Community Investment Fund

Following this, officers worked on developing the details of how this fund would operate, with guidance from the relevant Executive Members. The Members involved wanted the fund to enable community groups who offer important services and support to North Herts residents to improve and increase their capacity. By enabling community groups to invest in themselves, wider benefits to the community could be made possible. The fund was therefore named the Community Investment Fund.

Officers began developing a policy and criteria for the Community Investment Fund. The criteria established that the fund would be available for capacity building activities which would ultimately result in community value.

The policy highlighted that capacity building activities could include training or mentoring for staff or volunteers to fill skills gaps; developing a business plan; engaging a wider audience; doing more work in the community; purchase of resources or equipment; developing financial resources or fundraising capabilities; activities to attract or retain volunteers; or building a network of contacts to work with.