Woodland Community Programme Start-up grant Help Notes
START UP GRANT HELP NOTES Before you get started These help notes are to be used in conjunction only with the Start-Up Grant application form. They will provide additional information to help you answer each of the questions. If, after reading these help notes, you are still unsure how to best answer any of the questions, please do not hesitate to contact Paul Mosley, the Community Woodland Offcer who will be able to provide you with further support at communitywoodland@ woodlandtrust.org.uk or call 0343 770 5895. 1.Your Community Woodland Group 1.1 What is the name of your community woodland group? This will be the name you currently use to identify your group. 1.2 Who is the main contact for your project? This is the person who will act as the central point of contact for your application. You need to make sure that this person has been involved in the development of the project and has an in-depth knowledge of it. You will need to state the role this person plays or intends to play in the project. 1.3 What is the address for your main contact? If you wish all correspondence to be with your main contact, please can we have contact details. 1.4 What is the primary address for your community group? This is the formal working address of your group. If you wish to use this address as your main correspondence address, please indicate this in Question 1.3 1.5 Please confirm that your community group has its own bank account? This is a basic eligibility criteria of the Start-Up grant. If you do not currently have a bank account, you will need to open one and submit an opening statement with your community group name on it for verification purposes. The bank account requires at least two people to sign each cheque or withdrawal. We wish to understand how communities are finding out about the grant programme we are offering. Please select an option from the list. If the options do not apply for your group please select other. 1.7 Which county will your community woodland group operate in? Only certain counties are eligible for support these are: Cumbria, Northumberland, Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Cheshire, Lancashire, Merseyside, GTR Manchester, Tyne and Wear, County Durham and Teeside. We also wish to use this information to understand the geographical spread of awarded grants. 1.8 How many people are currently part of your core group? Eligibility criteria state that there must be a minimum of 3, unrelated people in a group. This ensures that the group can include a chair, treasurer and secretary. We are interested in understanding the scale of community woodland groups. 1.9 What structure is your group set up as, or will be set up as? Please specify whether your group is either: Statutory Body i.e. Parish /community councils Charities or Trusts Community, friends of or volunteer groups Companies limited by guarantee Community Interest Companies Community Benefit Society (CBS) Other 1.6 How did you hear about this grant programme?
2. Your community woodland start up project 2.1 Do you know which type of organisation you want to formalise into? We are interested to know if you have thought about the type of organisation you might want to be. There are many different types, both constituted and unincorporated, which you could choose e.g. Charity, CIC, Industrial Provident Society, Unincorporated Association. If you have yet to decide on a structure please leave the question unanswered. It is acceptable for this to change. If you are a statutory body and therefore will not seek incorporation please select the statutory body tick box. We do not insist statutory groups are incorporated as they have a life beyond that of any one individual or group of individuals and they cannot distribute surpluses for personal gain. 2.2 What would best describe the primary purpose of your community group? We would like to know the main reason you want to formalise and take ownership of a woodland site. Your project must be aligned to the Woodland Trust s grant programme aims. Please select 1 or more of the following: To enable communities to take greater responsibility for caring for their local woods or wishing to create their own woodland To improve woodland including bringing woodland back into active management, managing for wildlife and improving access To inspire and deepen the local community s connections to their local woodland 2.3 What specific objectives does your group have? We would like you to list any specific objectives that your community woodland group wishes to embark on. We understand that these may change during the start up period. Your objectives should be part of your constitution which is required to apply for the grant and should be included as a supporting document 2.4 Tell us more about your project This is your chance to tell us more about your project and what you want to do. You only have a maximum of 150 words so make sure you get across the main points concisely. To help you write your project description and so you know what we are looking for, below is an example of one. We are looking to build up capacity to manage our local woodland, taking on a long term lease from a local landowner. We are hoping to work with local schools and the Scouts group to educate our younger generation on how we should care for woodland whilst creating an amenity space for the local community. We have so far had interest from 8 people who are willing to volunteer to keep the wood tidy and improve access. This area is renowned for pipistrelle bats so we want to improve their habitat. As the wood is currently privately owned and the landowner has little time to look after the wood, we believe the only way to get improvements is to take on the responsibility ourselves 2.5 What expertise do you have within your community group to help you deliver your project? This is your chance to show the capabilities and expertise of your group in working with communities and managing woodland. We are looking to build a picture of your strengths to ensure your request for funds for specific areas is appropriate. Expertise does not have to be related to professional services. You may for example, have a Wildlife Trust volunteer in your number or may have someone who has strong organisational skills. 2.6 Please tell us how much work you have carried out in gaining support from the wider community for your project We would like to know what other work you have undertaken prior to submitting this application in building community relationships and getting interest and support for your project. This could be conversations with other community groups nearby, promoting your intentions in local press or holding events to welcome people in. We welcome letters of support which can be included as supporting documentation.
2.7 Do you have an idea of the Woodland site you wish to manage? For this question, we are interested in knowing whether you have identified the site you want to take ownership of or manage. If you have not identified a site yet, this will not hinder your application. Please tick Yes or No. If you have not identified woodland to work within please go straight to section 3. If you are able to tell us, what is the name of your identified woodland site and its National Grid (NG) map reference? To help find the grind reference visit the website gridreferencefinder.com Providing this information will help us understand the woodland and the location which you intend to work within. 2.8 How would you describe the woodland or land where you hope to create woodland? This is an opportunity to help us picture the woodland you hope to manage. If possible, please let us know how big the woodland is; describe its location in the community, how it is currently used, any special features, type of woodland and species mix. 2.9 If you have an identified woodland site, have you approached the landowner? If you have answered yes to question 2.7, please tick either Yes or No to confirm if you have had any contact with the current owner. This could be a simple conversation or written permission to work in the woodland. If you have a formal agreement already with the landowner or a letter of support please include this with your supporting documents. In the majority of cases, most groups will be requesting 100% of project costs from the Woodland Community programme. However some groups may have some additional funding themselves which they want to spend on the project. 3.2 Please provide us with a breakdown of how you wish to spend your grant (Please round up pence to the nearest pound). Using the figures you provided in Question 3.1, for this question we would like a breakdown of your total project costs, again split between the grant requested from ourselves and any other funding you may have secured for the project. If you are contributing some funding from another source, please tell us where it is coming from 3.3 Are there any non financial contributions or volunteer time associated with your project in the next 12 months? Non Financial contributions are non-monetary contributions such as professional time, volunteer labour, gifts of materials, use of facilities and equipment. If you are intending to include any in-kind contributions, please let us have a breakdown. To estimate a value for this type of contribution, you need to identify some logical and reasonable methods. For example, value of equipment could be determined by identifying the cost of an item of comparable age and condition or obtaining a valuation from an appropriately qualified source. Volunteer time can be calculated using the following table of rates. A day is classed as 7.5 hours. Please note that this grant is not available for community groups who already have management agreements or ownership of woodland Or for groups who have been successful in applying for the Community Woodland Support Grant. 2.10 Who is the current landowner? Please identify the name of the landowner if known. 3. YOUR COSTS AND FUNDING 3.1 What are your community woodland group start up costs? For this question we would like to know your total overall project costs and the total grant requested you will be asking from us. Please note that your grant requested can only be up to a maximum of 1,000. Type of voluntary help General unskilled labour Specialist skilled trained labour e.g. equipment operators Professional Services e.g. lawyers, auditors Per hr ( ) 6.25 50 18.87 150 Per day ( ) 47 350
Please write a brief description in the left hand side of the table and the estimated value in the right hand side of the table. We will ask you to report on gift in kind support within your end of grant report. 3.4 Are you intending to apply for a Woodland Support grant upon completion of your funding? Once you have completed your Start-Up grant project, will you be applying for a Woodland Support grant to further develop your project? Please let us know here as this helps us understand the demand for our Woodland Project support grant. If not, what are you intending to do once your start up grant funding has come to an end? For this question we would like to know how you are going to develop your project further if you are not planning to submit an application for a Woodland Support grant. It may be that you re already in a position to take on management of your woodland site or have another source of funding available. We want to ensure that your community woodland group is sustainable. 4. BEFORE YOU SUBMIT YOUR FORM Please use the checklist to ensure you have submitted all necessary documents and fully completed the application form. Remember to sign and date the form. The Woodland Trust, Kempton Way, Grantham, Lincolnshire NG31 6LL. The Woodland Trust is a charity registered in England and Wales no. 294344 and in Scotland no. SC038885. A non-profit making company limited by guarantee. Registered in England no. 1982873. The Woodland Trust logo is a registered trademark. 8691 07/16