We encourage you to work with other people to develop and carry out your project.

A partner is another organisation or third-party body that is integral to the delivery of your project. Partners are not subcontractors. They will take on an active role in the project and will be involved in the project. They will help to report on the project, attend regular partnership meetings and support project evaluation.  If you plan to work with any other organisations to carry out a significant proportion of your project, you must formalise your relationship with a partnership agreement.

We fund projects that will provide direct benefits to Ryde residents and help make the town a better place to live, work and visit now and in the future. Projects that we fund must:

• further the ambitions of Ryde Neighbourhood Board’s 10-year Vision
• focus the benefits of its work in Ryde
• have a clear plan with a defined start, middle and end
• have not already started
• can demonstrate the need for Ryde Neighbourhood Board investment

We can fund commercial enterprises, typically SMEs, for projects which must demonstrate that they have a clear benefit to Ryde and its communities and need Board investment.

Our Major Grants can support a range of activities and direct project costs, such as:

• volunteer expenses, new staff posts and training costs
• capital works, repair, maintenance and conservation
• professional fees, event costs and activities to strengthen your organisation
• acquisition costs

We cannot cover existing costs, activity that has taken place before a grant is awarded, or anything that promotes the cause or beliefs of political or faith organisations.

We will also not fund

• works that can reasonably be considered as the statutory duty of the owner
• projects which do not have a focus on Ryde or its residents.

• Your project must not start before we make a decision.
• All applicants must submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) form
• The deadline for the submission of EOIs is midnight Friday 16 October 2026
• Only applicants that are invited to submit following the EOI stage will be invited to make a full application
• The deadline for full applications is midnight is Friday 15^th January 2027.
• Once we receive your application and all the correct supporting documents, we will assess your application and aim to give you a decision by Friday 26 March 2027.
• Payments for this grant level are usually made in three stages: 50% in advance, 30% in advance, and then 20% in arrears.

IMPORTANT:  Please read the major grants programme guidance notes before you complete your application.  Click here for guidance notes.

Applications will take place in two phases.

Phase 1:

All applicants must initially submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) form.

The deadline for submission of EOIs is midnight on Friday 16 October 2026.

You can download an expression of interest form.  Click here to download the form.

Please return your completed EOI form to rydeneighbourhoodboard@iow.gov.uk by Friday 16 October 2026.

We recognise the amount of work that goes into applying for funding and planning a project. The mandatory EOI stage helps us to filter any projects which are unlikely to receive funding and saves you time working on a full application unnecessarily.  We will use the information you provide to decide whether to invite you to submit a full application.  We aim to respond to your EOI within 10 working days.

If your EOI is successful you will be invited to submit a full application as part of phase 2.

If your EOI is unsuccessful, we will explain our reasons why we are not inviting you to apply this time, so that you can consider reapplying for a grant in the future.

Phase 2:

Those invited to submit a full application as part of phase 2 must do so by midnight on Friday 15 January 2027.

IMPORTANT: Please ensure you have read the guidance notes and attached any supporting notes to your application. Click here for guidance notes.

We expect to receive a higher number of applications than we can fund and need to prioritise where our investment can make a significant difference.

Once you submit your application, we will check everything is in place and will be in touch to let you know when you can expect a decision. We will not be able to start the assessment of your application until we have the relevant information and supporting documents.

Once we have everything we need, we aim to assess applications within twelve weeks, but on occasion assessment may take longer. Please read the guidance notes for more information about how we assess your application. Click here.

Unless we need to check anything with you, it is unlikely that you will hear from us again until we notify you of the decision.

The Board aims to make decision on applications to the Major Grants Pilot Programme funding by Friday 26^th March 2027.

The assessment process is competitive and we cannot fund all of the good quality applications that we receive. If your application is unsuccessful, we will tell you why and we may suggest that you make another application in a subsequent round of Major Grants funding.

We will pay your grant in three instalments:

1. we will give you 50% of the grant up-front
2. once you have spent the first half of your total eligible project costs, we will give you the next 30%
3. we will pay the final 20% of your grant when you have finished your project and sent us a final completion report, project evaluation and proof you have acknowledged your grant

We will hold the last 20% of your grant until we are satisfied that the project is complete, that the grant has been spent appropriately, and you have sent us your evaluation report and proof of your acknowledgement of the funding.

If you spend less on the project than you were expecting, then we will not pay you the full grant. If you spend more on the project than you were expecting, we are unable to give you more than the grant we awarded.