About the Fund

The purpose of the Palmers Brewery Community Fund is to support our local community and support charitable organisations that help keep West Dorset one of the best places to live, visit and explore.

Funding Partner: Palmers Brewery

Example projects include those which:

Help improve the local environment and public spaces

Help provide care for those in need

Support local schools and activities for young people

Support sporting clubs and initiatives

Support West Dorset's vibrant local arts and culture

Eligible Organisations

To be eligible to apply, organisations must be one of the following:

Local charitable organisation

UK registered charity

Not for profit organisations

Organisations set up as trusts (including charitable trusts) are not currently eligible to participate in the Fund.

Eligible organisations must:

Be based or operating in West Dorset or East Devon, specifically postcode districts DT1 to DT8 or EX13. Where organisations are operating in these locations at least 75% of beneficiaries must be within these locations.

Have a bank account in the name of the organisation and provide a bank statement evidencing this.

The following organisations are not eligible:

Individuals and sole traders

Political organisations

National charities

For profit organisations

Ineligible Projects

We are also not able to support the following:

Projects that seek to undertake work that conflicts with Palmers business or the business of Palmers pub business owners

Organisations seeking to distribute grants on our behalf

Applications for the benefit of one individual

Applications for staffing or operational costs

How to Apply

Applicants should create a project on Crowdfunder and if the information matches with the fund the project will be invited to apply through the Crowdfunder platform.

Applications will be reviewed alongside project pages. Please consult our guide to learn how to create a strong project page.

Funding Amount

If your application is approved, you'll be offered match funding of up to 50% towards your initial crowdfunding target, up to a maximum of £2,000.

Selection Process

All projects that meet the criteria set out above will be assessed to determine which projects will be selected for the fund. Project owners will be notified whether their application has been successful or not. The offer of match funding will be valid for 4 weeks after the date of notification; if you do not launch your crowdfunding campaign within this period, the offer will be rescinded.

We will focus on ensuring funding is distributed equitably, particularly in terms of geographic location and types of beneficiaries. A range of projects will be selected to achieve this.

Match Funding Criteria

Following approval for funding, if you wish to make any changes to your campaign target, or any significant changes to your rewards or other page content you must notify us.

To secure a pledge from the Fund, you will need to do the following:

Apply to, and be approved for, the Fund.

Receive the match funding by reaching at least 100% of your fundraising target with at least 25 unique supporters*.

*To verify whether Supporters are unique we will take account of information including, but not limited to: name, address, email addresses and payment card used.

If the project fails to reach 100% of the target the match funding will be cancelled.

The Funding Partner reserves the right to vary these match funding criteria; projects will be notified if their match funding criteria will vary from the stated terms above.

Live Match Funding

The following criteria applies to live match funding:

All Pledges made by supporters will be matched pound for pound up to £250. This means that if a Project receives a Pledge of £50, Palmers Brewery will donate £50. If a Project receives a Pledge of £500, Palmers Brewery will donate £250.

The maximum live match funding a Project can receive from Palmers Brewery is the lower of £2,000 or 50% of your target.

Live match funding will be given on the first pledge made to a Project by a supporter.

Projects must reach their project target by the end of their initial fundraising period to receive live match funding. If the project fails to reach 100% of the target the live match funding will be cancelled.

Your project must receive pledges from at least 25 unique backers.

The following Pledges will not be matched:

Pledges made before a Project is accepted to participate in the Fund or after a Project's initial fundraising period ends.

Second (2nd) and any subsequent (3rd, 4th, etc) pledges to the same Project by the same supporter.

Pledges made by Organisations to their own Projects.

The live match fund will be distributed on a first come first serve basis. Being approved for match funding does not guarantee you will receive any live match funding.

Live match funds will count towards your Project's target.

Additional Requirements

Project Owners or the campaigning organisation pledging to their own campaign is allowed, however this should not be a significant amount unless discussed before the pledge is added. Small offline donations that have been collected may also be added, however you may be required to evidence the origin of these pledges (receipts, letters of support, copies of cheques or bank statements etc.)

Projects will be required to agree to the Terms and Conditions.