Frequently Asked Questions

How can schools go about getting funding?
What funding is available for young people?
What is match funding?
Can Hampshire County Council fund my project?
How can your department help us?
What are outcomes?
What is retrospective funding?
How long does it take to write a bid?
How can my organisation access LEADER funding?
Do you give out grants?
We are a school applying for Awards for All funding and need to provide a letter saying the money will be ring fenced.  How do we do this?
I have a small or medium sized business and am looking for funding.  Can you help?
I work for Hampshire County Council and want to get some commercial sponsorship.  Am I allowed?

How can schools go about getting funding?

Schools are eligible for a range of funding but there it can be quite daunting checking all the eligiblity criteria for different programmes.  The External Funding Unit can help you to start looking for funding so if you are a school and need some help please contact us.

What funding is available for young people?

All the Lottery distributors favour projects involving young people.  Many will want to see genuine input from the people involved in the project.  If you have a project idea that you would like to discuss please contact us and we can go through posible funding options.

What is match funding?

Often funders will not fund 100% of a project.  Match funding is the gap between the amount the funder is prepared to put in and the total cost of the project.  This may be as real money or it may be "in kind".  This may include a person's time or other resources needed for the project to run.

Can Hampshire County Council fund my project?

Some departments within the County Council do run their own grant schemes so it would depend on your project.  Click on the Hampshire County Council grant pages to find out if your project could get funding.

How can your department help us?

The External Funding Unit is part of the Economic Development Office.  The Economic Development Office does run a Village Shop Grant Scheme and is also involved with LEADER funding in the North East of the County.

What are outcomes?

Please visit our resources pages to find out this and other useful bidding information.

What is retrospective funding?

Some funding streams will only pay out money after the activity has taken place.  This means the department or organisation has to be in a financial position to pay for the project and then claim the money back afterwards.

How long does it take to write a bid?

This is a question we are often asked and in some ways it is both the easiest and hardest question to answer!  In short it will usually depend on the amount of money you are asking for.  The larger the grant, the longer you should expect to take on the application.

How can my organisation access LEADER funding?

LEADER Funding is available in three areas of the County; The New Forest, Loddon and Eversley and East Hampshire.  For more information and contact details please visit Hampshire County Council's LEADER website.

Do you give out grants?

The External Funding Unit does not give out grants.  Our main remit is to assist departments within Hampshire County Council to successfully secure external funding.  However we are involved in the Village Shops Grant Scheme and LEADER funding.

We are a school applying for Awards for All funding and need to provide a letter saying the money will be ring fenced.  How do we do this?

Hampshire County Council has a pre-prepared letter for this issue.  Please contact our office and we will arrange this for you.

I have a small or medium sized business and am looking for funding.  Can you help?

We do not provide funding advice to business.  In each instance we would ask you to contact Business Link.

I work for Hampshire County Council and want to get some commercial sponsorship.  Am I allowed?

Definitely!  What we do ask though, is that you follow the County Council's Sponsorship Policy.  We can run checks on potential sponsors to confirm their financial position, whether there are any disputes with the County Council, as well as other potential conflicts of interest.