Before your project starts

1. Receive award decision

We will send you an email to confirm the award decision and let you know what to do next. We will send this email within seven days after a decision has been made.

2. Accept your grant

You cannot start your project until you accept your grant.

For grants under £250,000

You need to:

• check and agree your grant and project details
• agree terms and conditions
• upload details of your organisation’s bank account, a copy of a bank statement, a cheque or a paying-in slip

We will email you a link to sign into your account to do this. In your account, go to 'Your awarded projects' to start the steps to accept your grant.

For grants over £250,000

You need to:

• complete the Permission to Start form online
• upload a signed copy in the service
• upload any match-funding evidence, for example a letter from an organisation providing financial support
• upload details of your organisation’s bank account, a copy of a bank statement, a cheque or a paying-in slip

We will email you a link to sign into your account to do this. The form must be signed by two people who can sign documents on behalf of your organisation. 

3. Receive the money

For grants under £10,000

Receive 100% of your grant.

For grants of £10,000 to £100,000 

Receive 50% of your grant upfront.

For grants over £100,000

Request payments in arrears once the project has started. This will most likely be on a quarterly basis.

Starting your project

4. Agree a reporting schedule

Your reporting schedule will depend on your grant amount.

For grants under £10,000

You do not need to give project updates while you run your project.

For grants of £10,000 to £100,000 

You will need to send us a project update and tell us what you have spent halfway through your project. You will then receive the next 40% of your grant.

At the end of your project, you’ll need to send us a completion report and tell us how you have spent the previous 40%. You will then receive the final 10%.

For grants over £100,000 

We will do this in person or on the phone as part of a start-up meeting. Your timetable for reporting will be set by us based on your needs. This will most likely be on a quarterly basis. We’ll also agree a schedule of meetings to support you throughout delivery of your project.

When your project is up and running

5. Tell us how you spent your grant

For grants under £10,000

You do not need to tell us how you spent your grant while you run your project. You will need to tell us at the end.

For grants of £10,000 to £100,000

You will need to tell us how you have spent your grant halfway through your project to receive the next 40% of your grant.

At the end of your project, you’ll need to send us a completion report and tell us how you have spent the previous 40%. You will then receive the final 10%.

For grants over £100,000 

These are paid in arrears. This means you need to provide proof of what you’ve spent on the project in order to receive funds.

6. Tell us how your project is going

Timings of when to send project updates will be based on the schedule agreed before your project started.

We will ask about:

• your approved purposes
• your outcomes
• progress made on the project

When your project has ended

7. Provide a completion report and an evaluation report

After your project is complete, send us these reports to mark the end of your project. The completion report can be found on the application portal. The evaluation report is a report you write yourself.

For grants over £10,000

We will release the final 10% of the funds when we receive the completion and evaluation report.