Warm Spaces Grants
Over the recent months we have seen unprecedented pressures on the cost of living for our communities. For those already struggling to balance their living costs, this further compounds the very real and tough decisions that some may have to make this winter.
Both Adur District and Worthing Borough Councils want to do more to help their communities to address cost of living impacts. Cost of Living Roadmaps for each authority have been drawn up, setting out what the Councils will do to try to help local residents and communities through this difficult time. These can be found here:
One of the commitments in the Roadmaps is to work with our local partners, to create a network of Warm Spaces, places where local residents can come together to stay warm, perhaps participate in activities and have a cuppa too.
We are asking groups and organisations to support us in delivering spaces across Adur and Worthing that are open, welcoming for all, accessible, safe and free to our communities to come inside and warm up. We want to ensure that anyone who is cold knows where they can go to get warm, stay warm and enjoy a bit of company.
The Councils recognise that for some groups and organisations there will be financial challenges in being able to provide a warm space in their communities. Therefore in order to support this, the Councils are launching distinct grant programmes to help. The Warm Spaces Grant aims to give groups and organisations some financial support to open their venues up as warm spaces, in addition to their normal activity.
A grant of up to £500 per warm space is available. This can be used to offset a range of costs for example, energy costs, activity costs, materials needed, or running costs including staff or volunteer costs.
Basic funding criteria
Grants will be awarded to not-for-profit organisations, working for the benefit of Adur and/or Worthing communities. To apply, your group does not have to be a registered charity but you do need;
- A constitution or set of governing rules
- Accounts or records of expenditure
- A bank account; or a partner organisation willing to hold the money for you
- To have suitable and relevant policies (such as safeguarding or insurance) to run your project as appropriate
- To own or have a lease on the building in which the warm space will be operating in
- To be ready! You'll need to start spending the money within a month of receiving the grant
- To be prepared to sign up to the Warm Spaces Charter
Working with others
We want to ensure that the Adur and Worthing warm spaces funding is used to support the full range of communities across Adur and Worthing. West Sussex County Council is also looking to use its libraries as warm spaces and we will be looking for applications that offer spaces in areas that don't have a library or are not currently well serviced by existing community centres alone.
Please talk to neighbouring centres, community organisations and libraries to make sure your warm space offering will complement what others around you will be doing.
What does the grant fund cover?
The Warm Spaces Grants are designed to enable and facilitate groups/ organisations, through providing funding to offer additional warm spaces to the community. The aim is to mitigate the inequality, reduce social isolation and provide support to address community concerns around the cost of living, whilst staying and being well.
We want to receive bids for fundings that provide additional activity and/or open a warm space that would not be open otherwise. The fund will cover the following expenses:
- Purchase or hire of resources - eg kettles, craft materials
- Staff/ volunteer time/ expenses
- Energy Costs
- Anything else that enables the space to be open, welcoming and sustained
The grants will not be available to groups that:
- Deliver projects that don't benefit the residents or communities of Adur and/or Worthing
- Discriminate on the basis of race, religion, national origin, disability, age, or sexual orientation
- Want to make retrospective payments for activities that have already taken place
- Deliver projects which only benefit animals
- Carry out political activities
- Want funds to carry out capital improvements or maintenance to the building the warm space will be held in
- Are in close to a local library hub, where there is existing warm space provision
How do I apply?
Please complete the online application form, which can be found here:
To give you some more information about how a warm space works we have attached a guide developed with funding from the Martin Lewis charity fund. The Warm Welcome Guide can be found here:
You will need to upload the following documents as part of your application, so please have them ready:
- Safeguarding Policy
- Public Liability Insurance
- Risk Assessment for the Warm Spaces Activity
What happens once I've applied?
We will email you to acknowledge receipt of your application. Once received we will check that your application meets our criteria, is eligible and that we have all the relevant documents.
As this is a rolling programme, we will be accessing applications as they are submitted and a decision will be made on your application within two weeks of submission. Successful applicants will be contacted as soon as a decision is made and will work with the grants officer, to get their warm spaces offered underway.
Once all of the allocated funds have been awarded, we will close the grants programme. It may reopen should more funding be made available.
Any further questions?
Please email:
- rhian.francis@adur-worthing.gov.uk (Grants Manager)
If you are a new or existing organisation and would like advice, support, learning and networking opportunities with other voluntary organisations across Adur and Worthing - then get in touch with Community Works:
See also:
Community Warm Spaces have opened up across Adur and Worthing - meaning residents will have somewhere to keep warm for free this winter. For details see:
Page last updated: 13 December 2022