The Creative Investment Grant is a small grant scheme that offers investment in a key area of your business. We’re interested in investments with impact: things that may play an important part in the growth of an existing and running business and taking you to the next level.

The grant cannot be used for setting up businesses and can only be used for discrete one-off investments that will enhance business processes and/or grow the business- i.e. no ongoing running costs. The Creative Investment Grant cannot normally be used to fund a specific one-off ‘project’, unless you can provide evidence of how this project could benefit your development significantly in the longer term.

You must go through a sign-up process and become a Cultivator client before you can access schemes such as the Creative Investment Grant. You can then discuss applying to the Creative Investment Grant scheme with your Creative Business Advisor. If your advisor agrees to support your application, they’ll help you to identify a good investment in your business and make your application as strong as possible.

The Creative Investment Grant operates on an apply, approve, spend and claim process, which means if you are awarded the grant, you will need to pay for the activity that we are funding, and then claim 80% of the total approved spend from us. Please keep this in mind when you apply.

Applying to this scheme is a competitive process. Even if you are eligible and your advisor has given you their support, there’s no guarantee of success. However, working closely with your advisor on your application will certainly strengthen your case.

The Creative Investment Grant scheme is available only to some of our clients. The aim of the scheme is to support existing businesses to grow to the next level, so your business needs to have a healthy trading history and a good level of turnover before you can apply. The exact level of turnover will differ between sectors and types of business.

The highest financial value of a Creative Investment Grant is £3,000. There is also a percentage cap (80%) on what we can pay on your total spend. For example, if you were to apply for funding for some equipment costing £3,600 then we could cover up to £3,000 of this cost. You will need to seek additional funding from elsewhere for the remaining 20% or contribute this percentage yourself.

There will be a chance to apply to the Creative Investment Grant scheme around every two to three months. The deadlines are subject to change and review.

One of the strengths of the Creative Investment Grant is its flexibility. The scheme is about making a small investment in your business that will help you to grow and be more successful. Whilst we don’t want to be too prescriptive about what you can apply for, it is worth pointing out a few things that the grant cannot be used to cover:

• On-going operational costs, including overheads and costs associated with employing your staff or the purchase of IT hardware;
• Direct costs involved in the production of saleable products, including material costs;
• Permanent or semi-permanent structures or anything to do with building work.

If you are successful in applying to this scheme, then the funds can only be claimed from us after you have procured and paid for the goods or services for which you have applied. When you have made the purchases, you’ll need to provide us with bank statements showing the payment leaving your account and receipts for the items you’ve purchased.

We expect the grant to be claimed within six months of you receiving the award letter. You’ll be asked to identify a timeline of your funded activity in your application. In exceptional circumstances, we may agree on an extension of the timeline. If you think a delay to your timeline is likely to happen, you will need to notify us in writing at the earliest opportunity.

Claims made for items and services bought using a credit card must include evidence that the credit card payment has been cleared to the equal or greater amount than the cost of the item being claimed. This will usually mean supplying the credit card statement showing the original purchase, the bank statement showing payment to the credit card account and a second credit card statement showing this having being paid into the account.

We understand that prices can fluctuate and can accept claims for eligible items where the price has increased or decreased. However, the items must be the same as approved in the application budget. The total grant awarded will not be increased.

Creative Investment Grants are limited to one per business. If you are successful in applying for a Creative Investment Grant, then you will not be able to apply again. We want to ensure that as many businesses as possible get a fair chance to apply to this scheme. This is why we encourage all businesses to think long and hard before applying.