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Hampshire and Isle of Wight Community Foundation

HIDDEN FIELDS

Programme ID

Round ID

Programme Manager ID

Round Submission Deadline

Funding Request ID

Funding Request Name/Number

Funding Request Status

Contact ID

Organisation ID

Fieldset below will prefill with programme name, submission, public description and eligibility requirements

Application form

SWEF Start-up Grants for individuals 

Size of grants: Up to £500
Location: Hampshire, Southampton, Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight
Eligible applicants: Individuals


Start-up Grants are up to £500 for adults aged 18-30 who have a new business (trading less than 2 years) and: 

(i) have revenue under £500 a month
(ii) live in Hampshire, Southampton, Portsmouth or the Isle of Wight

Thank you for submitting your application.

We already have an application from you for this programme. You may not apply more than once for the same programme.

If you believe you are seeing this message in error, please contact us.

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If you need help or want to talk to us about your application you can contact us on grantsadmin@hiwcf.com.

This form is automatically word count limited to help guide you to keep your answers focused; we are looking for your answers to be clear, honest and jargon free.

Programme Eligibility

Please read the following notes to see if you can apply for this fund.

You can apply if you are a young business owner who faces barriers to investing in and growing your business.  This is not a loan scheme, and you do not need to pay the grant back.

Eligibility
•	You are aged 18 to 30. 
•	Your UK business has been trading for less than 2 years. 
•	You currently live in Hampshire, Southampton, Portsmouth, or the Isle of Wight.
•	You are facing financial challenges preventing you from developing your business. 
•	You are the majority shareholder of the business. 
•	You have a business bank account (grants are only paid into business bank accounts).
•	You are a sole trader/limited company/CIC limited by shares. 
 
'Start-up' application criteria:
 
To qualify for a ‘Start-up grant’ your business could be pre-revenue or generating less than £500 a month, but you must show significant steps to get a business off the ground (for example, doing market research or pro-bono work, developing social media following, investing money into early business costs). Applications solely for business ideas will not be considered.

I have read the information above and consider that this application fully meets the fund requirements.

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Your contact details

SWEF grants are available for self employed 18 - 30 year olds running a business start-up.

Please note: The information in this application form will be shared with SWEF who is the donor.

First Name	Last Name
Email	Telephone
Date of birth

Home Address Line 1

Home Address Line 2

Town/City

County

Postcode

Please tell us how you heard about this funding?

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Remember: This is our 'Start up grants' form for grants up to £500 (for businesses in their pre-revenue/ early stages). If you have revenue of £500+ a month over a 3-month period, you can apply for a larger grant using our 'Business Grants' form.

About your business

This section is for you to tell us about the business and your customers.

Business name:

Business address (please write 'same' if the same as your home address):

How have you set your company up? (Eg Limited Company, Sole Trader etc):

Sole TraderLimited Company Other

Business website address (please write 'none' if you do not have a website):

Business social media handles or links (please write 'none' if you are not on social media):

What date did your business start trading (please try and provide a date e.g 1st May 2025). If you do not yet have paying customers you can still apply - please state 'not started trading'.

What does your business do? Describe if it sells products or offers a service. This is the first time we are learning about your business, so make sure your answer is clear. (For example: tell us about your products OR if you run a service how many days a week do you operate etc).

How do you know there is a need for your business? What Googling or research have you carried out to show there is a need for your business? (For example you may have interest on your social media page, you may have started to get enquiries, you may be able to identify a gap in the market).

Please list businesses that are similar to yours - who are your competitors? (For example: If you are a coffee shop in a village, where else do people go for coffee? If you sell a product or service online, who else is operating in this space?).

How will new customers find out about you? (For example: how do you market to/ reach your customers ? Do you have an online shop? Do your create social media content? Do you have physical premises with clear signage?).

We know that people who start a business have a real passion for their work - why do you think your business will be a success? (For example: you might have a great idea, you might be prepared to work long hours, your might be creative).

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Your Skills

In this section tell us about the skills you bring to your business

Give details of any work experience / training/ contacts that you have that gives you the skills or business knowledge to help your business succeed. (For example: I have been employed in a similar business doing XYZ; I have undertaken a course on XYZ).

Your Finances

In this section tell us about finances that impact your business

Are you currently receiving any Benefits, such as Universal Credit?

If you answered yes to the question above, please state the type of benefits you are currently claiming:

Do you or your business have any debts?

If you answered yes to the question above, please provide the amount of debt and details of where the funds are owed:

What time and money have you already put into the business? Please be as specific as possible. (For example: I bought a £500 piece of equipment, I invested £300 a month for the first three months of operation to cover start-up; I worked 30 hour weeks with no salary for the first two months of operation).

Please use this optional space to tell us any challenges you have faced in starting a business.

What are you currently doing for work? Please state how much time you work on your business (For example: do you spend 50% on your business and 50% working part-time as a shop assistant to cover your bills).

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Project Budget

This set of questions is about your budget for the grant.

What will you be using the grant for? Please list the items with a short description (For example: (i) Food processor - this will be a second hand piece of kit to allow me to make larger batches of mixture and increase the number of cakes I can make).

Please explain why buying these goods/ services will help your business? (For example will the grant item save your business time, allow you to increase your customer base, help you market your business and reach more people?).

Project Budget

Please read the full grant criteria for details of what you can apply for. This is an abridged reminder: The most you can apply for in total for a start-up grant is £500.

Eligible uses of a grant

· Equipment that will help achieve increased profit

Materials and stock

· Prototypes and product development

· Building a website or booking system

· Training

· Other business costs that will make a significant impact

You CANNOT use the grant for the following

· Salaries

· Rent or utilities

· Debt repayment

· Ongoing software subscriptions

· App development or software development costs

· New computers, phones, tablets (we can consider second hand or refurbished items)

· Invasive beauty treatments

Guidance:

The form allows you to list each budget item one by one.

1. Start on the left hand side with Spending category and pick:
- Business cost to list items that are not equipment e.g. services, activities, training
- Equipment cost to list items of equipment

2. Move along the row to the Total cost box and enter how much that one item costs (e.g. the item may cost more than your grant amount - you could be buying a £600 piece of kit and contributing £100 yourselves).

3. Move along the row to the Amount requested box and enter how much of the grant you would like allocated to that item.

4. Then in the Description of item and link box, provide a short description of what the item is and a hyperlink if this is available. SWEF require evidence of costs so please provide links if possible; if you have quotes for an item we will ask for these to be emailed over when we have received your bid.

You can add as many rows as you need.
You can use the same category multiple times e.g. 5 rows of equipment.

Spending Category

Total Cost

£

Amount Requested

£

Description of item and link

Total costs for business investment

£

Amount you are applying for

£

Project balance

£

Your current request from HIWCF is more than the total cost of the project. Please check your figures carefully; we will not fund more than the total project cost.

Where is the balance of funding coming from? E.g. your savings

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Supporting Documentation

Please note that we need a copy of your business bank statement before we can progress your application. We need to see that it is in your company name and the full account details. We do not need to see the balance or any transactions. This will be the account we pay the grant into if you are successful in applying.

Please contact us if you have any technical issues uploading this document.

Bank Statement

Please provide a scanned copy of a bank statement for your business account. It should not be more than 3 months old and should include the business name and the full account details (bank name, sort code and account). If you do not have a business bank account yet, please contact us.

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Declaration

Please click here to access the Grant Agreement that any funding would be covered by.

I confirm that I have read the standard terms and conditions set out in the Grant Agreement linked above and agree to follow them

I confirm that the information I have provided on this form is true and correct, to the best of my knowledge

I agree that HIWCF will share specified sections from this bid with SWEF (the donor) for their reporting and contact purposes.

If I am successful in getting this grant, I agree to report back on how I used the funding in one year’s time. (We will prompt you nearer the time).

I agree that HIWCF may use the information I provide to them in this application to analyse the success of funding, to talk about the issues grantees may face, and to enable them to raise funds from other organisations and philanthropists on an anonymised basis. I understand that HIWCF will not use my personal data in any way that might identify me to any external body except SWEF.

I agree to allow Hampshire & Isle of Wight Community Foundation to retain on their database the personal data provided within this application form and supporting documents, in accordance with their data privacy policies. This information will be used to help review and assess my application, administer any grant awarded, for the monitoring and evaluation of any grant awarded, for grant award promotion, and any grant-making feedback surveys administered.

Declaration Name

Tick this box if you are a first time applicant to HIWCF

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