Supporting the Supporters Grant Scheme
Jersey Community Foundation (JCF), in partnership with the Sedel-Collings Foundation is pleased to be able to offer grants up to a value of £5,000 to community-facing charitable and volunteer organisations working to safeguard and strengthen the collective wellbeing and professional development of their staff, volunteers and trustees. We understand that people delivering the work (may) need support too.
Focus will be given to supporting impactful community organisations, with the hope of building greater staff resilience, sustainability, and longevity into their organisation.
More Information
At Jersey Community Foundation, we acknowledge the increasing demands being made of the voluntary and charitable sector as it faces progressively more complex issues, recently raised by the pandemic and cost of living crisis. We understand as staff and volunteers rise to meet these challenges they may need support too, and that investment in personal and organisational resilience and wellbeing should be enabled through our funding programmes.
Supporting the Supporter Grants should be used to strengthen and protect the collective and individual wellbeing of the workforce of organisations on the front line working with and supporting people who are experiencing acute and complex challenges at this time.
This grant scheme recognises the different ways in which an organisation may safeguard the individual and collective wellbeing of their staff, ranging from creative activities, therapeutic interventions, reflective supervision or enhanced levels of training.
These outcomes will be used to assess the merit of your application.
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Prompt organisations to think more about and prioritise staff wellbeing in the future beyond the grant – influencing policies, practices and procedures and/or investing in wellbeing activities that have a lasting legacy.
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Staff feel more empowered to identify the challenges of their work and acknowledge its impact on wellbeing.
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Greater psychological safety at work.
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Identification and adoption of new strategies to enhance workforce. wellbeing and adoption of new positive practices.
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Staff feel more able to raise issues relating to their individual or teams’ wellbeing.
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Challenges are broken down through open conversation.
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Morale is boosted, building (or rebuilding) connections, and encouraging recuperation.
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Grants from £500 to £5,000 are available.
We are particularly interested in funding activity that is:
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New, creative or pilot approaches that are over and above what is normally available that will enhance wellbeing.
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Activity led or informed by staff groups/peers.
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Learning and development activities that will enhance staff wellbeing, understanding, and may be embedded in the working environment /practise in the long-term.
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Imaginative collaboration between organisations, demonstrating the sharing of resources or expertise which address/encourage staff wellness.
Activity should be over and above any statutory or professional requirements. Activities and items do not need to be connected to the job that staff or volunteers do, but about improving their wellbeing and ability to respond to and cope with difficult situations with greater confidence and clarity.
Activities could include:
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Continued Professional Development courses, workshops, one-to-one support related to wellbeing.
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Mentoring, buddying or peer support.
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Talking therapies/counselling.
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Events and team activities.
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Creative arts, physical or nature-based activities that create space ‘to do’ or for reflection, which leave participants feeling better, more confident in their role and functioning well.
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Initiatives which help staff who are adversely affected by the cost-of-living crisis.
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Interventions which invest in the environment people work, positively impacting staff wellness.
These are suggestions and we very much look forward to receiving other proposals for activities that will contribute to the outcomes for this grant.
The following are not eligible for funding:
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Staff remuneration
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Alcohol or medication
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Building works or large-scale refurbishment
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Consultancy, research, or feasibility studies
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Larger projects funded from a range of sources where the link between a grant awarded by JCF, and overall project outcomes are not clear
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Replacement of lost income
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Activity that is very similar to or duplicates something that your organisation is being funded by JCF to do already
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Grant making activity
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Research
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Overseas travel (unless connected to course attendance)
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Applying organisations should have:
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A Governing Document to the recognised status of the organisation and which outlines clear charitable purposes and includes a dissolution clause or asset lock e.g. Constitution, Set of Rules, Articles of Association
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A management committee of at least 3 unrelated members e.g. Trustees, Directors, Management Committee
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Accounts, cashflow or financial records that clearly record annual income and expenditure breakdowns
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A bank account in the name of the organisation and a minimum of 2 unrelated bank signatories, or equivalent
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Unrestricted reserves of less than 12 months or less running costs
The following will not be considered for funding:
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Individuals, including sole traders
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Government or Parish Organisations
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Statutory health and social care providers
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Grant making organisations (where funding is requested for grant making)
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Applications from organisations with outstanding end of grant evaluations for previously awarded grants from JCF
For this grant scheme, JCF will consider applications from not-for-profit, voluntary or community groups and registered charities that are providing services or activities for the benefit of people and communities in Jersey.
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We will ask you questions about your organisation and the people you hope to support with the grant.
In addition to telling us about practical things like the location of your work and number of people you will be supporting, we will ask:
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Tell us about how you intend to address the increased challenges your paid/voluntary workforce face with details of how you plan to provide support.
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What has motivated you to implement your proposal? How do your plans enhance any wellbeing provisions which are already in place?
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What difference will this work make? Please explain the difference any additional funding will add to your current wellbeing provision.
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What are the benefits and outcomes you plan to achieve with this funding and how will you know whether or not they have been achieved?
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How did you see this work/activity progressing when the funding comes to an end, or do you see this as a one-off activity?
We will ask for a detailed breakdown of the budget you are requesting from us.
APPLICATION AND DECISION TIMELINE
The grant round will be open for 6 weeks, initially, and applications must be made during this period.
However, you are only eligible for one grant in any twelve-month period.
We aim to inform applicants on the success of their application within one month of receipt of application.
The funding awarded must be spent within 12 months of the award of a grant.
The grant application form is available through our online grant system. You will be required to register first if you are not already registered.
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We will require recipients, once the grant has been spent, to outline the following and will send a link to an online report form to enable you to do this:
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What difference has the funding made to your users and your organisation?
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What challenges did you face with your project or activity and how did you overcome them?
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What have you learnt? How are you reviewing and developing your work in response to beneficiary feedback?
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What positive stories do you have that occurred as a result of the funding?
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What happens next for your organisation.
This information should be accompanied by a record of how the grant has been spent.
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