Investment Fund Application Handbook
Welcome
This guidance provides a short overview of the funding available to community fridge groups to deepen the impact that fridges make and to try and address some of the key issues that are affecting groups across the network.
This funding has been made available in partnership with Coop.
Read on in this guide to find out:
• What’s the funding for?
• What’s included?
• Outline of the application process
• Who can apply?
• What we’re looking for
• Guidance on answering the questions
• What can’t the funding be spent on
• Successful applicants
• And…how to apply!
Moving from surviving to thriving
Through our partnership with Co-op we have supported over 350 groups to set up community fridges, 50 groups to develop in to Food Hubs and hundreds more groups to develop their community offering through support, guidance and infrastructure. The funding for the partnership has come from Co-op members, who support the Co-op's mission to provide access to food.
Throughout this process we have been listening been listening to the needs of groups and the barriers that stand in the way of progress and success in their communities. And we want to help.
we are delighted to be offering groups £5000 to take their fridge further.
This funding will be available on a rolling basis over 6 weeks and applicants who are unsuccessful will be able to apply again as many times as they like within that window. We will be allocating grants on a continuous basis until the funding allocation is distributed.
With this fund Hubbub want to deepen the impact of fridges and really address the issues that we hear they’re coming up against time and time again. These are volunteer recruitment, lack of capacity and dependency on grant funding to name a few. We’ve listened to the network and identified areas where our support could address these problems through encouraging innovation, enhancing existing activities, adapting to new and future challenges and using research and insights to enable groups to become self-sustaining.
We are seeking applications from established fridges needing support who have ambitious ideas to boost their sustainability and
Read on to find out what the funding can be spent on and how to apply!
What our groups say:
"Receiving funding to install air conditioning was a game-changer for our community fridge. Not only has it improved the quality of the food we distribute, but it's also created a more comfortable working environment for our dedicated volunteers. We strongly encourage other community groups to apply for funding it's made a huge difference to us."
Yaxley Community Fridge, Building upgrades
"We've used our funding at Lochwinnoch Community Larder to make our space wheelchair-friendly, making sure everyone can access our services easily. This change has really opened up our doors to more people, showing just how much of a difference a bit of support can make."
Lochwinnoch Community Larder, Building upgrades
"We used our funding to significantly enhance our volunteer management. By streamlining our processes and making them more inclusive, we've not only retained more volunteers but also been better at recruiting new ones. This boost has increased our capacity to support the community effectively, ensuring we can continue making an impact."
Community Fridge at The Feed, Volunteer management
"We applied for funding to add a toilet at Waddesdon Hall Community Fridge, enhancing our facility's accessibility. This crucial upgrade allows us to host longer sessions and serve more people in our community. It's an essential improvement that ensures comfort and better access for everyone who relies on our services."
Waddesdon Hall Community Fridge, Building upgrades
"Our funding at Refurbs Community Fridge kick-started a marketing and fundraising campaign, helping us connect with local food suppliers and develop corporate sponsorship packages. It’s about inspiring businesses to see the social impact they can have by working with us. This initiative has been a game-changer for increasing our food donations and support."
Refurbs Community Fridge, Marketing and fundraising
"With the funding we secured, we've been able to employ a dedicated fundraiser at All Together Community. This role is focused on developing new fundraising strategies that will help us become less reliant on grants and more sustainable long-term. It's a strategic investment that's empowering us to grow our income and enhance our services to the community."
All Together Community, Fundraising staff
Key information
What is the funding for?
The focus of this funding is to improve the longevity, selfsufficiency and social/ environmental impact of your community fridge.
Applications might include:
• Improving buildings and facilities related to your fridge
• Training and learning opportunities for your team
• Extending and/or expanding the existing service that the fridge group provides
• Using insights from previous projects to evolve into new initiatives (“survive mode” to “thrive mode”)
• Upgrading equipment and technology
• Reaching more people through marketing and communications
• Improving your income generation and fundraising
• Volunteer recruitment and management
• Trying out new and innovative ideas
• Working with other groups to make your project stronger
• Reducing waste and making best use of resources
• Capacity or core costs (This could include rent for the facility or salaries for permanent staff. Please note, core costs should be no more than 1/3 of the funding received)
• Evaluation or impact measurement
The application must demonstrate that the funding is to support activities relating to and/or around the community fridge.
What’s included?
Groups can apply for grants of £5000, this will be provided in a one-off payment
Successful applicants will receive:
• Advice and guidance on project activities
• Social media and awareness raising guidance
• Support to share your knowledge with other groups
• Networking opportunities
• Workshops and training
• Evaluation guidance
• PR opportunities and support
• Opportunities to learn from and share with other groups
The application process
1. Read through the guidance documents
2. Check you meet the criteria to apply
3. Read through our applications question guidance here
4. Decide when the best time is for your group to apply for this funding
5. Apply using this form here.
6. Await outcome – The decision is usually known within 2 weeks of application
7. If successful, complete and return the LOA doc
8. If unsuccessful consider applying again Here is the application form
Application Guidance
Application questions
In the application form you will be asked to answer the following questions.
The next two slides give more information on these questions and how to answer them.
1. Briefly describe your organisation, your community fridge and the main activities of your group
2. Describe how receiving funding will help your group keep going
3. How did you decide that this is what your group and community needs?
4. What resources will you need to make this project happen? Are the outcomes doable and realistic?
5. How and what would you measure to show what the funding has achieved?
6. Give a brief breakdown of how you would spend the funding?
Application guidance for groups
Question Purpose Example answer
Briefly describe your organisation, your community fridge and the main activities of your group?
This question tells us about what your group does already. This will be used to give context to your other answers and it gives the reviewer insight in to your current situation.
“Our organisation is a non-profit dedicated to promoting sustainability and social welfare. Our community fridge is a key initiative that redistributes surplus food from local businesses to reduce waste and support those in need. Main activities include collecting and redistributing food, conducting educational workshops on food preservation and sustainability, organizing community events, running a volunteer program, and partnering with local groups. These efforts aim to foster community engagement, reduce food waste, and alleviate food insecurity.”
Describe how receiving funding for this will help your group keep going?
This question wants to know how the funding will help your group to be self-sufficient and to achieve your long-term goals. We want to hear about what your group needs to last for a long time into the future and how getting this funding will make that happen.
“We are currently struggling because none of our volunteers have time to focus on fundraising. We would like to use the £5k to pay for a part time fundraiser for half a day a week.”
“Our volunteers spend a lot of time breaking up cardboard and it means we don’t have as much time to collect food. We would like to buy a cardboard bailing machine to halve the time we spend doing this allowing us to collect more food.”
How did you decide that this is what your group and community needs?
This question is asking you about whether you have done the research to find out if the plans you have are appropriate for your group and if they are the right solution for the problem.
“This is something that our team and our volunteers have been asking for, for a long time. We raised this issue in our monthly neighbourhood meeting and asked for feedback and input from the group and our community. This was the solution that we all agreed on.”
Application guidance for groups
Question Purpose Example answer
What resources will you need to make this project happen? Are the outcomes that you’re hoping for doable and realistic?
Here we are asking how feasible your idea is. What would you need to make your plans happen, who would need to be involved and how much time would they have to give? Would you need any specific resources that you don’t already have? When you consider what resources you'd need to be successful does the project still seem achievable?
“We would need an initial outlay of staff time to recruit for this position and extra time from staff and volunteers to train a new recruit. We would need some specific software to manage our volunteers more easily and we would need to cover some travel expenses.”
How and what would you measure to show what the funding has achieved? What would demonstrate whether your project had been a success?
This question wants to know how you would tell whether your project had been improved by this investment. What would you look out for to know that it was having an impact? We want to know about specific milestones and how you would tell at these points in time whether you were achieving what you wanted to.
“We do a regular volunteer survey, we would look to see if our volunteers were reporting feeling happier or less stressed as a result of this. We would run this survey every six months and if we didn’t notice a change after six months we would look to review what we had done so far and make a plan for the remaining six months based on what we had learned so far.”
Give a brief breakdown of how you would spend the funding over a 1 year period?
This question wants you to show that you’ve thought about a breakdown of how you’ll spend the funding. It will also help to give more information on what you want the funding for.
“We will use the £5,000 funding for one year to hire a volunteer manager for five hrs p/week. Living wage: £11.95 p/hr
5 x £11.95 = £59.75
£59.75 x 52 = £3107.00
A third of the funding (£1667) would go towards core costs for our organisation. The remaining £226 will go towards a subscription to volunteer management software – link here.”
Who can apply?
A group must be:
• UK based
• A community fridge which is officially open to the public and has been running for at least 1 year and is operating within the principles of the Community Fridge Network
• A registered member of the Community Fridge Network
• Up to date with impact reporting
Groups who can apply:
• A Constituted Community Group with a charitable purpose and at least 3 unrelated people aged over 18 on the management committee
• A registered Charity
• A Social Enterprise
• A Community Interest Company with two or more directors
What if I've applied for funding before?
• If you've already received the Investment Fund, you cannot apply to this fund.
• If you've applied to the Investment Fund and were unsuccessful you can apply to this fund.
• If you've received any other types of Hubbub funding, you can still apply to this fund
What can’t the funding be spent on?
While this funding is open to a wide variety of ideas and activities there are a few areas that the funding cannot be used for.
These are:
• Non-fridge related organisational costs, routine administrative costs, other unrelated activities.
• Non-fridge related service enhancements, routine operational costs, other unrelated activities.
• Non-fridge related innovative projects, copying existing solutions without substantial improvement.
• Research unrelated to community fridges, research for external or other funders' requirements.
• Debt repayment, supporting political/religious activities, major refurbishments, retrospective purchases/ activity.
• Activities which do not support the Ethos of the Community Fridge Network.
• Activities which do not contribute to the longevity and self-sufficiency of the fridge.
What we’re looking for
With this fund, we aim to empower community groups applying for grants to make a lasting impact with their fridges. We've heard your challenges, such as recruiting volunteers, limited capacity, and heavy reliance on grants. Our focus is on providing support where it matters most – fostering innovation, strengthening current initiatives, adapting to new challenges, and leveraging research and insights to help your group become self-sufficient and maximise your impact.
• Community engagement and accessibility: Community is at the heart of what we do. Show us how you're engaging with your community and ensuring accessibility for everyone. Share your impact, scalability ideas, and how you’ll be making a difference.
In our assessment criteria there are a few key features which we are looking out for to really understand what you’re applying for funding for. These are:
• Financial Responsibility and Initiative: We appreciate your financial responsibility. Share your plans for a budget that's not only responsible but also sustainable in the long run, let us know how you’ve been resourceful or taken initiative.
• Community fridge history and impact: We're excited to learn about your community fridge and your group activities! Tell us how it connects with your mission, and how the funding will support its activities and benefit the community.
• Resource and sustainability planning: Share your thoughts on how your project will thrive. Tell us about your team's capabilities, available resources, and your vision for long-term selfsufficiency.
A few watch-outs
These are the most common reasons applications lose marks:
• The activity proposed doesn’t meet the criteria for this funding.
• It is not clear enough what the activity is and how it would be delivered e.g. mentioning a number of activities meaning it’s unclear what the funding would go towards.
• There is an inconsistency in answers e.g., costs allocated in budget don’t match the food hub activity.
• Budget does not include costings, was significantly less than the grant or does not use the funding in the most cost-effective way.
• It is not clear that the community needed or asked for the specifically chosen project.
• It is not clear how the project will work alongside and/or appears to replace the existing community fridge.
What happens next?
Successful applicants
Successful Applicants will be notified within 2 weeks of their application. We will then ask you to return a form which compiles three elements:
• A Letter of Agreement which sets out key responsibilities, reporting requirements and timelines
• A Due Diligence form which allows Hubbub to capture the details of those responsible for finance and governance within your organisation.
• Provide your organisational bank details, this will need to be in the format of a certified bank statement, paying-in slip or cheque.
You will need to provide these documents to us even if you have already received funding through Hubbub for a different project.
The full funding amount will be paid once Hubbub have received and confirmed all of these documents. It normally takes two weeks to receive funding after documents have been processed.
Impact reporting
Successful applicants will also be asked to share impact with Hubbub.
One survey will be sent out prior to being funded to give an idea of the current situation for your group. The second survey will be sent out 6 months after receiving the funding and will focus on how the funding has impacted your project.
You can view both of these surveys using the links below.
• Pre-funding survey: https://form.jotform.com/233123102237036
• 6 month post-funding survey: https://form.jotform.com/242113037737047
Unsuccessful applicants
Unsuccessful applicants will be notified within two weeks of their application.
PLEASE NOTE: If you have been unsuccessful in one application you are eligible to apply again before the fund closes.
Ready to apply?
The online application is accessible on our funding page.
Please contact us directly if you're unable to complete a digital application, or if you have any questions.
You can also access our fund Q&A session here.
Get in touch using the contact us form on our website HERE – choose "Investment Fund" from the drop down. Before you apply, don’t forget to fully read the following:
• Terms and Conditions
• Application Question Guidance
• Eligibility Criteria
