Small grant applications

Small grants are up to £1,500 and can be used to support capital and revenue projects.

There is no application form for this fund. Applicants present their project request to a small panel. Information on who can apply and the purpose of the fund can be found on the project overview page. When you present your project to us we will ask you a series of questions.

Applicants will be asked to:

Describe your idea
Explain why you want to do it
Describe how you will do it
Explain how much it will cost and how the cost has been calculated

When doing this we will need applicants to:

Describe the people you expect to reach, how you will reach them and how they will benefit.
Describe what they have done before and show evidence that this has been done

Grants will be awarded in principle, on the basis of the discussion. Applicants who are awarded a small grant in principle will be asked to complete a short form before the grant is paid. The form can be downloaded below.

If you would like to discuss your application please book a conversation.

Book

Presentation sessions for small grants will be held on:

Monday 17 March 2025 - booking will open on Monday 2 December 2024 and close on Friday 7 March 2025.
Monday 14 July 2025 - booking will open on Tuesday 18 March 2025 and close on Friday 4 July 2025.
Monday 15 September 2025 - please book your presentation - bookings open on Tuesday 15 July 2025 and close on Friday 5 September 2025.

Form following application
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Check list
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The form asks you to show:

What type of organisation you are and your values
How you are structured
That you have a bank account
That you have appropriate policies and procedures in place
That you have a budget

There is no need to complete the form before the presentation. We will only ask you to complete this form if we have seen your presentation and agreed to fund the project in principle. We will write to you and ask you to complete the form.

Revenue project costs could include, but are not limited to:

Employing project staff or freelancers to deliver activity
The materials required to deliver the activity
Marketing materials – print and online marketing
Display materials
Travel and transport costs
Venue hire

Capital project costs could include, but are not limited to:

Computers
Cameras
Display furniture
Improvements to buildings
Sound equipment
Sewing machines
Light equipment

Projects can include both capital and revenue cost up to a combined total of £1,500.

We want to use our small grants to support those that have delivered some activities and want to build on it. We will ask you to describe the activity you have done before. It would be helpful to know who took part, how many people took part and what you thought went well. This will help us understand what you do and how you do it.

If your project is funded, when it finishes we will ask you:

Who took part
How many people took part
What you thought went well
What did not go so well
The final cost of the project

This will help us understand what has been funded and what was achieved.

Suffolk County Council officers Jayne Knight and Jayne Austin and the council's cabinet lead for culture, Cllr Philip Faircloth-Mutton, will meet with you. We will listen to your plans and ask you questions.

We will prioritise projects with the highest scores from the scoring sheet below, and then ensure that the fund supports a group of high quality projects that are:

Spread across the county
Cover a range of the county council priorities
Engage people at a range of life stages

Our officers will score your plans out of 5. All applications scoring 2 and above will be considered for funding. An example score sheet can be downloaded below.

Small grant applications

Applicants will be asked to:

When doing this we will need applicants to:

The form asks you to show:

Revenue and capital projects

Evaluation

How decisions will be made