6.1 Notifying applicants

All applicants should be notified of the decision made on their funding proposal as soon as feasible, and ideally all applicants in the round should be notified at the same time.

  • Successful applicants should be sent an offer letter with information on how to formally accept the grant offer. This can be via a Grant Agreement Form that details any feedback and/or conditions of award that need to be fulfilled. An offer ‘pack’ may also include a template monitoring/ completion report and information on acknowledging/ publicising the award.
  • Unsuccessful applicants should be sent a letter outlining the reasons for rejection. These should be described objectively, and publicly defendable. They should help the applicant understand what should be addressed (if possible) should they wish to reapply (if that is an option).
  • Deferred applicants should similarly be sent a letter outlining the clear reasons why a decision could not be reached, and inviting them to provide further information in support of the funding proposal so that it can be considered in the next round of award making, should they wish.

6.2 Publicising award decisions

Once decision letters have been received by all applicants, the proposals receiving an award should be publicised locally using a variety of channels. This is part of efforts to ensure the Fund is being managed in a transparent and accountable way; engaging the local community, demonstrating the value of the Fund, and building support for it. Publicity might include, for example:

  • A summary of awards made available on local noticeboards, websites, social media, and community newsletters. This might simply cover: the name of the awardee (unless this is an individual, as they may wish to remain anonymous and in any case data protection requirements apply); the amount awarded, and; a summary of the purpose of the grant.
  • Notifying key stakeholders, such as the community council and Fund donor
  • A press release sent to local media (e.g. newspapers and radio) including a headline figure for the total awarded, providing due recognition to the Fund donor, and highlighting particularly relevant or interesting awards that may benefit key sections of the community. This could include quotes from an awardee, the Fund donor and potentially the decision making group.

It may be prudent not to publicise rejections or deferrals as this may be unhelpful for the relevant applicant organisations, who may be concerned about the reputational impact of such negative publicity. Of course, the rejections and deferrals will be detailed in the minutes of the decision making meeting, once publicised, but immediate and widespread publicity about them should ideally be avoided.