The Calor Rural Community Fund is an annual scheme that provides vital funding to community projects within rural areas. Over the last three years, we have provided £150,000 to 51 projects that range from school playgrounds and village halls to scout facilities and educational projects. In 2019, we received over 300 entries. These entries were then open to a public vote, with those projects receiving the most votes going forward to a panel to decide how the funding should be allocated.
One of the projects that received funding last year was the redevelopment of a wildlife sanctuary to act as an educational hub for the area, which is operated by an animal welfare charity. The application was submitted in good faith but on further review by Calor it became evident that it was non-compliant with clause 5 of the Calor Rural Community Fund scheme rules, which sets out the criteria and eligibility for an award. As such, Calor inadvertently committed an oversight by failing to ensure on this occasion that the application met all of the applicable criteria for an award, prior to putting forward the application to the public voting round. As a result, we have since awarded funding to the runner up project within the £5,000 category in 2019.
The Calor Rural Community Fund will continue to benefit off-grid communities through its project grants. To mitigate any non-compliant projects, in 2020 and beyond, we have reviewed and updated our internal due diligence process to ensure that projects are eligible for funding before they are published on our website for public support.
