New website will make charities' lives easier

A new web portal where charities will be able to apply centrally for funding will be launched in West Berkshire

GREENHAM Common Trust is aiming to make it easier for organisations to find funding for projects by launching a new internet portal, where users can centrally apply for grants from benefactors.

The findmeagrant website will serve as a one-stop grant-seekers' hub, where users can upload the details of their organisation and project, and state how much money they need and how it will be used.

This information will then be visible to members of the public, or to organisations who fund charitable projects including Greenham Common Trust, West Berkshire Council and the West Berkshire Partnership. Other donors will also also be encouraged to sign up.

A spokesman for Greenham Common Trust, Julian May, said that the hub will benefit both charities and donors.

Fund seekers will benefit because they will now have the opportunity to complete one set of forms online, while donors will benefit because they will be able to see which good causes are looking for money, how much money has already been raised and will help to avoid double-funding with resulting grater fairness for all.

Mr May said: “For many small charities, time is of the essence and the duplication of work involved in applying for several grants can prove prohibitive.”

He added that the Greenham Common Trust is the driving force behind the website's creation and will initially be its largest donor. He said the streamlined process would also save the trust money in the long run.

Speaking of the trust's grant-making process, he said: “Our current application process is a paper-based system, so the new, electronic process will be a great improvement.”

Mr May added that there is scope for the project to grow beyond West Berkshire and said it could eventually bring together charitable causes and donors from across the country.

The website will not only be open to registered charities. Anyone can use it to apply for funding, and it will not only be open to large, organisational donors. Private individuals can also go online to see who is looking for funding. If they see a cause there they wish to support, they will be able to donate directly via the site.

Greenham Common Trust alone gives away £300,000 every year, with more than £14m being awarded to groups in West Berkshire and Hampshire since it was created in 1997.

Greenham Common Trust itself is a registered charity and a company limited by guarantee which owns Greenham Business Park. All its profits are distributed to charities and organisations in West Berkshire and North Hampshire.

West Berkshire Council has indicated that it will use the website in future to provide funding for projects considered under the Parish Plan Grants scheme and through the Vibrant Villages grant scheme, both of which support small-scale community projects. It currently gives away some £64,000 per year to such projects.

The website project is currently funded by Greenham Common Trust and the trust has agreed to match some donations made through the portal, up to a maximum of £5,000 per project, at the trust's discretion.

There will be no cost to donors and all the money donated will go to the charitable causes applying for funding on the website.

The website, which will be accessible via the link below, will launch on September 1. A launch evening will be held on August 31 at the Corn Exchange, Newbury.

-

What is the Greenham Common Trust?

Greenham Common Trust was set up in May 1997 when the former military airbase was purchased for £7m from the Ministry of Defence, with the open areas of the common taken over by West Berkshire Council.

Following this, the area was turned into common land under an act of Parliament. The remainder of the land was used by the trust as commercial property at Greenham Business Park, which houses the Liberty Ballroom and the Indoor Sports Centre together with industrial and commercial properties. All the profits from the trust's commercial activities go to charitable causes via the trust's grant scheme.

Among the trust's patrons are Sir Peter Michael CBE, The Earl of Carnarvon and Lord Illiffe. The trustees are Sir Peter Michael CBE, David Bailey, Paul Bryant, Graham Mather, Malcolm Morris, Orna Ni-Chionna and Charles Brims. Stuart Tagg is the chief executive.

The decisions over who the trust supports are taken by a distribution committee, with members including West Berkshire Council's David Appleton, Thames Valley Chamber of Commerce's Peter Atkinson, Greenham Parish Council's Chris Austin and West Berkshire councillors Paul Bryant and Billy Drummond and others.

Particularly notable contributions by the trust in the past have been £450,000 towards a digital x-ray unit at West Berkshire Community Hospital in Newbury, and £570,000 to secure the future of the Watermill Theatre at Bagnor as an arts venue.