To: Council Reporter/Chief Reporter

From: Linda Harrison - CCC Communications Team

MEDIA RELEASE 23 April 2009

Accessing Small Grants From The Council

The Christchurch City Council is running information sessions for community and sporting groups wanting to know more about how to apply for funding from its Small Grants Fund.

Six public seminars will be run across the city over the next fortnight; are open to anyone wanting to attend and are free of charge. No booking is necessary to attend.

At the seminars Council staff will explain how the Small Grants Fund works, how it differs from other council grant funds, and how to make an application for funding.

The Small Grants Fund is available for both metropolitan and local projects and aims to assist groups to enhance their capacity and/or increase participation in their activities. It is not for major funding (the upper limit for the fund is $5,000 per project). It can be used for things such as purchasing recreation and sporting equipment, project related costs, projects that improve the administration of organisations, and costs supporting volunteer training and retention.

The Small Grants Fund complements the Council’s Strengthening Communities Fund, the Discretionary Response Fund and the Community Organisations Loan Scheme.

“These schemes are relatively new - they were launched in late 2007 to replace earlier community funding schemes and aim to better align council grants with the goals of the Council’s Long Term Council Community Plan,” says Mrs McDonald, the Council’s Community Support Manager.

“We hope that the seminars help community groups to better understand the criteria for this fund and how they can make application to it.”

Applications to the Small Grants Fund must be made on the application form (available at http://www.ccc.govt.nz/Community/Funding/Under5KApplicationForm.pdf or from Council Service Centres, the civic office or from Council libraries) and close on 31 May 2009.

“The Christchurch City Council has a long and proud history of supporting community groups in the city in a range of different ways,” says Catherine McDonald

“It is never easy to decide how to allocate community funding when there are applications for many more dollars than we have available, so we want to give people the best opportunity to learn more and ask questions before they put their application in.”

The schedule of the public seminars is:

Day/Where/When

Wed April 29/Upper Riccarton Library
Main South Road/12 noon

Mon May 4/Linwood Service Centre
Board Room/12 noon

Tues May 5/Papanui Service Centre
Board Room/6 pm

Thu May 7/Fendalton Service Centre/5.30 pm

Tue May 12/Lyttelton Recreation Centre/7.30 pm

Fri May 15/New Brighton Board Room/12 noon

ENDS

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