Community Fund Wales Funding news and support for Welsh communities

Community Fund Wales

Funding news and support for Welsh communities

Latest Articles

Puddles, Heat and Hard Evidence: A Climate Adaptation Plan Welsh Community Groups Can Actually Fund
Funding Planning

Puddles, Heat and Hard Evidence: A Climate Adaptation Plan Welsh Community Groups Can Actually Fund

Climate adaptation is often written into Welsh funding bids as a vague promise of 'resilience'. A structured walk-around of a community building or green space can replace that language with photographed problems, costed remedies and a maintenance plan that funders can scrutinise. This guide sets out a practical audit, a simple prioritisation matrix and ways to pair 2026 capital and revenue grants.
Making Time Legible: Presenting Volunteer Hours in Welsh Grant Bids
Funding Planning

Making Time Legible: Presenting Volunteer Hours in Welsh Grant Bids

Volunteer time is often the largest in-kind contribution a Welsh community group brings to a project, yet it is frequently absent from the match funding table. This article sets out a measured approach to recording, valuing and presenting those hours in 2026 applications without overstating what has been given.
Mining the Refusal: What a Failed Welsh Grant Bid Can Teach a Community Group
Funding Planning

Mining the Refusal: What a Failed Welsh Grant Bid Can Teach a Community Group

A rejected funding bid is often treated as a dead end, but it can be one of the most useful documents a Welsh community group holds. This guide sets out how to request feedback, distinguish poor fit from weak presentation, keep a rejection log and report setbacks to trustees without losing momentum in 2026.
After the Key Handover: Funding the Everyday Machinery of Welsh Community Transport
Funding Planning

After the Key Handover: Funding the Everyday Machinery of Welsh Community Transport

A new minibus is the visible part of a community transport scheme, but the service depends on drivers, fuel, insurance, coordination and a replacement reserve. This article sets out how Welsh groups can present the whole operating model to funders in 2026.
Who Comes Back? Evidencing Participation in Welsh Community Funding
Funding Planning

Who Comes Back? Evidencing Participation in Welsh Community Funding

Many Welsh community groups can describe who a project is for, but fewer can show who actually took part and who returned. This article examines how funders are approaching reach and engagement in 2026 and sets out practical, proportionate ways to record attendance, understand drop-off and design activities around real community rhythms.
Paying for the Plumbing: Making Core Costs Legible in Welsh Community Funding Bids
Funding Planning

Paying for the Plumbing: Making Core Costs Legible in Welsh Community Funding Bids

Community groups across Wales routinely remove coordination, staff time and administration from their budgets in the belief that leaner applications look stronger. The consequence is often a project that cannot be delivered as promised. This guide sets out how to present core costs as what they actually are: the infrastructure of delivery.
The Policy Behind the Project: Budgeting Insurance into Welsh Community Funding
Funding Planning

The Policy Behind the Project: Budgeting Insurance into Welsh Community Funding

Insurance is rarely the headline cost in a Welsh community grant application, yet it can determine whether a funded project opens its doors at all. This practical guide explains how groups can budget for premiums from the outset, which funders may treat insurance as a core cost, and how to avoid being insurance-rich but cash-poor.
The Ten Per Cent Question: Giving Welsh Capital Projects a Life Beyond Completion
Opinion

The Ten Per Cent Question: Giving Welsh Capital Projects a Life Beyond Completion

Capital grants can transform a Welsh community building, but the funding often stops at handover. This article argues for a simple lifecycle reserve in 2026 bids, and explains how groups can present it to funders as evidence of responsible planning rather than a weakness.
Words That Open Doors: Rethinking How Welsh Funding Describes Communities
Opinion

Words That Open Doors: Rethinking How Welsh Funding Describes Communities

The phrase 'hard-to-reach' appears in countless Welsh grant applications and funder reports, but it often says more about the funding system than about the communities it describes. This opinion piece asks who the language serves, why some small Welsh-language and rural groups opt out of funding, and what more accurate alternatives could look like in 2026.
Closing the Loop: How Welsh Groups Can Leave a Funded Project Well
Funding Planning

Closing the Loop: How Welsh Groups Can Leave a Funded Project Well

Most Welsh community projects plan carefully for the start of a grant and far less carefully for its end. This practical exit guide covers reserves, unspent balances, asset ownership, handover records and honest conversations with beneficiaries — and argues that a well-managed ending should be treated as a mark of quality.
The Funding Streams Hiding in Plain Sight: Twelve Sources for Welsh Community Groups
Funding Planning

The Funding Streams Hiding in Plain Sight: Twelve Sources for Welsh Community Groups

Many Welsh community groups return to the same national funding programmes each year, overlooking local health board endowments, police and crime commissioner budgets, utility schemes and landfill tax credits. This guide maps twelve lesser-known sources and explains how to approach them with confidence in 2026.
Bidding Together: Why Welsh Community Groups Should Rethink the Solo Grant Application
Opinion

Bidding Together: Why Welsh Community Groups Should Rethink the Solo Grant Application

Joint grant applications are often treated as an administrative complication rather than a strategic opportunity. This opinion piece argues that collaboration can improve success rates, share resources and build stronger networks across Welsh communities.
Heating the Hall, Warming the Community: Funding Winter Welcome in Wales for 2026
Funding Planning

Heating the Hall, Warming the Community: Funding Winter Welcome in Wales for 2026

As Welsh community buildings prepare for winter 2026-27, warm hubs are returning to the centre of local life. This practical guide sets out what to budget, where to look for energy and staffing funding, and how to measure whether a warm hub is genuinely helping.
The Single Point of Failure: Building Grant Resilience in Wales's One-Person Fundraising Teams
Opinion

The Single Point of Failure: Building Grant Resilience in Wales's One-Person Fundraising Teams

In many small Welsh charities, fundraising rests on one staff member or volunteer. This opinion piece argues that grant resilience is not about working harder, but about shared systems, trustee involvement and realistic habits that reduce dependency on a single person.
When a Village Buys Its Own Future: A Practical Guide to Community Shares in Wales
Funding Planning

When a Village Buys Its Own Future: A Practical Guide to Community Shares in Wales

Community shares offer Welsh groups a route to saving valued local assets without relying solely on grants. This practical guide explains the model, the legal and financial checks, the support available in Wales, and the steps a committee should take before launching an offer.
Opinion

The Grant Application Orthodoxy: Five Assumptions Welsh Groups Should Challenge in 2026

Many Welsh community groups still approach funding with assumptions that no longer hold. This opinion piece challenges five common beliefs, from the idea that small organisations cannot apply to the notion that match funding must always be cash.
The Case for the £500 Grant: How Microfunding Strengthens Welsh Community Life
Opinion

The Case for the £500 Grant: How Microfunding Strengthens Welsh Community Life

Large funding bids dominate headlines, but modest microgrants often move Welsh community groups further and faster. This opinion-led practical guide explains why £500 can unlock volunteers, hall hire, transport and food projects, and sets out a step-by-step approach to finding and winning microgrant funding in 2026.
The Year-End Funding Window: What Welsh Community Groups Should Do Before Christmas
Funding Planning

The Year-End Funding Window: What Welsh Community Groups Should Do Before Christmas

The final weeks of 2026 offer a narrow funding window for Welsh community groups, with winter hardship schemes and small trusts closing before the new year. This practical countdown explains what to prioritise, which eligibility traps to avoid and how volunteer-run organisations can prepare without overstretching capacity.