Written by Sheffield City Council
Sheffield City Council has launched a Covid Recovery Fund to provide support for the city’s voluntary and community sector with needs that have arisen from Covid. The £1.35m fund will be open from Monday January 10th until Monday February 7th.
We asked organisations to complete an expression of interest in October and November 2021 to tell us what their needs were as a result of the pandemic.
The feedback was that in many cases organisations had reduced income and increased costs as a result of the challenges during Covid and the work they have done to respond to needs across the city.
What you told us in your responses has been invaluable in getting this fund off the ground and we want to take this opportunity to thank you for everything you have done for people in Sheffield over the past two years during this unprecedented time.
Councillor Julie Grocutt, Deputy Leader of Sheffield City Council and Executive Member for Community Engagement and Governance
About the fund
The fund is focused on helping established organisations who support Sheffield’s communities who can tell us about needs they have because of the impact of Covid on their work.
Applications can be submitted for amounts between £10,000 and £50,000. This can be for shortfalls in 2021/22 budgets or needs that can be demonstrated for 2022/2023.
What will it cover and who can apply?
This fund will focus on shortfalls due to loss of income, funding to address increased costs and funding to address increased demand. Organisations can apply for reasonable costs including core costs, and will need to show that their need resulted from Covid, but funding awarded does not have to be used for specific Covid related work.
If, for example a group was not able to run activities or hire premises that would have brought in funds due to Covid then an organisation can apply for the shortfall. Similarly, if an organisation has faced or is likely to face extra costs such as for additional IT equipment or providing extra services because of Covid they can apply to the fund for support.
Organisations that can apply to the fund can be a registered charity, a charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO), a limited company with charitable status or an industrial and provident society (Community Benefit Societies or Co-operative Benefit Societies).
Organisations must also be Sheffield-based or accountable at a local level within Sheffield to users, stakeholders, or residents and be in full compliance with the document filing requirements of the Charity Commission or Companies House.
Successful applicants will receive funding in February and March 2022 to support work until the end of March 2023.
Support available
Along with partners, we will be running a series of support sessions during January to explain the fund, these can be accessed via: Voluntary grants and funds (sheffield.gov.uk). Queries about the fund should be directed to vslt@sheffield.gov.uk.
Support about this fund and other sources of funding can be accessed through South Yorkshire Funding Advice Bureau: SYFAB | South Yorkshire Funding Advice Bureau | Contact Us/
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