Cambridge RAG Student Voluntary Grant Scheme
Applicant Guidance Notes 2014
Outline of the Grant Scheme
This Grant Scheme provides Cambridge University student societies engaged in charitable
work with grants of up to £200 towards their running costs, overheads, the purchase of capital
equipment or costs associated with special events. There is £3,000 available in total with
individual grants of up to £200 available for each applicant.
Eligibility
In order to qualify for assistance from this scheme a group must:
1. Be either a student society registered with the Cambridge University Students’ Union
(CUSU) or the Junior Proctor of the University of Cambridge or otherwise be a
student-led or student-driven organisation.
2. Be able to demonstrate that membership is open in principle and in practice to all
resident members of the University, irrespective of political, religious or social
considerations.



A ‘student’ is defined here as a person affiliated with a higher education
establishment within Cambridgeshire.
Groups with strong political or religious affiliations will not be considered for grants.
You may not apply for funding from the Cambridge RAG Student Voluntary Grant
Scheme in the same academic year as successfully applying for funding either to our
main ballot or to Cambridge RAG through the Cambridge Council for Voluntary
Service (CCVS).
Projects considered
This fund is to support societies or individuals undertaking actions of a charitable nature.


Possible examples:
o A society raising awareness of a charity or charitable cause
o A society putting on fundraising events on behalf of a charity or charitable
cause
o Community volunteering projects within Cambridgeshire
o Volunteer projects in overseas communities
Possible applications of grants:
o General overheads: If the grant is to cover general overheads, please describe
these overheads
o Event overheads: Grants may be sought to cover overheads on particular
charity fundraising events
o Project overheads


Requests for travel grants will be assessed according to the merit of that which will be
accomplished by the project to which they relate.
Special activity
o If the grant is to cover new or special activity, consider applying to the
Societies’ Syndicate or the Newton Trust in addition to RAG. The Societies
Syndicate and its Technical Committee award a number of different types of
grants to societies registered with the Junior Proctor, including the
establishment of new societies, special projects outside of a society’s normal
yearly activity and purchase of capital equipment. For more information about
the types and availability of grants, whether your society would be eligible and
how to apply, please visit www.ucs.cam.ac.uk/socinfo/jpo/grants . The
Newton Trust, in collaboration with the University of Cambridge’s Public
Engagement Team, is operating a fund that provides grants for new or
developing voluntary activity. For more information, please visit
www.cam.ac.uk/publicengagement/student-volunteering-fund . You are
encouraged to seek funding from these sources where appropriate (see below).
Further guidelines





We will contribute to projects up to a maximum grant of £200.
Fundraising groups will not receive grants if they wish only to pass the money onto a
mother charity.
Retrospective applications will not be considered.
Late applications will not be considered.
If you are unsure of your eligibility or as to any of the points, please contact
president@cambridgerag.org.uk for more information.
Completing the Application Form


Please find the Grant Application Form attached to these Guidelines
Please complete the form as fully as possible. If you do not supply sufficient
information, your application may be considered to be incomplete and may therefore
not be eligible for consideration.


The completed form should be submitted either electronically to
president@cambridgerag.org.uk or in paper form at the RAG Office by Sunday 1st
June 2014.
Please detail all other funding that you have applied for or intend to apply for this
year.
o This information will not be detrimental to your application.
o If this source of funding is the most appropriate for your application, we will
prioritise your application over ones which are better suited to other funding
sources.
o If you have already received other funding, you must declare it in this
application. If you receive any funding subsequently, you must declare it to
Cambridge RAG immediately.
Allocation of Grants and Follow-up
You will hear the result of your Grant Application in June 2014.
Should you receive a grant, it will be necessary to fill in a Review Form before the end of the
academic year 2014-15. You will receive this Review Form by email on allocation of your
grant. You can expect an email reminder before the end of the 2014-15 academic year,
prompting you to complete and return this form.
On the Review Form, you will be asked to:
1. Provide information about the manner in which the money has been spent detailing
 All things purchased or achieved;
 Any unforeseen complications;
 Any revisions of initial plans.
2. Detail any funding that you have received from other sources since applying to the
scheme.
3. Declare any substantial revisions to plans laid out in the application form
 Any substantial changes should be presented to RAG before any steps are
undertaken to put them in force (see below).
Please note: In the situation that your society changes its plans with regards to how it intends
to spend the grant, it is imperative that you make this known to RAG *before* enforcing the
change of plans.
Should it be required, you would be expected to return any unspent money that cannot be
reasonably used for the purposes laid out on your original application or edited versions
thereafter.
Should RAG be in any doubt as to whether your grant has been spent as intended or should
RAG not receive a completed Review Form by the final deadline, appropriate action will be
taken to recover the grant.