Arnold Clark Community Fund

Frequently Asked Questions

Got questions about the Arnold Clark Community Fund? You can find all the answers, plus our terms and conditions, here.

Before applying

How do I find out if I’m eligible to apply?

If you’d like to apply for Cost Of Living Support, please check our eligibility criteria to ensure your organisation meets our guidelines.

If you’d like to apply for Our Communities Support, please check our eligibility criteria to ensure your organisation meets our guidelines.

If you’d like to apply for Gear Up For Sport, please check our eligibility criteria to ensure your team meets our guidelines.

If you do not meet our eligibility criteria, unfortunately we will be unable to accept or process your application.

I am not eligible to apply – is the Arnold Clark Community Fund able to help?

The Arnold Clark Community Fund aims to help organisations and initiatives which will directly benefit their local community. Unfortunately, this may mean your project or organisation may be not eligible for the Community Fund.

Can I apply on behalf of a charity or local community group?

No, we encourage charities and local community groups to apply to us directly. If you know of an organisation that would benefit, please forward these details to them and ask them to apply themselves.

How many times can we apply?

Our Communities Support – you can only apply once per year, as this helps us manage applications more efficiently.

Cost-of-Living Support – you can apply every six months.

Gear Up For Sport – you can only apply once per year, as this helps us manage applications more efficiently.

I have applied previously and my application was successful, can I apply again?

Yes, IF you have previously applied to the Community Fund you are still able to apply again but only after a certain time frame.

For Cost of Living Support, your second application will be accepted only after 6 months of receiving your funding. Please only send in one application per organisation, and please check your eligibility.

For Our Communities Support, you are still able to apply again only if this is not in the same calendar year of your organisation receiving funding. Please only send in one application per organisation, and please check your eligibility.

For Gear Up For Sport, you can apply again only if this is not in the same calendar year of your organisation receiving fkits. Please only send in one application per age group of a team, and please check your eligibility.

How much funding might we receive if we apply?

Our aim is to support a wide range of charities and community groups through our different funding options. To help as many organisations as possible within our local communities, funding amounts or sports kit allocations will be decided by the Arnold Clark Community Fund.

Can schools or local authority nurseries apply?

For funding opportunities, we are only able to accept applications from registered charities or local community groups.

For sports kits, local school teams are eligible to apply.

Where can I find the terms and conditions?

You can read all the Arnold Clark Community Fund terms and conditions here. For terms and conditions relating to Gear Up For Sport, these can be found here

When applying

How can I apply?

It’s easy! Just select what support you are applying and fill in the relevant application form.

When can I apply?

Applications are now open! Find the relevant funding here.

When is the deadline for applications?

Funding will continue on a rolling monthly basis. However, we'd recommend you apply as early as you can once the fund is open, as applications could be paused due to high demand.

I have a question about my application. Who can I contact?

After I have submitted my application:

How will I know if my application has been received?

You'll see a pink thank you page confirming that we have received your application.

How will I know if I have been successful?

If your application is successful, we’ll email you to confirm. Applications will be granted on a weekly basis. Don’t worry if you haven’t heard from us yet, we are working through applications as quickly as we can. We will email you with the outcome of your application whether you are successful or not. Please check your spam or junk email folders regularly.

I submitted my application a few months ago and have not heard back yet.

We are really sorry you have waited longer than anticipated; please know we are working as fast as we can and aim to have a reply to you within 28 working days of you applying.

How can I ensure it is the Community Fund contacting me?

We will only contact you via email, which will come from this email address – community.fund@arnoldclark.com.

All of our emails will also contain the Community Fund logo and branding.

We ensure that all information and documents you provide us with will be processed and held securely.

I am successful:

What supporting documents do I need to supply?

Please view the supporting documentation we require to process your application.

How is the money paid?

All payments will be made by BACS

When is the money paid?

If your application is successful, we’ll contact you to let you know and ask you to confirm your banking details and to send us supporting documents. We aim to make the payment within two weeks of receiving this information.

Please note, this is only possible if the information is supplied to us by the stated deadline. If the information is supplied late, this will delay your payment. Please see terms and conditions for full details.

We don’t yet have a bank account for the charity, what can we do?

We are unable to pay into an individual’s bank account, any applications without this will not be eligble.

I keep receiving an error message when I go to submit my forms, can you help?

Try to reduce the file size of your supporting evidence and/or try using a different web browser – this should fix the issue.

Can I just email my supporting documents?

No, please use the secure link provided in your successful email. If you are having problems uploading your documents, please reduce the size of these files and/or try a different browser and then submit.

Do I need to submit any receipts or record what we have spent the money on?

No receipts need to be submitted to Arnold Clark to prove what you have spent the money on; however, we will be in touch in due course after your donation with a survey to find out how your organisation benefited from this funding.

I have been successful and would like to use your logo, can you send me this?

Please download our logo here.

If you need this in another format, please email community.fund@arnoldclark.com with the version you require.

I have submitted all my details and have still not received my money.

We ask that you wait 14 days after you submit your form for any money to reach your account. We are working with our Accounts department to try and get your funding to you as fast as we can.