"The aim of the Fund is to offer financial assistance to local projects which will increase the resilience, sustainability and well-being of the community of Colonsay and Oronsay"

Principles and Operation

 

Applications for grants from the COCF will be considered on their merits, and a project must meet a local need, or benefit the community of Colonsay and Oronsay.  A Mission Statement and Ethos of the COCF have been created to help us all have a shared understanding of what community benefit can be.  It is accepted that as well as community benefit a project may bring personal benefit and that this is both acceptable and supported within the Mission and Ethos of the COCF. Successful applications may be funded subject to certain conditions, for example, reporting back on the success of the project.

​

Generally, the larger the grant being requested from the COCF the greater should be the community need being addressed and also the greater the community benefit resulting. For a grant to be awarded there must be sufficient community benefit to justify the size of grant requested. As a special case, where a grant is for less than £1000 and the applicant is a community member, even where there may be a greater personal rather than community benefit, a grant can be given.  This is because there is an inherent community benefit in a community member having a grant from the COCF.

​

Applicants are encouraged to look for other sources of funding, for example, government and other charitable funding, and the use of  ‘match funding’ is encouraged. In making a proposal applicants should take into account and highlight voluntary contributions of time and effort, as this can be considered as equivalent to ‘match funding’.