The Community Resilience Fund 2025 is now closed. We are no longer accepting applications.

The fund was open to local voluntary and community organisations that focus on food insecurity and offer residents access to healthy food.

It provided funding between £500 and £4,999 to help support their projects. Projects that include partnerships with other community partners that produce sustainable outcomes could apply for up to £9,999.

Success was determined by how much the proposal benefited Maidstone residents and the community.

Eligible projects

The funding supported projects that help people access healthy, affordable food respectfully and inclusively. We asked for proposals that:

• build local capacity and skills to tackle food poverty
• foster collaboration and volunteering within the community
• create long-term sustainable food initiatives

Examples of eligible projects included:

• community vegetable gardens where residents can grow produce to share, donate to food banks or hold low-cost markets
• food cooperatives that provide residents with access to cheap wholesale or free surplus food
• cookery classes that teach how to budget for cost-effective and healthy meals
• seed or tool libraries to reduce cost barriers
• food recovery enterprises that reduce and make use of food waste, for example, a café using surplus food to provide low-cost meals

Applications

We asked applicants to tell us:

• how the project contributes to reducing food insecurity
• who will benefit from the project
• what the community impact will be
• how the project contributes to community resilience
• how the project will be delivered
• how the grant will be spent
• how the outcomes and performance data will be measured

Successful applicants told us what kind of support they provided and how it helped the residents.

Apply for the grant

Organisations were invited to apply if they were:

• voluntary or community organisation
• non-constituted group with its own bank account
• faith group if the project is inclusive of all faiths
• not-for-profit company or Community Interest Company
• registered charity

This fund was not open to:

• individuals and sole traders
• companies that pay profits to directors, shareholders, or members
• organisations based outside of the UK
• organisations that do not support Maidstone residents

The Community Resilience Fund is now closed. We are no longer accepting applications.

Further information

If you have any questions about the fund, you can email vcsliaison@maidstone.gov.uk.

You can also email us to join our Voluntary and Community Sector mailing list to keep up to date with news and funding.