How we decide

When we receive an application from the website it is automatically sent to all Trustees so that each has the opportunity to consider the application in advance of meeting to discuss and decide.  If the application is by letter or email, then these are circulated by the Secretary as soon as possible.

The Trust is required to meet at least 2 times a year to conduct its business, but in practice we meet around every 2 months in more recent times.  Should the Trustees feel that an application may be urgent, then we would consider meeting out with the normal arranged meeting to deal with any such applications.

The constitution of the Arniston Improvement Trust states that our income should be used for the benefit of the people of Gorebridge and surrounding district and therefore applications must conform to this requirement. The purposes for which the funds should be used include:-

• Education of children, youths and adults.
• Study and practice of arts, painting, sculpture, literature, music and drama.
• Study and practice of arts, painting, sculpture, literature, music and drama.
• Provision of facilities for recreation, leisure, cultural activities of all kinds
  
• Care of and provision of recreation for aged, infirm, incapacitated, disabled people or those otherwise in need.
  
• Support for other groups or organisations of a voluntary nature, within the area, promoting the above.
  

The Trustees consider each application carefully, firstly deciding if the application meets the above criteria.  If so, then we consider the merits of the application and make a decision in principle that we wish to fund the project.  If not then we will write back to the applicant explaining why we are not able to support the project.

If the decision is to support the project then we discuss the amount of funding we are able to provide.  This depends to some extent on the number of other applications we may be discussing at the meeting and also takes into account projects that the Trust have committed to prioritise where possible.  For example, the Trust have over recent years made the village's Galaday our top priority and have retained an amount of funding to ensure that we had enough to support it for at least 3 years, should our funding from the income we receive be cut back.  Around 10 years ago the Galaday only received £400-£500 per year from the Trust.  For the last few years we have been able to increase this to £2,500 and this year we provided £3,500. 

Once we have decided to support an application, we will send a letter to the organisation, enclosing a cheque and a form for them to complete to acknowledge receipt of the funds which must then be returned to us for our records.

Should the funded project not go ahead then the applicant acknowledges that all funds must be returned in full.

We will check where possible that the projects has been completed to ensure appropriate use of the funding.