Criteria for room use
Applicants for use of the facilities must be voluntary organisations (includes coalitions of voluntary organisations). A voluntary organisation must also be a principal organiser of any event at the Fund's offices, although this may of course involve participation by representatives from political parties, Government, statutory and private sectors etc.
Single-issue voluntary organisations should be working within one or more of the following broad areas of need:
- Displaced people: this includes children and adults made homeless, or deprived of rights for other reasons, e.g. young people living in residential care.
- People at the margins (this includes those who are jobless, homeless or excluded through public prejudice or through mental and physical disability, addiction and disease).
- Survivors of conflict and those requiring conflict mediation (this could include landmine survivors and those affected by family strife).
- The dying and the bereaved.
The meeting rooms are also available to second tier organisations supporting such work.
Applications may be made by umbrella and development agencies supporting voluntary action, but these will not be given priority unless they can show why no alternative facilities are appropriate, or why they have a particular need to be within walking distance of the Palace of Westminster and Whitehall departments.
The Fund's facilities will not normally be available for events which are sponsored, since the Fund's aims do not include reducing the cost of sponsorship.
The Fund's facilities are not available for regular meetings on an open-ended basis, e.g. another charity's regular meeting of Trustees; this would not be fair to other organisations with a more pressing need. Requests will, however, be considered for a limited series of meetings or, exceptionally, for continuous use of a room for a strictly limited period.
Each successful applicant organisation is permitted to use the rooms up to three times in each six-month period running January-June and July-December.
There is no charge for the use of the Funds County Hall facilities. The Directors see this as part of the Fund's service to the voluntary sector. In these circumstances, they trust that voluntary organisations will understand the need for criteria to establish priorities and deter too many unsuccessful applications.
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