Future development of the fund
We need your help to decide how we can make fairer and more transparent decisions about how we allocate funding through the Community Grants Fund (CGF).
Stakeholder engagement so far
In 2024, we asked panel members and applicants what they thought did and didn't work well about the CGF and that helped us to identify areas for improvement. In 2025, we worked with the same groups to find better ways of making funding decisions that were fairer for applicants, involved more people from local communities, and more transparent for everyone involved. Together, we came up with three future funding model options and submitted a report to the Culture and Communities committee to progress future changes.
February 2026 Culture and Communities committee report
The CGF report with the recommendations that emerged from the stakeholder engagement and participation was presented on 11 February 2026.
The key recommendations asked in this paper were:
- Note this report is informed by ongoing stakeholder engagement to improve efficiency and governance in allocating community grants (this was noted).
- Note that as part of the stakeholder engagement and in response to Councillor Heap’s Motion on 5 June 2025, community groups were surveyed to determine their interest in a Participatory Budgeting (PB) approach (this was noted).
- Note the current grant model is compromised by significant inefficiencies in the process, inconsistency across neighbourhood areas and a lack of capacity to administer the CGF process (this was noted).
- Agree that CGF funding for 2026/27 will be allocated in one funding round by current CGF panels and any funds remaining will be allocated at the discretion of the authorising officer (this was not agreed).
- Agree to receiving a further report in May 2026, presenting an Options Appraisal for a new funding model with recommendations and a timeline for committee to consider (this was agreed).
The different funding model options that we presented to Culture and Communities committee, based on our engagement were
- refreshed funding panels
- officer-led participatory budgeting
- community led participatory budgeting with two-tier distribution.
Download the funding model options
Next steps
Amendments from the Culture and Communities committee members asked that we consult more widely on the funding models before committing to any option. In response to this we have prepared a further survey, which asks which model option is the preferred one.
Please complete our survey by 4 May 2026 and get in touch with the team know if you have any questions
Once the survey has closed, our team will prepare another report that is due to go to the Culture and Communities committee on 13 August 2026 outlining the top funding model option as determined by the outcome of the survey. We will share this report with you once it is available ahead of the August committee date.
If you have any questions or would like to discuss in more detail, please email