BD Giving: Communities' Pot

Barking and Dagenham Giving is a local independent funding charity underlined by a simple belief:

We believe that the people affected by funding decisions should be the ones making those decisions.


In the past two years, this approach has seen us distribute over £200,000 to local work and causes that matter to the people of Barking & Dagenham.

We are pleased to announce a new fund, the Communities’ Pot, which we are co-delivering with LBBD. This fund will see twenty grants of £1,500 awarded to small groups and organisations working in the borough.

We are calling this the Communities’ Pot because we want you, the community, to take part in two very important ways. Even if you want to apply for funding, you should still take part in these processes because you are also part of the amazing community of Barking and Dagenham, and your voice should also be heard.


Communities' pot application form - click here

  • Thank you for your interest in the Communities' Pot. Please read the following information carefully.
  • Your application will first be checked by BD Giving staff and, if it passes basic eligibility checks, will then be assessed by a panel of community decision-makers who come from all parts of the borough. Eligibility information can be found here.
  • As this fund will be assessed by people from the community, we recommend that you use SIMPLE, ACCESSIBLE language and avoid abbreviations or acronyms that someone outside the work you are doing would be unfamiliar with.
  • Your application will not be judged on spelling or grammar but as we will not be coming back to you for clarification, we advise that you ask someone to read through your application to check if it makes sense.
  • If you have any questions about the application process, please contact hello@bdgiving.org.uk
  • All your data will be stored in line with our Data Protection Policy.

Information about the fund:

  • There are 20 grants of £1,500.00 available. The source of this funding is LBBD. As this is public money, we have to satisfy certain conditions which is why this application process is more complex than our previous funds.
  • Due to the scale of this pot, the fund is aimed at smaller groups in the borough.
  • We are also realistic about how far £1,500.00 can stretch and would encourage you to present an idea that does not spread you thin.
  • We value people's time at least at the London Living Wage (currently £10.85 per hour but expected to rise soon) and, where appropriate or applicable, would encourage you to factor this into your budget.
  • Grants can’t be paid directly to individuals or unconstituted/informal community groups but you can nominate an organisation to receive the grant on your behalf.
  • Payments are expected to be made in the middle of December so your project should reflect that timing.
  • The funding must either go towards a discrete project or be a demonstrable addition to a project which has already secured funding (capped at 1/3 of the project’s overall costs).
  • Multiple applications from the same source will not be accepted. Attempts to circumvent this will void all relevant applications.

We recently ran a public consultation which helped shape this fund. The outcome of this process was that the community would like to see projects which address some or all of the following:

  • Supporting children, young people and their families
  • A specific need in the borough which you have identified and are able to address (i.e. not a general request for funds)
  • Testing out a new idea which might struggle to attract funding from somewhere else

We WILL NOT fund

  • Any work taking place outside of Barking & Dagenham
  • Any work which goes against the core values of Barking & Dagenham Giving (Collaboration, Inclusivity, and Sustainability) or our charitable purpose (https://bit.ly/3CKhhEx).
  • Any work which promotes specific political parties or are aimed at carrying out specifically religious activities.
  • Activities already delivered, or normally covered by statutory services.

The form itself an be found on our website.

Barking and Dagenham Giving is a local independent funding charity underlined by a simple belief:

We believe that the people affected by funding decisions should be the ones making those decisions.


In the past two years, this approach has seen us distribute over £200,000 to local work and causes that matter to the people of Barking & Dagenham.

We are pleased to announce a new fund, the Communities’ Pot, which we are co-delivering with LBBD. This fund will see twenty grants of £1,500 awarded to small groups and organisations working in the borough.

We are calling this the Communities’ Pot because we want you, the community, to take part in two very important ways. Even if you want to apply for funding, you should still take part in these processes because you are also part of the amazing community of Barking and Dagenham, and your voice should also be heard.


Communities' pot application form - click here

  • Thank you for your interest in the Communities' Pot. Please read the following information carefully.
  • Your application will first be checked by BD Giving staff and, if it passes basic eligibility checks, will then be assessed by a panel of community decision-makers who come from all parts of the borough. Eligibility information can be found here.
  • As this fund will be assessed by people from the community, we recommend that you use SIMPLE, ACCESSIBLE language and avoid abbreviations or acronyms that someone outside the work you are doing would be unfamiliar with.
  • Your application will not be judged on spelling or grammar but as we will not be coming back to you for clarification, we advise that you ask someone to read through your application to check if it makes sense.
  • If you have any questions about the application process, please contact hello@bdgiving.org.uk
  • All your data will be stored in line with our Data Protection Policy.

Information about the fund:

  • There are 20 grants of £1,500.00 available. The source of this funding is LBBD. As this is public money, we have to satisfy certain conditions which is why this application process is more complex than our previous funds.
  • Due to the scale of this pot, the fund is aimed at smaller groups in the borough.
  • We are also realistic about how far £1,500.00 can stretch and would encourage you to present an idea that does not spread you thin.
  • We value people's time at least at the London Living Wage (currently £10.85 per hour but expected to rise soon) and, where appropriate or applicable, would encourage you to factor this into your budget.
  • Grants can’t be paid directly to individuals or unconstituted/informal community groups but you can nominate an organisation to receive the grant on your behalf.
  • Payments are expected to be made in the middle of December so your project should reflect that timing.
  • The funding must either go towards a discrete project or be a demonstrable addition to a project which has already secured funding (capped at 1/3 of the project’s overall costs).
  • Multiple applications from the same source will not be accepted. Attempts to circumvent this will void all relevant applications.

We recently ran a public consultation which helped shape this fund. The outcome of this process was that the community would like to see projects which address some or all of the following:

  • Supporting children, young people and their families
  • A specific need in the borough which you have identified and are able to address (i.e. not a general request for funds)
  • Testing out a new idea which might struggle to attract funding from somewhere else

We WILL NOT fund

  • Any work taking place outside of Barking & Dagenham
  • Any work which goes against the core values of Barking & Dagenham Giving (Collaboration, Inclusivity, and Sustainability) or our charitable purpose (https://bit.ly/3CKhhEx).
  • Any work which promotes specific political parties or are aimed at carrying out specifically religious activities.
  • Activities already delivered, or normally covered by statutory services.

The form itself an be found on our website.

  • CLOSED: This survey has concluded.

    We want to know the sort of things you would like to see funded in the borough. You may wish to identify particular themes (food poverty, mental health etc.) or particular communities within the borough (children, people in care etc.) or something else entirely. We will use your input to shape the questions that we ask to applicants and explain our thinking on here when that process is complete.

    Take Survey
Page last updated: 08 Nov 2021, 03:29 PM