Grants are made in around 400 Tesco regions to make sure the funding is spread evenly across England, Wales and Scotland. In total the Bags of Help programme supports thousands of projects each year.

The current round is upon until  noon on 3 June 2016.

Because there is major demand for grants, Groundwork assesses all of the applications received and then provides a shortlist of the applications received for a Tesco Shortlisting Group to agree three successful projects to forward to a vote in Tesco stores.

Tesco customers vote over two weekends in their store for their favourite shortlisted local project. Grants are then awarded as follows:

• 1st place in Tesco customer vote:  £12,000 grant
• 2nd place in Tesco customer vote: £10,000 grant
• 3rd place in Tesco customer vote:  £8,000 grant

It funds capital projects that provide community benefit that do not charge for access.

The grants programme is open to organisations such as: voluntary/community organisations, registered charities, health bodies, Parish/Town councils, social enterprises, Community Interest Companies, schools, hospices, community councils, local authorities and housing organisations.  Other not-for-profit organisations might also be eligible.

Projects that would typically receive funding include:

• Parks, pocket parks and urban green spaces
• Green corridors – river and canals, cycle ways
• Formal and informal play areas
• Open access sports facilities within public parks and recreation grounds – eg football pitches, tennis courts and cricket pitches
• Informal outdoor recreation facilities; eg gym equipment, trim trails and woodland walks
• Nature reserves, community woodland, ponds and village greens
• Churchyards
• Seafront improvements
• Community allotments, community gardens, orchards and city farms
• Spaces in the grounds of hospices and day centres
• Allotments
• School grounds
• Community spaces on housing estates or residential areas

You do not need to have any matchfunding for your project, but if you do include matchfunding, this must not be higher than 25% of your total project costs. Your project can be a stand-alone project or a discrete, self-contained part of a larger scheme or part of a phased project. You will need to complete your project within twelve months of receipt of the grant.

You will need the landownders permission and you might also need other permissions such as planning permission. These need to be in place before you submit your application.

 

Full details on the website