Councillor Initiative Fund

Introduction

The Councillor Initiative Fund enables our district councillors to make awards of funding to support a wide range of community projects and activities. As locally elected councillors, the fund allows them to get involved with local work and provide funding to help support community activity.

Each district councillor has £4,000 over a 4 year period to award to local community projects and activities. We use a simple and easy awards process to enable decisions to be made quickly.

Guidance notes for this fund

On this page you will find an overview of this fund. Full details about the criteria and eligibility for this fund are available in the guidance notes [pdf / 263 KB].

Please take time to read through the guidance notes to ensure your organisation and project are eligible.

How to apply to this fund

To apply to this fund, you should first contact your local district councillor. You can find contact details for your local district councillor on our find your district councillor page.

You should contact your local district councillor and explain you are seeking funds from their Councillor Initiative Fund. You will need to give them information about your organisation and project.

Once you have agreement from your district councillor you can complete the application form [pdf / 241 KB] available to download on this page. The application form is used to get more detailed information about your organisation, project details and how it will benefit your community.

Closing dates for this fund

This fund is open to applications at any time. The fund is due to close in February 2027 but may close earlier if all available funding is awarded.

Grant amount available

The maximum grant a councillor can award per project is £1,000.

There is no minimum grant amount.

A project can be supported by multiple councillors at the same time with each being able to award up to £1,000.

We can fund up to 100% of project costs however, securing match funding will be viewed favourably in the review process.

We expect that most grants awarded will be between £100 to £500.

Organisations can receive multiple awards from this fund for the same or different projects.

Criteria for this fund

Projects must be for wider community benefit and be delivered within the district of West Lindsey. 

This fund cannot be used as match funding with other funding schemes delivered by West Lindsey District Council.

This fund cannot be used to fund the purchase or installation of defibrillators. We operate a dedicated scheme for community defibrillators. Visit our Community Defibrillator Service page to learn more.

For full details of the criteria for this fund, please read our guidance notes [pdf / 263].

What this grant can be spent on

This revenue grant can be spent on:

• equipment hire or purchase
• capital works or expenditure
• improvements to community facilities
• revenue costs of delivering a project
• training or capacity building
• environmental improvements

Eligible organisations

The following organisations can apply to this fund:

• registered charities
• constituted community groups
• parish and town councils
• parish meetings
• social enterprises (Such as a community interest company)
• charitable incorporated organisations
• faith or belief groups and organisations
• schools or academies*

* Projects delivered by these organisations must be for wider community access and benefit and not to support normal school or business activity.

Contact Details

If you have a query about this scheme or need further advice please contact us.

Email: funding@west-lindsey.gov.uk