The Charity was formed in July 1994 by the amalgamation of three much older charities, The Market Harborough Town Estate and Bates Charity, The Little Bowden Charity Estate, and the association of The Town Lands (Great Bowden) Charity.

Subject to certain Restrictions the Charity is prepared to receive applications for grant assistance relating to projects in the following areas:

Arts

The Charity wishes to help extend the artistic development of performing and creative arts.

The Charity is more likely to support organisations or projects less able to raise substantial funds from other sources. The Charity’s priorities are:

Initiatives which improve and artistic performance of arts organisations or their financial independence.
Arts provision amongst groups or places less well served.
Improved audience facilities.
Arts education work involving local communities, particularly those less well served.

Heritage

In the heritage field the Charity supports the preservation and conservation of buildings, sites and artefacts of historic or architectural value where these are put on display or put to public use.

Education

The Charity is interested in supporting projects which will contribute to the development of a better educated society. Projects falling in the following fields are of particular interest:

Early learning covering the years 0-7.
Further education of 16-19 year olds, particularly the academically less able and the disadvantaged.
Adult education, especially where this addresses earlier under-achievement or creates new opportunities and challenges.

Environment

The Charity wishes to support projects which promote a sustainable environment and society, principally through practical projects, research where this is geared to advancing practical solutions, and education. Its priorities are as follows:

The preservation of countryside and wildlife, appropriately linked to public access.
The reconciliation of the needs of the environment and the economy, ie: projects which sustain the former and promote solutions to any adverse environmental effects associated with economic development.
The development of alternative technologies that help attain these objectives.

Social Welfare

The Charity prefers prevention to palliatives. It wishes to foster self-help and the participation of those intended to benefit; enable less advantaged people to be independent, gain useful skills and overcome handicaps; and encourage volunteer involvement. The Charity supports practical initiatives embodying some or all of these characteristics in the following priority fields:

Physical and sensory disabilities.
Mental health and learning disabilities.
Young people, particularly those who are under-achieving or are otherwise challenged.
Parenting and family support.
Carers, ie: people caring for sick, elderly, or disabled people at home.
Homelessness.
Ageing, ie: social aspects of elderly people living within the community.
Crime prevention and the rehabilitation of offenders and ex-offenders.
Regeneration and other schemes which support and develop community resourcefulness, particularly in less advantaged areas.

Grants are usually offered as a contribution to the costs of specified works (ie: of a capital nature) and rarely to help meet running costs – note clause 35(2). These should be located in the area of benefit an should be primarily though not necessarily exclusively for the benefit of the inhabitants of the area of benefit.

“Charitable Purposes” embrace arts, heritage, education, environment and social welfare. Sport however is not a charitable purpose, though sports education may qualify.

It is helpful, but by no means essential, for the applicant to have charitable status.

Grants can be made to public bodies if it can be unequivocally demonstrated that the cost of the project would not otherwise be met from public funds, in these cases there is usually a public appeal for funds, often itself having Charitable status.

It is necessary that the project fulfils a demonstrable public need and that the facilities are open to all, and not for the exclusive use of members of the sponsoring organisation. Thus grant aiding of one project does not set a precedent – indeed possibly the reverse if the first facility fulfils the identified public need.

With major projects the Charity may wish to enter into a “partnership” with the Applicant for the purpose of seeing the project through to completion, and will usually nominate one or two of the Charity Feoffes to form a contact group to liaise with the Applicant and monitor the project.

It is essential that applicants submit full details not only of the objectives of their scheme, but also of the quotations for its execution, official consents, etc. This should be accompanied by details of the funding already in place, and sources of other proposed funding. The Charity will also need to establish that the project is financially viable on an on-going basis.

It is very unlikely that the Charity will fully fund a scheme. The Charity’s response will be influenced by evidence that the applicant body is vigorously seeking funds by its own activities. The Charity does recognise however that some organisations are, by their very nature, less able to gain substantial matching funding.

Applicants should understand that when the Charity makes an offer of grant assistance it has to allocate forward funds from its budget matching the planned time scale of the project, and that this may be several years in advance. The Charity is therefore reluctant to allocate funds unless it is completely confident in the viability of the scheme. The Charity’s funds are limited and to do otherwise could well prevent it from being able to assist an alternative scheme that is well placed to proceed.

Relief-in-Need Applications

Applications for relief-in-need grants must be made to the Charity upon the appropriate relief-in-need application form, available from the Steward at the address detailed below.

Small Grants Application

Applications for grants of up to Ł5,000 must be made upon the Charity's normal grants application form, available from the Steward at the address detailed below.

Major Grant Applications

Applications for grant aid in respect of major schemes should also be made on the Charity's grant application form, but in addition must include the following information together with all relevant supplementary documentation:

A brief description of your organisation, its work, its date of establishment, and the management and staffing structure.
A description of the project for which funds are required, projected start and finish dates, and information in respect of the future management of the facility.
A busines plan for the project detailing present and future funding, and enclosing accurate cost estimates if appropriate backed by current contractor's quotations.
An explanation of the benefit that the community at large will derive from the provision of the facilities for which grant aid is sought, and the extent to which such facilities are not presently provided for in the area of benefit.
If the application involves property acquisition or modification the Applicant should confirm the future legal ownership of that property, and within the business plan should show appropriate costs for maintenance, management, and if necessary the accumulation of a sinking fund.
If appropriate the Applicant should provide details of any other similar projects with which the organisation has been involved.
Your organisations proposals for monitoring the performance of the facility, and how you intend to share information about the project with others in similar fields of activity, should also be stated.

J.G. Jacobs FRICS
The Steward to the Market Harborough and The Bowdens Charity
149 St Mary's Road
Market Harborough
Leicestershire
LE16 7DZ

Tel: 01858 462467
Fax: 01858 431898
Email: steward@mhbcharity.co.uk

Registered Charity Number 1041958.