Welcome Break Charitable Fund

Community Fund

About Welcome Break Community Fund

The Welcome Break Community Fund exists to support local communities. The fund provides investment for initiatives that will make a real difference to the places where we live and work. We want to get behind our employees who are trying to support the lives of others in their communities.

Purpose of the fund

The Welcome Break Community Fund will support future activities by providing grants to improve the education, mental wellbeing, and tangible efforts of the communities we serve.

The Welcome Break Community Fund is open to any organisation that can demonstrate the need for support in the following areas:

  • Sports and Recreation
  • Theatre and Arts
  • STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) Advancement
  • Education & opportunities
  • Supporting local communities with local fundraising efforts

The charity/beneficiary must have a not-for-profit status, a business bank account and be based in the UK and NI.

Priority will be given to projects that:

  • Begin and conclude within a single fund application cycle (rather than for general purposes, running or ongoing costs of an organisation)
  • Alignment of our Company Values and Goals
  • Level of impact

Priority will also be given to organisations that aim to support local communities, individuals, their families and carers, including:

  • People with Additional Needs (whether intellectual or physical)
  • Older Persons
  • Disadvantaged Youth
  • People Living in Direct Provision
  • The LGBTQIA+ Community
  • Refugees and Migrants

Nominations for the following organisations and projects are excluded:

  • Organisations that relate to religious or political activities or other lobbying groups
  • Animal charities where animals are the primary beneficiaries (exceptions include projects that involve animals where the primary beneficiaries are individuals e. Autism assistance dogs or similar examples)
  • Nominations that involve covering core costs such as rent, salaries etc., costs to cover trips abroad
  • Retrospective funding (work that has already taken place)

Terms & Conditions

  • Limit per application is determined by individual site’s fundraising results with a max of £2,000. The full amount requested is not guaranteed.
  • Applicants applying for funding for an organisation should ensure a bank account exists in the organisation’s name.
  • There can be multiple applications per organisation, but this must be for different projects during each funding allocation cycle.
  • Funding must be used exclusively for the purposes of implementing the project/activity as stated in the application form.
  • Every organisation in receipt of funding must inform Welcome Break immediately of any change to their circumstances, e.g. cancellation of project/ activity, organisation disbandment. Any change must be reviewed, acknowledged, and agreed by the Welcome Break Charitable Fund Governance Committee where a specific change to the use of the grant is requested.
  • Applications must be submitted in advance of costs being incurred. The Fund will not consider costs already incurred.
  • Successful grant recipients will have six months from the date of approval in which to draw down funds.
  • Successful grant recipients will be required to enter into a short sponsorship agreement with Welcome Break.
  • Successful grant recipients must acknowledge the support of Welcome Break in any published materials relating to the project/activity, including newsletters or public presentations about the project. Welcome Break will provide the relevant logos and materials to assist with this.
  • Successful grant recipients must also consent to the use of the project’s/activity’s name, logo, photos, and funding details on Welcome Break’s social platforms and the Welcome Break website.
  • Welcome Break may wish to meet with organisations directly to better understand the application.
  • Welcome Break reserves the right to carry out an audit of expenditure at any time. All records relating to the expenditure of the funding i.e. receipts, signed by the treasurer or other officer of each organisation, must be retained by the grant recipients and submitted when requested by the Governance Committee.
  • Any sums over £50 that were allocated but were not spent on the project must be returned to the Fund. Sums above those approved in the application will not be covered by the Fund.
  • Welcome Break will require successful grant recipients to submit an Outcome Report, including photographs, to Welcome Break upon the completion of the project/activity or six months into the project/activity lifecycle, whichever comes first. Failure to complete an Outcome Report required by Welcome Break, including photographs, may impact future funding requests made by the applicant.
  • Canvassing by applicants or organisations will automatically result in their application being rejected.
  • Failure to comply with these terms and conditions may lead to a reduction in, or withdrawal of funds.
  • Personal contact details can be held for the duration of the funding process. Once the process is concluded and the organisation is awarded, all data collected via the forms will be deleted.
  • Welcome Break’s current core charity partners cannot be nominated for this fund.
  • Welcome Break is under no obligation to make any award or grant to any person whatsoever and the Welcome Break Community Fund shall be administered at its discretion.