If a Big Local partnership needs funding above the total amount of the current grant agreement, or as an interim or ‘bridging’ grant between plans, please send us a proposal via Big Local Community (our funding management system) at least four weeks before the funding is needed. You don’t need a new plan (or costed vision and legacy statement). Please ask your LTO to upload your current plan, the budget you have agreed for the additional funding, and a short document explaining what the funding is for and how it meets the Big Local outcomes.
We will also require a recent copy of your LTO’s most recent signed annual accounts. If you have documents that relate to your additional funding and will support your proposal, such as a business plan, please upload these too.
Updated as part of our Covid 19 response (and may be further reviewed):
A bridging grant takes over from your current grant, and allows for the continuation of activities and pre-existing contractual commitments that have been agreed under your current plan, if you don’t have enough funds remaining before your new plan is ready. (If you do have funds left, you can ask for an extension, see below).
However you can mention in your proposal document if you are also asking for a variation to your activities, in which case you should provide detail about how the activities will be different from your original plan (see variations, above). Please note that any significant new projects or large amounts must be proposed via a new plan and assessed. We would not expect the amount proposed for a bridging grant to be more than the average six-month payment n your current plan.
If you are currently receiving quarterly payments and would like a bridging grant of 4 months or more, please separate out your budgets across two payments in the finance table when you fill it in.
We will review these, and either Local Trust staff or an assessor will follow up if we have any questions, in order to then issue your offer letter and payment schedule. We’ll ask you to fill out regular spend reports for it.