From this month, The Press’ parent company’s charitable arm, The Gannett Foundation, is providing £128,000 to support local charities across eight regions - and we are delighted to have £16,000 to give away in our local area.

Nominations are coming into our newsroom and we have already written about two local charities that have been put forward for the cash, York Against Cancer, and Breast Friends York.

Today, it is the turn of St Sampson's Centre, in Church Street, York, which is a social centre and cafe for the over-60s in York.

It has had several nominations from readers, including from Richard Whittaker who said: "St Sampson's is in great need of a refurbishment in its main hall.

"The last few years of financial uncertainty has left St Sampson's requiring new tables and chairs, specialist painting and decorating and cleaning, a carpet cleaner and other cleaning apparatus, a new reception area and new blinds."

He said the centre would be a worthy recipient of the cash because "the community is even more in dire need of a central place in York city centre that offers a safe space, an answer to social isolation and loneliness, and all this in a comfortable clean environment".

Nominate your favourite local charity

Any person may nominate a charity, including a representative of the charity itself, but they should always give contact details for a representative of the nominated charity and a brief but clear explanation of how the money will be spent - such as a specific project or item of equipment, and how it will benefit the community.

Making a nomination couldn’t be easier – simply log-on to www.thepress.co.uk/readerschoice and fill in your nomination form. Applications must include an explanation of how the money will be spent, how it will benefit the community and how the project will be completed if the grant does not cover the full costs.

Once all nominations have been received, between September 12 and 25 we will select 10 of the most popular local charities to be featured in this year’s grants scheme.

How to vote

We’re then going to put the power to allocate the cash back into the hands of our readers – for four weeks between October 24 and November 20, readers will be invited to collect tokens from our newspapers which can then be sent to collection points across our region or posted.

Each token collected will then be used to allocate cash to the nominated charity – so if your favourite charity collects 50 per cent of all the tokens collected, it will receive 50 per cent of the funding.

Eligibility

Entries must be registered charities and must not have received a grant from the scheme within the last two years.

Grants will not be awarded for payments such as salaries, professional fees or day-to-day running or maintenance costs or projects that do not bring benefits to local communities.

Grants have been awarded in the past to York charities including Holgate Windmill, which used the money to buy equipment enabling it to produce flour, Citizens Advice York and The Regen Centre, a charity in Riccall which used the funding for its ‘Changing Places’ project - adapting one of its changing rooms at its community centre for people with disabilities.

To nominate your local charity, click here or send us details via the Send Now button below...