Groups awarded a grant are required to submit an online End of Grant report. This helps us to learn more about the difference your activities have made to the lives of people living in Dorset, and how the grant has supported your organisation. We share the information with our fundholders, to illustrate the impact of awarding grants to local community groups, and the difference their contribution has made. In most cases, the report is due at the end of the grant period (usually 12-months). For larger grants we may also request interim monitoring.

We recommend that you

• Save a copy of your application for reference when completing the End of Grant report – this is attached to the email confirmation you received after submitting the application. Or you can request a copy from the Grants Manager.
• Save the email notification that includes the link to your online End of Grant report and the date that it is due.
• Set internal reminders of the due date. (You should also receive email reminders from us but these can sometimes be filtered into junk folders.)
• If the funded activities are completed earlier than your due date, you can complete the form at this time.

What we want to see – it’s not just about achievements!

• We encourage groups to be open and honest in their End of Grant report and not to confine reporting to good news only.
• If something during your project did not work as well as you hoped or you encountered unexpected problems, let us know about it and what you did to address the problem. Describe what you have learned from this and what you would do differently in the future. This is important information and won’t be held against you.
• If you have adapted or plan to make changes to your activities due to feedback from the people you are supporting, please tell us about this.
• It is also important to describe any organisational changes or improvements such as changing the name of your group, new partnerships with other groups, or changes to leadership.
• If you can, please send us videos or photographs (jpeg format) to grants@dorsetcf.org.

If we do not receive the End of Grant form

• This will negatively affect future applications to the Foundation.
• This may result in us contacting us your management committee and requesting a return of funds.

If there are any changes to funded activities

• Changes to the way you use your grant need to be approved by us. Please inform us straight away if you want to spend the grant differently to the budget in your application or on a different service or activity. We need to understand the reasons you would like to make changes and check the grant still meets the Fund criteria and any restrictions.
• Extensions to your grant period (usually 12 months) need to be approved by us. Please inform us straight away if you will not be able to spend the grant during the grant period, and the reasons for this. We understand that delays can occur and we may be able to extend the grant period unless the grant programme had any specific restrictions on awarding extensions.

We use the information that groups provide to

• Report on the impact of our grant-making, illustrate the need to support local groups, and celebrate the work of local community groups.
• Attract new donors/companies/organisations to contribute to our funding programmes.
• Inform future grant-making decisions if you reapply to us.
• Identify any challenges experienced by funded groups upon which we can provide advice or signposting.