1. Are you a properly constituted third sector organisation?

Applicants must be constituted bodies that are charities, voluntary organisations, social enterprises, industrial or provident societies or community interest companies (i.e. not individuals) and therefore must:

• Be clearly constituted for public or community benefit. If yours is a self-help group, cooperative or mutual there must be a wider public or community benefit beyond the immediate benefit to the members
• Not be able to dispose of assets for private gain (except as permitted for community interest companies). 
• Have some non-executive (unpaid) members on their boards or management committees. These members could be paid employees but must be unpaid for their role on the committee.
• Have a formally adopted constitution. Before investing in an organisation, Futurebuilders will want to be satisfied that good governance structures are in place.

Futurebuilders can only consider applications for investment from independently constituted organisations. If your organisation is not independently constituted, then your parent or umbrella organisation must submit your application – but don’t forget that they can only submit one application to us at any one time.

We consider an organisation to be independent if it has:

• Its own management committee
• A bank account under its own direct control
• Its own annual accounts, approved by its management committee
• Control over its income and expenditure
• Its own charity or company number (in the case of registered charities or companies)