Community Grant Fund

Key Dates/Who can apply?

***Current Open Rounds***       

1. Year 2 of £1m Community Grant Fund - Round 1 - see full details on the How to Apply page - closing date midnight on 26 October 2025

Applications for the Community Grant Fund can be submitted by: 

  • Town/Parish Councils or a constituted Parish Meeting. 
  • Any constituted community/voluntary group who hold a bank account in the name of the organisation and have at least three years of accounts. 

All applications outside of Market Harborough need to be submitted or supported by the Parish Council or Parish Meeting.  This is to ensure that projects are meeting needs identified across the community and that a range of groups have an opportunity to apply. A separate application will need to be completed for each separate project that is being submitted. All applicants will need to submit the views of their Ward Councillor.

The funding can only go to groups that are constituted and have held a bank account in the name of the group for three years – this relates to the group delivering the project.  If your Parish Meeting does not meet this criteria, you can support an application on behalf of another group who does meet the criteria.

Outside Market Harborough, where the funding is for a community group other than the Parish Council or Parish Meeting, the group will need to obtain a letter of support from the Parish Council or Meeting before submitting an application form.

The contract for delivery will be directly with the group that will be delivering the project, which may be a Parish Council or Meeting or a different group. The Grant is for capital funding only and can be used to support other grants offered by the council, such as Section 106.  Parishes/Towns can work together to submit a joint application, if preferred.

More than one application can be submitted subject to applications not exceeding the allocated grant amount for that parish or town.  Grants must be spent within one year of receipt, unless agreement is given by the Council, to extend the spend-period. Any non-spent money must be returned to the Council.

2. Underspend Round from Year 1 - 'open' remaining pot of £73,623 - closing date midnight on 26 October 2025

This is only open to district-wide groups and parishes who did not spend their full allocation during Year 1.

All applications will be scheduled in for the next appropriate Cabinet Sub-Committee for Grants meeting.

Cabinet Sub-committee Grants dates

The key dates for the rounds and the meetings to consider the Community Grant Fund are below:-

  • Round 1 - Closes midnight on 26 October 2025; Committee meeting 25 November 2025
  • Round 2 - 1 December 2025 to 6 February 2026; Committee meeting 24 March 2026 
  • Round 3 - March to early May 2026; Committee meeting in June 2026 - dates to be confirmed 
  • Underspend Round - if applicable - June to early August 2026; Committee meeting in September 2026 - dates to be confirmed