Bags of Help is Tesco’s local community grant scheme, which funds thousands of community projects every year. The projects must meet the criteria of bringing benefits to the community.
Bags of Help is administered by Groundwork who are working with greenspace scotland to support successful projects in Scotland.
Three community projects in each local area are voted on by customers in Tesco stores throughout the UK*, with projects changing every three months. Following the vote, the project that received the most votes in its area will receive a grant of up to £1,000.
Grants will be awarded to voluntary or community organisations (including registered charities/companies), schools, health bodies (e.g. Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), NHS Hospital Trust, Foundation Trust), Parish/Town Councils, local authorities and social housing providers.
This list is not exhaustive and there will be many other types of organisations that will be funded.
Applications will not be funded where:
- Individuals have applied, as groups must be fully constituted
- Profit-making organisations are also ineligible for funding.
Examples include:
- Equipment or non statutory services for nurseries or schools eg Forest schools, library books
- Equipment for Brownie, Guide or Scout Groups eg camping equipment, badges
- Environmental improvements
- Play areas
- Counselling and support services
- Activities to support mental health
- Activities or equipment to reduce social isolation
- Equipment/kit for sports teams
- Services or equipment to support health issues such as cancer or dementia
Equipment for village/community halls
Bags of Help can fund 100% of your project costs so you do not have to have any match funding. However, if you secured additional funding, there is no limit to what this amount can be and any funding awarded by Bags of Help can form part of your wider project costs.
Your project can be a stand-alone project or discrete, self-contained part of a larger scheme or part of a phased project. You will need to complete your project within twelve months of receipt of the grant.
For any projects that are making a physical improvement to an outdoor space, you will need the landowner’s permission and you might also need other permissions – e.g. planning permission. These need to be in place before you submit your application and the landowner permission form will need to be completed and signed as part of your application.
Projects which are ineligible
- Work that has already taken place
- Political donations
- Fundraising activities or challenges (e.g. costs for a sky dive etc.)
- Running costs and organisation overheads
- Conferences or seminars
- Activities which collect funds for redistribution to other charities or individuals
- Overseas appeals
- Expeditions or overseas travel
- Promotion of a religious or political cause
- Marketing promotions
- Research projects
- Projects or activities that the state has a legal obligation to provide
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