The Community Ownership Fund (COF) is a £150million, UK government fund that helps community groups to protect, through community ownership, assets in their local area which are at risk of being lost.
Groups can bid for up to £250k matched-funding to help take over or run an asset although in exceptional cases, up to £1m is available for sporting assets.
The UK Government published an updated prospectus for COF at the end of May with expressions of interest able to be submitted from 10th June. There will be a window between 20th June and 19th August 2022 for full applications from those who have passed the EOI stage.
In the first round of funding there were three projects funded in Wales valued at £464,258.
Below are the main changes from the first round to be aware of:
There are plans to offer development support in the future and the UK Government is currently procuring a provider to support prospective applicants. This is anticipated to be in place later this year.
Assessment criteria that applications will be assessed against remain unchanged.
Projects are advised not to rush their applications and submit when they are ready. The dates for the two further rounds this financial year are yet to be confirmed.