Biffa Award

Biffa Award Cultural Facilities

One of four themes in Biffa Award's Main Grants Scheme, a Landfill Communities Fund programme managed by the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts. It gives £10,000 to £75,000 to improve theatres, galleries, museums, concert halls and arts or heritage centres that are open to the public and attract tourists or day visitors, for projects costing under £200,000 including VAT. Only projects close to a significant Biffa operation or Biffa landfill site, and within 10 miles of a licensed landfill site, are eligible; applications are accepted at any time.

Apply on the funder’s site

You could get: £10,000 – £75,000; no fixed round
Deadline: Rolling; apply any time
Effort: Heavy; budgets, references, often several stages

Who can apply

Fully constituted, charitable or not-for-profit organisations with no share capital
Local authorities, councils, hospices, hospitals, day-care centres, nurseries, food banks, rehabilitation units, residential care facilities, activity centres, schools and colleges cannot apply, and projects on the grounds of any of these or on allotments are not eligible
Location is the key test: the project site must be within five miles of a significant Biffa Operation, or within 10 miles of an active Biffa landfill site (check the project postcode with the postcode checker on the theme page), AND within 10 miles of a licensed landfill site (check on Entrust's landfill lookup)
Biffa Award does not publish a list of the qualifying Biffa sites, so only the postcode checker can confirm eligibility
The project must be eligible for registration with Entrust, the Landfill Communities Fund regulator
A Third Party Contributor must be identified to pay 10% of the grant (from your own reserves if you are not a registered Environmental Body), and at least 75% of any other funding the project needs must already be secured before you submit an Expression of Interest
A minimum of 104 days of published, full public access each year
If you do not own the site you need a fully signed lease with at least 10 years remaining (no draft agreements, letters of intent, heads of terms, subleases or underleases)
If planning permission is needed it must be granted before the Expression of Interest
No reapplying for the same site within one year of a previous Biffa Award grant's final payment; at most two Full Applications per organisation per financial year and one per Board meeting
Extra scoring goes to projects close to Biffa landfill sites and in the 20% most deprived neighbourhoods (Index of Multiple Deprivation)

What it funds

Projects that improve recreation, interest and education in a theatre, gallery, museum, concert hall, arts or heritage centre, for example:

Exhibition and interpretation improvements
Interactive displays
Outdoor amphitheatre spaces
Auditorium seating

The facility must be open to the public, inclusive, and inspire and promote learning, creativity and participation; local communities should be able to enjoy and engage with its collections, exhibits or performances as often as possible, and the site must attract tourists or day visitors.

What it will not fund

Applications from local authorities, councils, hospices, hospitals, day-care centres, nurseries, food banks, rehabilitation units, residential care facilities, activity centres, schools and colleges, or projects on the grounds of any of these or on allotments
Projects whose total cost (or its phases) is £200,000 or more including VAT, and standalone elements of a wider project costing £200,000 or more
Work that has already taken place (no retrospective funding)
Projects that cross over different themes
Enhancement of town or village centres, for example signage, seating, waste bins and seasonal bulbs
Core costs of an organisation, office equipment and furniture or elements that directly benefit staff or volunteers
Car parks and vehicle charging points
Project management or staff time to procure goods and services
Offices
New supplies including gas, water and electricity
Elements to meet Disability Discrimination Act requirements
Changing Places facilities
Portable items that will not be permanently kept at the project address
Changing rooms/showers, flood lighting, tennis courts, bowling greens, cricket nets or pitch resurfacing
Items of personal kit or equipment including kit, gloves or balls
Fencing (unless part of a Nature Recovery project)
Events, excursions and workshops
Websites, publications, publicity or marketing materials
Storage facilities or containers
Feasibility studies, research, surveys, tender costs, building consents, planning applications or preliminaries
Recruitment costs
Energy-saving or green technology-based projects which could have a derived income
Purchase and installation of solar panels
Projects focused solely on cost-cutting or energy-saving

How to apply

Check the project postcode with the postcode checker at the bottom of the Cultural Facilities theme page (tick the box about living within 10 miles of an active landfill site, as the FAQ advises) and save the qualifying Biffa site address
Check the project is within 10 miles of a licensed landfill site on Entrust's landfill lookup (entrust.org.uk/landfill-lookup) and save that address
Submit an Expression of Interest through Biffa Award's online application portal (wildlifetrusts.benefactorcloud.co.uk) at any time; you should hear within five working days
If invited, submit the Full Application with all supporting documents within six weeks of the invitation
The Full Application goes to the next appropriate quarterly Board meeting; if successful you get a Conditional Offer Letter and one month to meet its conditions, then a Formal Offer

Work must start and a first claim be made within three months of the Formal Offer.

If an Expression of Interest is unsuccessful you cannot resubmit for six months (three months if the problem was the lease).

Only submit when the project is ready to start; Biffa Award may delay or reject applications it considers premature.

Have ready

Signed constitution or governing document
Signed accounts for the last two financial years
Environmental policy (an example can be emailed on request)
Formal lease with at least 10 years remaining, signed by the landowner and the applicant, if you do not own the site
At least five signed letters of support from regular weekly users and groups
At least two signed letters of intent from prospective users
Evidence of community consultations or surveys
Timetable of use for all regular weekly, fortnightly and monthly groups
Clear, project-relevant photographs evidencing the need
Quotations: one recent quote for items up to £1,000; three for any single item or works over £1,000 and up to £25,000; competitive tendering with three responses for anything over £25,000
Proof of any shortfall or match funding
A milestone and payment schedule (an example can be emailed on request)
Results of the planning application, if planning permission is required
Site drawings or plans for new kitchens, reconfigured spaces or extensions

These are needed at Full Application stage. If you are already enrolled with Entrust as an Environmental Body, a successful grant also needs copies of your EB certif…

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