Community, voluntary groups and organisations in County Kildare can use this form to apply for a grant in a partnership with Kildare County Council under:
Strand 1 of the Climate Action Fund - Building Low Carbon Communities Community Climate Action Programme
This application will be processed by Kildare County Council and Department of Environment Climate and Communications (DECC)
. Please contact your
Community Climate Action Officer, Victoria Kavanagh
at vkavanagh@kildarecoco.ie before completing the form for advice on project suitability. Please watch this short video
here on how to complete the form.
There are 8 Sections of the application form.
- Tell us about your group or organisation - provide information about your organisation, including where it is located, where it operates, and what it was set up to do.
- How is your organisation run - help us to understand what kind of organisation you are, how it is run, and how decisions are made.
- Who will be your point of contact with Kildare County Council for this application - who should we talk to about your application?
- Your project – details on your proposal. Your organisation should discuss this with your Community Climate Office (Victoria Kavanagh at vkavanagh@kildarecoco.ie)
- State Aid Questionnaire - European Union rules mean that we have to check whether funding given to your organisation would be considered state aid. You must answer three questions to help us to know how we can proceed. Definitions of all the terms used are included in the text of the form and we can help you if you are not sure how to answer.
- De Minimis Questionnaire (if applicable) – you may not have to complete this; dependant on Section 5 State Aid.
- Authorisation & Statutory Consent
- Declaration - signing the application to show that your organisation has presented true and correct information in the form and that it agrees to follow the terms and conditions of this funding, if it is awarded to your group.
Please ensure that you are fully familiar with the terms and conditions set out below before you begin filling in this form. We can only assess forms that have been fully completed. Incomplete forms will not be considered for funding. Please contact our Community Climate Action Officer, Victoria Kavanagh at vkavanagh@kildarecoco.ie or by phone 045980503 if you need advice on completing the form.
Terms and Conditions
- Kildare County Council will only provide funds for eligible costs to groups/organisations that are directly involved in approved projects at a community level, on a not-for-profit basis, aimed at shaping and building low carbon communities.
- You must demonstrate that you do not have the funding available to undertake the work without grant aid, or alternatively that the grant will enable you to undertake more work which your group/organisation would otherwise not be able to afford.
- The information supplied by the applicant group/organisation must be accurate and complete.
- Misinformation may lead to disqualification and/or the repayment of any grant made.
- All information provided in respect of the application for a grant will be held electronically. Kildare County Council and the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications (DECC) reserve the right to publish a list of all grants awarded on its website with the name of the community group and county supplied.
- The Freedom of Information Act applies to all records held by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications (DECC) and Kildare County Council.
- The application must be signed by the Chairperson, Secretary, Treasurer or responsible person of the group/organisation making the submission.
- It is the responsibility of each group/organisation to ensure that it has proper procedures and policies in place including appropriate insurance where relevant.
- Applications will only be accepted on this form.
- Evidence of expenditure, receipts /invoices must be retained and provided to Kildare County Council or their representative to support payment of funds.
- Photographic evidence of the project may also be required to facilitate draw down of grants.
- Department of Environment Climate and Communications or the local authority may carry out unannounced site visits to verify compliance with Programme terms and conditions.
- The Climate Action Fund contributions must be publicly acknowledged in all materials associated with the purpose of the grant.
- No third party or intermediary applications will be considered.
- Breaches of the terms and conditions of this programme may result in sanctions including return of funds already granted and disbarment from future grant applications.
- In order to process your application it will be necessary for Kildare County Council to collect personal data from you. Such information will be processed in line with Kildare County Council’s privacy statement which is available to view here
- A grant agreement will be put in place between successful applicants and Kildare County Council
Eligibility Criteria
Community organisations meeting the requirements listed below are eligible to apply to partner with the Local Authorities to implement a project under this Programme, they:
• must be a not-for-profit organisation
• must be located in the operational area of the Local Authority to which it is applying for funding
• must submit a completed application form on or before the specified closing date and time
• must be registered with a PPN or connected with other collectives such as the Wheel, Tidy Towns and /or a community group with Articles of Association or a Constitution, which hold an AGM, and for which approved minutes are available.
Furthermore:
• The project applied for must be in line with the aim/purpose of the funding as set out in the section on Projects eligible for funding below.
• Only one application per organisation may be submitted for consideration – projects proposed could cut across several of the themes and be bundled together as part of a single application.
The following are not eligible to apply:
- Private individuals
- Commercial undertakings (including sole traders)
- Schools
- National community and environmental organisations.
(Local branches of national organisations may be eligible, once there is a clear financial separation or local branch from national organisation level).
Projects Eligible for Funding:
The types of projects/initiatives, within communities, which are eligible for funding under the Programme, should seek to demonstrate the delivery of national climate action at local level by:
a) Reducing or supporting the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions
b) Increasing the production, or use, of renewable energy
c) Improving energy efficiency
d) Increasing climate resilience
e) Identifying nature-based projects that enhance biodiversity and seek to reduce, or increase the removal of, greenhouse gas emissions or support climate resilience in the State
f) Assisting regions in the State (including communities in those regions) and within sectors of the economy impacted by the transition to a low carbon economy
g) Involving potentially innovative solutions to address the above asks.
Ineligible Costs:
The Community Climate Action Programme will NOT fund the following:
· Projects that solely benefit an individual
· Teaching / staffing
· Travel and transport costs except in exceptional circumstances
· Equipment that is not directly associated with the project.
· Income generating projects.
· Overheads, ongoing running costs
· Insurance
· Accommodation and subsistence
· Redundancy costs
· Penalties / interest / bank interest / charges
· Loan repayments
· Retrospective costs i.e., expenditure which has taken place prior to approval date of the project.
· Costs for which more appropriate funding opportunities already exist are ineligible, where it is clear that Community Climate Action Programme Funding is a substitute for other public funding which is currently available.
· Notional costs e.g. the room hire with the applicant’s own premises.
· Legal Fees