Community grants > Grant guidelines > Programmes & priorities

Programmes and priorities: Education:
Grant programmes to individuals (continuing/vocational education)

Each year, The Bedford Charity is able to make a small number of awards to individuals to assist them with the costs of undertaking continuing and further education courses leading to career development.

Almost all of the candidates who have received awards in recent years are returning to study or training after some time away from full-time education, and are over the age of 21.

What we look for from applicants
We explore with candidates the vocational nature of their chosen course of study – what has led them to undertake the course, what skills and experience it will provide, what they plan to do afterwards, and where the benefit may lie.
Another factor that we will take into consideration is how a chosen candidate's course of study will help the candidate to develop skills and experience that can be used to address local or general needs that fall within our charitable objects and community interests.

Who can apply?
Candidates should be resident in the Borough of Bedford (which comprises the Town of Bedford and North Bedfordshire), although their studies may take place outside the area. Candidates who have moved to the Borough to undertake college courses or other full-time study are unlikely to be eligible.
All applicants must determine their entitlement to statutory funding (eg from the Local Education Authority) before making an application for a grant.
(See Help & advice: Other organisations)

What we don’t fund
Applicants seeking support for full-time degrees are highly unlikely to be successful unless there are exceptional circumstances. In such cases grants can only be made towards the cost of books and equipment, and applicants must prove that they are ineligible for statutory support. Grants are not made for training in Medicine, Accountancy and Law.

When to apply

The Grants to Individuals panel meets every year in the spring to consider applications. Please ensure that you contact us well in advance of the start of your course. For applications for funding for the academic year beginning September / October 2007, you should contact the Grants Manager, Lucy Bardner no later than the end of April 2007. Please contact Lucy for guidance with regards to financial assistance for couses that start at other times of the year.

		Please note that the sum of money allocated to this particular programme is relatively small, and the majority of The Bedford Charity’s grant giving is targeted at organisations. Competition for individual grants is considerable and, even if an application is successful, it is likely that only a modest contribution towards the costs of study can be made.

Examples of awards made

• Contribution to travel costs for attendance on an advanced level British Sign Language Course. Applicant undertakes voluntary work which involves the use of signing, and aims to develop skills to meet a local need for qualified interpreters.
  

• Contribution to the costs of books and materials for a Postgraduate Diploma at the Royal College of Music. Candidate has expressed a keen interest in contributing to music education outreach projects aimed at local schoolchildren.
  

• Contribution towards the cost of course fees for a candidate to continue a part-time research PhD, focusing on practical musical activities that have yielded promising improvements in literacy and numeracy levels of children with mild learning difficulties.
  

		Download a copy of the guidance notes and application form for grants to individuals Download Guidance Notes (PDF - 162k) Download Guidance Notes (Word - 992k) Download Application Form (PDF - 174k) Download Application Form (Word - 998k) We recommend that you contact us for an informal chat before completing the application form.