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.
How does Bags of Help work?
Bags of Help is always open for applications from charities and community organisations.
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.
Who is eligible to apply?
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.
What types of projects will Bags of Help fund?
At the end of September we will be providing grants of £1000 to support local community projects.
This could cover a large mixture of local causes. 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
Step 1: Locate your local Tesco store
Find the full postcode of the nearest Tesco store to the location of your project. You’ll need this information for your application form.
(Please note your nearest Tesco store may not be the one you ordinarily shop in).
Store locator
Step 2: Read guidance notes
Read our full guidance notes (click to download) to applying for funding from Bags for Help. These will help you complete the full application form.
Step 3: Take the eligibility quiz
Click to take our eligibility quiz. This short quiz will check that your project meets the basic requirements to be eligible for a Bags of Help grant. If your project meets the criteria you will be given a link to the application form.
Alternative and accessible formats
If you experience or anticipate any barriers with our application process, require help to make an application, or accessing our services and information, please contact the Groundwork Tesco Programme Team to discuss the type of support we can provide.
Your local Community Enabler is also on hand to help – find out more about enablers here.