A LARGE number of community and voluntary organisations across the borough have been left disappointed after their applications for funding from the council were rejected - or they received less than hoped for.

Cllr Hannah Golding, member for finance and service improvement, said that grant allocation had been “more challenging than previously” as the number of applications had doubled.

She added: “I would like to reassure any organisation that does not receive a grant this year, that it does not mean that you’re not valued, it was a competitive process.”

In the application window between December 14 and January 14, the council received 34 applications for funding through its community and voluntary sector grant scheme, with a total funding request of £498,003 - significantly more than the budget allocation of £200,000.

Projects were considered by “theme and beneficiary” to ensure a “balanced portfolio” of grants awarded.

The council chose to give money to 15 organisations in total - however all but one will be receiving less than the amount requested.

This was of concern to Cllr Kim Taylor (Labour, Brighton Hill), who addressed members at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday (March 9).

She said: “I think it's good to see how many organisations have applied for grant funding and it's not surprising that it's more than usual given the year we’ve had, so it’s a shame we can't do it all in a way.”

She continued: “The suggested recommendation to provide below the requested amounts is potentially short-sighted. I appreciate it means we can spread our funding more thinly, but there's a real danger that if what is needed is not given it simply won't occur, and then we end up with money that's not spent.”

Concern was also raised at the meeting about the lack of dance organisation represented in the grant list.

Sushmita Pati and Cherian Jini of Kala the Arts, a professional South Asian dance organisation, whose application was not successful, appealed to councillors to consider further diversifying the recipient list.

Ms Pati said: “Theatre is well supported but dance is not funded. So we are missing reaching ethnic communities and some south asian communities for whom theatre has a cultural and language barriers.”

Concluding the discussion, council leader Cllr Ken Rhatigan urged organisations in the borough to learn from the pandemic, saying: “Organisations need to be more resilient. Covid has proved that having reserves is needed if you want to continue enacting your service. It is a lesson to us all. It’s good financial management and I encourage that on all the organisations that came to us for money.

“I look forward to being able to fund many more things in the future as our financial resilience increases.”

For a full list of groups in receipt of a community and voluntary sector grant, visit: https://www.basingstoke.gov.uk/funding