The SLCC Educational Trust is excited to announce that it is making its first grant awards in July 2024. The Trust continues to work towards charitable status but in the meantime, it is operating as a committee of the SLCC so that it can begin awarding grants. It will consider applications at its meetings in July, September and November 2024.

The Trust has agreed to award up to £15,000 in grants this year, in addition to a single bursary for 90% of the annual course fee for a student of Community Governance in 2025. Look out for more information on the Community Governance bursary – applications will be reviewed at the November meeting of the SLCC Board.

Their ambition is that, as a consequence of the Trust’s grants:

  • More local council officers will be equipped with the knowledge and skills they need to serve their councils and their local communities for the public benefit
  • The general public will have a better understanding of local councils, their staff and their role in local communities

Criteria

As an illustration, a grant can be used to support the following:

  • Course fees and the fees for qualifications
  • The costs of attendance at training events, conferences and seminars (both in-person and remote) and including travel costs, childcare or other caring costs
  • Books or equipment to facilitate study

They ask applicants to explain how the grant enables them, as an individual representing a specific organisation, to act for the benefit of local communities served by a local council. Applicants will also be expected to show how a lack of funding presents an obstacle to learning. This includes providing information on current budgets and costings showing how the grant will be spent. In the first instance, priority will be given to applications from people who work for a council with an annual turnover of less than £25,000.

Objectives & Process

The objectives of are:

  • To advance, for the public benefit, education within the local council sector
  • To promote, for the public benefit, knowledge of and participation in local government

Applicants are asked to complete an application form with links to supporting documents. Meeting dates and deadlines for applications are published on the Trust’s webpage where you will find the grant awarding policy and other relevant information.

Click here to find out more and visit their website.