Bags of Help is Tesco’s local community grant scheme where the money raised by the carrier bag charge in Tesco stores is being used to fund thousands of community projects. The projects must meet the criteria of bringing benefits to the community. Grants of up to £2,000 are available.

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.

Applications are assessed by Groundwork to ensure they are eligible. In areas where application numbers are high, Tesco colleagues will shortlist the projects to determine which go forward to the customer vote.

Three community projects in each local area will be 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 £2,000, second place receiving up to £1,000 and third place up to £500.

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.

Please note, due to the volume of applications we have received, if you have been funded previously, you are less likely to be successful with your application.

If you have been funded through the scheme, you are not eligible to apply for funding again until 12 months has passed from your previous application. If your application is unsuccessful and rejected, you will not be eligible to apply again until 12 months has passed since the rejection of your previous application.

If you have any questions please get in touch with us on [email protected] or 0121 237 5780

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?

The types of projects funded will be very broad and will cover the direct costs needed to deliver the project, this could range from:

• Purchasing items which will benefit local community groups such as sports kit, specialised medical equipment, art and crafts materials, spades, litter pickers, camping equipment.
• Improvements to a building that benefits the local community such as a Scout or Guide hut, church or village hall, changing facilities for sports.
• Developing an outdoor space play area, allotment, park, school grounds, woodland or wildlife area.
• Running a community event or activity such as fun runs, village fete, clean-up day, tree planting, bird watch.
• Supporting seasonal activities such as purchasing new Christmas lights, supporting a Christmas meal for the homeless or a Diwali celebration event for the community etc.

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