Community chest

Community Chest

The Community Chest is a pilot funding programme developed in response to the July 2025 Fairness Taskforce on building stronger communities. 

It was developed in response to the amount of people who want to make a difference in their community but need a little help to get started. 

How does it work? 

You can find an expression of interest form to download at the bottom of this page.

The Community Chest is designed to help individuals in Luton make a visible change in their local area and bring together neighbours to get to know each other and work together to make their space a little bit brighter. 

If you have an idea, talk to your neighbours and get them on board, then fill out the form. 

A Community Chest micro grant is worth up to £500 of equipment to help your neighbourhood. When you make a successful application to the chest, the Fairness Taskforce will order the equipment you need and work with you to get it to the right place.  

What can I use the Community Chest for? 

The main goal of the community chest is to make a visible and inspiring change in your local area. 

We are open and flexible to your ideas but visible community actions are most likely to be awarded a micro-fund

You might like to think about what would make your area better and make you feel proud to live there. Community book boxes, improvements to local equipment, community art and gardens/planters are examples of successful applications so far

How Long does this take? 

Even though this is a small grant, it still needs to go through a panel and be approved. 

We aim for you to hear back about your application in 2-4 weeks with a decision either approving your micro-fund. suggesting some changes or directing you to a more appropriate grant fund. 

For successful projects, we will aim to have your equipment 6-8 weeks after approval