Oxford Community Impact Fund

Organisations/individuals we can support

There are four eligibility criteria that all applicants must meet. They must:

  • Operate on a not-for-profit basis (or if an idividual, provide wider public benefit)
  • Be financially viable
  • Have a track record of delivery related to the activities they seek funding for
  • Deliver the funded activity in Oxford

We can fund the following organisations:

  • Registered charity   
  • Community interest company (CIC)
  • Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) 
  • Community benefit society 
  • Co-operative society (if it has a not-for-profit clause and is registered with the Financial Conduct Authority) 
  • Voluntary or community organisation (an organisation set up with a bank account with at least two signatories required to approve expenditure; it would ordinarily have a governing document – like a constitution – but is not a registered charity or company)
  • Company limited by guarantee (if it has a not-for-profit clause or is a registered charity – it can be registered with Companies House)
  • School or college
  • Faith organisation e.g. a church, mosque, temple or synagogue – for community orientated activity

We cannot fund:

  • Organisations focused on making profits and sharing these profits privately - including companies limited by shares, organisations without the right asset locks, or organisations that can pay profits to directors or shareholders
  • Organisations based outside the UK
  • Activity taking place outside Oxford

Other organisational considerations:

  • Organisations can apply to each of the 3 funds but should consider the balance criterion
  • Whilst the funded activity must be delivered in Oxford City, it is not a requirement that organisations be based in the city. We recognise that there are Oxfordshire groups based outside of the city who deliver essential services to our residents
  • There will, however, be a preference to support groups based in Oxford / Oxfordshire over groups based further afield

We can fund the following individuals (Small Grants only):

  • Those who can demonstrate a previous track record of successful delivery
  • Those who will raise the same or greater amount of funding requested for their Small Grant activity (for example, if you're requesting £500, you would need to secure at least £500 from other sources e.g. donations, other grants, crowdfunding)
  • Please note individual applications will be scored and assessed competitively as per the Oxford Community Impact Fund scoring criteria, which includes delivering activity in Oxford for wider public benefit