Community Ownership Fund

The UK government has a new £150 million Community Ownership Fund to help ensure that communities can support and continue benefiting from the local facilities, community assets and amenities most important to them.
From summer 2021 community groups will be able to bid for up to £250,000 matched-funding to help them buy or take over local community assets at risk of being lost, to run as community-owned businesses. In exceptional cases, up to £1 million matched-funding will be available to help establish a community-owned sports club or help buy a sports grounds at risk of being lost without community intervention.
The Community Ownership Fund will help ensure that important parts of the social fabric, such as pubs, sports clubs, theatres and post office buildings, can continue to play a central role in towns and villages across the UK. Launch of the Fund

Who can bid for fundingBids will be accepted from all communities across the UK. In most circumstances, bids should be made from community and voluntary organisations with formal governance in place, such as a Community Trust. Bids may be considered from groups without formal governance, where there is a clear plan to set up community level governance to take over a facility – funding will be conditional on establishing a suitable governance structure. 
Local authorities including parish councils will not be eligible to bid. Parish councils may play a role in working with community groups looking to submit a bid. 

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