Cambridge City Council's grant round closes midday on 22 September, awards up to £40,000 a year. The council says it is the last multi-year round.
Cambridge City Council has opened four grant schemes for community and voluntary groups, and its own guidance says this is the last time groups will be able to ask it for money that runs beyond a single year. Applications close at midday on Monday 22 September 2026. (Cambridge City Council)
The reason is written on the council’s own pages, in the same sentence on three of the four schemes: “As local government reorganisation progresses, this will be the last opportunity to apply for multi-year funding through the current programme.” (Cambridge City Council)
What is open, and for how much
| Scheme | Maximum | Term |
|---|---|---|
| Organisation Support Grants | £40,000 a year, or 20% of average annual turnover, whichever is lower | Multi-year, unrestricted |
| Large Community Grants | £10,000 a year | One year, or up to three years |
| Sustainable City Grants | £10,000 | Activities and events |
| Homelessness Prevention Grants | Not published | Up to two years, April 2027 to March 2029 |
Source: Cambridge City Council grant pages, read 17 August 2026.
The Organisation Support Grant is the unusual one. It is unrestricted money, meaning it pays for the organisation rather than a named project, which is what most small charities say they cannot get. The cap is £40,000 a year or 20% of average annual turnover over the last three years’ accounts, whichever is lower, and the council states plainly that it expects more applications than it can fund and that groups “should expect not to receive this much”.
Large Community Grants replace the council’s old “over £5,000” grant. A group can apply for up to £10,000 a year for up to three years, with an inflationary uplift each year on multi-year awards, and only one application per organisation.
Sustainable City Grants fund activities and events tied to the council’s climate change strategy, including energy use, waste and recycling, sustainable transport, food and climate adaptation. They do not cover capital costs or research studies.
Homelessness Prevention Grants cover projects running from 1 April 2027 to 31 March 2029 and are tied to the council’s Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy action plan for 2026 to 2028.
The catch the council states itself
Two lines in the guidance are worth reading before anyone starts an application. The first is that the pot has not grown: “We have widened the scope of our grants to cover activities that last more than one year and to provide general support rather than funding specific events. Our overall grants budget has not increased.” The second is that awards may be cut to fit: “Some grant awards may be offered at less than the amount requested.”
So a wider set of things can now be funded out of the same money, over longer periods, in a round that is also the last chance to lock in more than one year. That combination is likely to make this round harder than usual, not easier.
Why this is the last multi-year round
Cambridge City Council is one of seven councils in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough waiting on a government decision about local government reorganisation. The councils submitted four options and, on 21 July, publicly urged ministers to decide quickly, noting that the government had announced decisions on 14 other areas the week before and deferred this one. Cambridgeshire and Peterborough is one of only two areas left waiting, the other being West Sussex, and the council said a decision was expected by October 2026. (Cambridge City Council)
A grant agreed now for three years would therefore outlive the authority that awarded it. That is exactly why the council is offering the longer term now, and why it says the current programme will not offer it again.
Who can apply
The eligibility bar is a governance bar rather than a size bar. Across the schemes the council requires that a group is independently established for charitable, benevolent or philanthropic purposes, is overseen by at least three elected volunteers who are not related to one another, holds a bank account requiring two signatures, and has up-to-date accounts, policies and insurance. Community interest companies are eligible only if they are limited by guarantee with an asset lock; CICs that issue shares are not.
The schemes then differ on maturity. A Large Community Grant needs one year of operation. An Organisation Support Grant needs three years, incorporated status, and at least one paid member of staff, or a grant that would create one.
Applications for the Organisation Support Grant are also scored, and the council publishes the weightings: strategic fit and impact 20%, governance and risk 20%, staff, volunteers and organisational capacity 15%, use of funding and value for money 15%, financial strength and sustainability 14%, previous city council grant management 10%, being the only organisation delivering the service locally 5%, and a turnover under £2 million 1%.
Activities have to meet at least one of four outcomes the council has set under its “One Cambridge, Fair for All” vision: happy and healthy lives, safe and pleasant places, belonging and connection, and information, support and confidence.
The dates
- 4 August 2026: applications opened on the council’s grants portal
- Wednesday 19 August 2026, 10am to 3pm: face to face guidance session at the Support Cambridgeshire office in Arbury Court, by appointment
- Midday, Monday 22 September 2026: applications close
- October to mid-December 2026: the council assesses applications and writes its report
- 18 January 2027: Cabinet decides, with papers published five working days beforehand and applicants told by email within seven working days
- 25 February 2027: councillors approve the following year’s budget
- From 1 April 2027: first payments
If your group needs less than £5,000
Small Community Grants are not part of this round. Round 1 of that scheme opens on 24 November 2026 and closes at midday on 12 January 2027, for activities taking place between 1 April 2027 and 31 March 2028, with awards paid from 1 April 2027. A second round opens on 20 April 2027 and closes on 1 June 2027. The council is running a webinar for small grant applicants on 1 December 2026. (Cambridge City Council)
What it means for you
If you help run a group in Cambridge, the practical decision is not whether to apply but which scheme to apply to, and it has to be made in the next few weeks. A group that has been living on annual grants and wants two or three years of certainty has one chance left, and it closes at midday on 22 September. A group that only needs a few thousand pounds for a single event is better waiting for the small grants round in November, because a Large Community Grant application will be competing against multi-year bids for a budget that has not grown.
If you do not run a group, this is still the money behind a lot of what happens in the city: the council says previous funding has supported arts and sports activities, work on social isolation and mental health, and advice services. Plenty of what is listed in our guide to things to do in Cambridge is put on by organisations funded this way.
Free help with applications is available from Support Cambridgeshire on 01480 420601 or info@supportcambridgeshire.org.uk, and the Cambridge Ethnic Community Forum offers the same for groups working with minoritised ethnic communities, migrants and refugees. Questions to the council go to grants@cambridge.gov.uk or 01223 457875.
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