Introduction
The Community Identified Benefits Portal aims to maximise community benefits for community groups, organisations, associations and registered charities based in Moray. We want to make it easier for you to request the goods, services and support that you think will have a real impact in your communities.
Please find a list of FAQs below to help answer any questions you may have regarding the registration process and submitting requests.
Download our Community Groups User Guide for detailed instructions on using the portal.
Community Wealth Building is a progressive economic approach that aims to retain and circulate wealth within local communities.
The Community Identified Benefits portal is open to any community group, organisation, association, or registered charity based within Moray.
Community groups can register via the sign up page. Our moderator will review your application within 5 working days and you will receive information via the contact email address you supply in the form.
Moray Council will request a formal document such as a constitution, as part of the registration process to verify eligibility. Those without formal constitutions, can submit an alternative such as a letter from the local Third Sector Interface if you are a group without a constitution, to verify your need.
Once your account is approved, requests can be submitted via your dashboard on the portal. A maximum of three requests can be submitted and be live on the portal from a single organisation at any one time. Once the request has been submitted, you will receive a notification that the form has been received and that the requests are being reviewed.
If a supplier selects a request to deliver, our moderator will introduce them directly with the community group which has submitted the request. Support is available if required during this stage.
The Council is unable to provide a guarantee that a request will be selected for delivery by a supplier or state how long it might take for a request to be selected and fulfilled. However, Council officers will ensure that requests are promoted to suppliers of all Council contracts.
To ensure that the list remains accurate and relevant, any requests which have not been selected one year after publication will be removed from the portal. These may then be submitted as a new request if still required.
Type of request | Eligibility |
Finance (donations, loans or investments) | Any financial requests will not be supported. If your project requires financial support, you may wish to explore the grant funding options available by making contact with the Community Support Unit or tsiMORAY.
|
Construction (homes, premises, facilities, roads) | Requests of this scale are not possible through Community Identified Benefits processes due to the costs associated and legal processes required to deliver.
|
Installation of large systems (electrical, heating, security) | Requests of this scale are highly unlikely to be possible through Community Identified Benefits processes, due to the costs involved.
|
Major capital works | If you are looking for support for a large or complex project, it may be advisable to proactively seek out funding support in addition to requesting help via the Community Identified Benefits portal, particularly if there is an element of time pressure around the work. For example, requests for porta-cabins or containers, often come with significant hidden costs (transportation, connections to services, installation of doors, windows, insulation etc). Rising costs of materials and services have impacted the construction trade suppliers who may normally support projects like this, so support may be more limited.
|
Paid employment opportunities | Employability and the creation of paid opportunities, such as apprenticeships, for local people is centrally managed and forms part of the formal procurement contract between the Council and the supplier. This is laid out in Scottish procurement legislation, namely the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014. However, requests for volunteering opportunities or work placements can be requested as a Community Identified Benefit. |
Requests which benefit a single individual, family, or informal group (e.g. friends) | Community Identified Benefits are, by definition, for the benefit of a community. A community can be defined by location or area of shared interest. We cannot approve requests from a single individual, a family, or a group of friends. Requests can only be approved from community focussed organisations.
|
Requests relating to land or property not owned by your organisation | In most cases, any requests concerning changes to land (e.g. tidying up pitches) or property (e.g. painting a hall) must come from the organisation who own, manage, or lease the asset. If you require work to be carried out on an area of land, please ensure that you either own the land or have the written permission of the landowner. For example, planting wildflowers for a biodiversity project where your community organisation does not own the land can still be supported if there is clear written permission from the landowner.
|
Requests that provide benefit outwith the Moray Council boundary | For organisations with branches outwith Moray, requests for Community Identified Benefits must benefit their work within Moray. For example, a charity with a project that covers the Highlands and Islands region, can only request support for the activity that will be delivered within Moray.
|
Requests to cover core costs
| Requests for support with core costs, for charitable organisations with costs requiring ongoing financial support, will not be supported. Requests can also not be used to support the recruitment of staff or volunteers.
|
Requests from educational establishments | The Community Identified Benefits portal is targeted specifically at community-led requests and is therefore not open to requests from schools, or other educational settings, at this time. However, requests from Parent Councils or Parent Partnerships may be eligible for support if the benefit will not be targeted exclusively at educational activities.
|
The Community Identified Benefits Portal is open to any community group, organisation, association, or registered charity based within Moray.
The Community Identified Benefits Portal has been designed to help businesses deliver community benefits that positively impact local people and communities. Businesses can use the portal to support requests from local groups.