, and all staff are subject to duties of confidentiality. 
  • For more information on how we process personal data, see our: Privacy notice
  • If you would like to withdraw your consent and your application at any time, or if you have any issues regarding the processing of your personal data, please contact us using the details below:

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