Community Chest 2025 to 2026
We have £90,000 in funding from NHS North East London ICB’s Health Inequalities Fund to fund local projects. We are distributing this money through our Community Chest.
The Havering Community Chest 2025/26 will open for bids on 1 May 2025.
Local groups can bid for up to £5,000 (£10,000 if you can make a very special case) to run a community project in Havering that meets the following criteria.
- It improves residents’ wellbeing - on any topic that impacts wellbeing, from health checks, to cost of living support, to loneliness and isolation and more.
- It aims to tackle health inequalities - they work with residents pre-disposed to having health and wellbeing challenges.
- It fills a gap in the borough - there isn’t a similar project already running.
The criteria
We are looking for projects that improve residents' wellbeing, aim to tackle health inequalities, and fill a gap in the borough.
You can bid for new or existing projects.
Projects can be a one off / series of events or a project lasting a number of months. We can’t fund materials alone, they must be linked to a project.
Organisations must have an income of less than £500,000 to bid.
Groups must be one of the following.
- A registered CIC
- Registered CIOs
- Company limited by guarantee
- Cooperative
- Community Benefit Society
- Constituted group / organisation
- A collective of local residents who have come together to make a bid
Groups are welcome to join up to bid together if they wish - contact us to be put in contact with like-minded organisations.
Projects need to be completed by 1 April 2026.
Groups must be running their project in Havering for Havering residents.
Groups can submit multiple bids, but each group will only get funding for 1 project each.
Groups need to already have a good relationship with the target audience they wish to work with / have a plan of how to reach their audience.
Groups can bid for up to £10,000 for a very special case.
You will need to justify why £10,000 is needed and will only be awarded in exceptional circumstances so that we can fund as many projects as possible.
Groups/projects must pass due diligence. This will be project specific and we can talk through what this looks like for your project if it is a concern.
How to apply
You can submit either a 5 minute video or an application form answering the following questions.
- What project are you planning on doing?
- Why are you doing it?
- Why is it needed?
- Where are you doing it?
- How much money do you need and what will you spend it on?
- What difference will this project make for local people?
- How are you going to reach your target audience?
Information about how to submit the video will be published soon.
Apply for the funding (coming soon)
How decisions will be made
This year, we have removed commissioners from the decision-making process and are shifting to a community-led model.
It’s important to us that our communities influence and shape how this funding is spent so that we deliver meaningful, purposeful projects.
The Live Well Havering team will check that the bid meets the criteria to shortlist the bids to the community panel stage.
We will approve bids to the final stage as long as they evidence that they meet the criteria.
We recommend an email / virtual / phone call / in-person conversation about your project before you bid so we can talk through your project together about:
- 1-1 support required to get your documents together in time to bid.
- organisations you may wish to partner with / learn from who run similar projects
- feedback about your application
- what resources you will need so we can give you access to cheaper / free resources where possible
Contact livewellhavering@gov.uk to talk to us.
Once you submit, we can’t offer feedback / advice, so we recommend running your idea by us before submitting.
Shortlisted bids
Successful applicants will be invited to present their project to a community panel. You will find out if your application will be moving to the community panel stage on 31 July 2025.
You will then have until October 2025 to prepare your presentation for the community panel and gather any documents.
Our panel is made up of community champions (like faith leaders, voluntary sector colleagues, connector roles, like Local Area Coordinators and Social Prescribers).
We have sought as many diverse lived experiences as possible for our panel to make sure it is fair.
Some voluntary sector champions are on our panel. They will be able to bid for the fund, but will not be involved in any discussions about their own bid.
The timeline
- 1 May – 30 June: Applications are open
- 30 June – 31 July: Live Well Havering team review applications against required criteria
- 31 July: All applicants will be informed of the outcome of their applications. Shortlisted groups are asked to provide additional information and details of the panel presentations are released.
- October 14 and 15: Community panel presentations take place
- By 31 October: Successful groups are notified
- November (TBC): Money is transferred to successful projects.
Launch webinar
We hosted an online launch session on 22 April 2025 from 2pm to 3pm. You can watch the recording once the session has taken place (coming soon).
Support to apply
We are here to support you. You can reach us by emailing livewellhavering@gov.uk for information.
If you would prefer to meet in-person, let us know via email and we can share some possible dates with you.
Please note, we can’t offer feedback / advice about your project once you submit your application.
For updates on the Community Chest and all things health and wellbeing in the borough, please sign up to the Live Well Havering newsletter.