Tuesday, 8 February 2022

Small Charity Grants in Barnet 2020-21 and a question for your local councillors

 I was intrigued to see the list of 17 grants made to local charities in the Borough of Barnet 2020-21 (the last available period available). CLICK HERE FOR THE SPREADSHEET

Click for a readable version

I don't really want to comment on individual grants. I am sure all recepients are worthy causes and it is good that the council was able to spend £61,177 on community organisations. What did interest me was that it seems some wards did rather better than others.  If you have a community organisation that would benefit from such a loan, CLICK HERE for details on how to apply.

There are 21 wards in the Borough of Barnet. I am sure each one has worthy community organisations. It strikes me that the wards that will do best are the wards that have local councillors who are motivated to work with their local community groups. I notice that a couple of charities managed to get two grants in the period. 

I'd suggest that a very good question you may wish to ask your local councillors, when they come knocking on your door as we approach the May Council elections is "Barnet Council dished out over £60,000 in grants to local community groups in 2020-21, the last accounting period published, what grants did you secure for community groups your ward in this period?".

My personal view is that I'd want councillors who can give a positive answer. Don't let them fob you off with tales of wonderful projects, make sure they demonstrate that they have supported local charities and can give examples of grants secured. I know several local sports clubs, cub, scout and brownie groups, etc that would have been delighted to have some financial support. 

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