Neil Ayling Director of Community Services at Flintshire County Council, Leader of the Council Councillor Aaron Shotton, Arwel Staples Head of Procurement for Flintshire County Council and Denbighshire County Council and Keith Simmonds from Social Firms Wales
Flintshire County Council has launched a new fund aimed at supporting local social enterprise initiatives.
The Flintshire Social Enterprise Fund is a programme specifically to support the launch of or to develop, an existing social enterprise in the county. One-off grants of up to £5,000 are available and to be considered for the funding, a social enterprise has to meet the following criteria:
- It has to be based and operating within Flintshire.
- It must have a viable business plan
- It must be Independent of statutory agencies
- It must be self-governing
- The organisation must be non-profit distributing
- It must operate without any restriction on membership, must be open to the whole community.
- The organisation should reinvest the majority of their surplus for their social purpose
- It must demonstrate the ability to become self-sustaining.
Priority will be given to organisations with an annual income of less than £50,000; applicants with an annual income above this may apply but will only be considered if they can provide clear evidence that the project cannot be undertaken by another non-profit making organisation or social enterprise. The grant can be used to support activities or services that have added social value and benefit local people.
Applications will be considered regularly throughout the year and the Council will inform organisations within four weeks of the deadline whether their application has been successful.
Councillor Aaron Shotton, Leader of Flintshire Council said:
“The Council is committed to developing social enterprises in order to improve the business base, to develop local skills and opportunities and to improve services for local people. This fund was launched at our recent Social Enterprise Conference at Coleg Cambria and we aim to provide grants to help local people with their initiatives and encourage as many people as possible to get involved.”
For more information contact Flintshire County Council on 01352 702128 or email [email protected]
