Strategic grants questions and answers

What is the Strategic Grants Programme?

The Strategic Grants Programme supports projects which bring added value to the Community Fund's local grant making. Projects will cover a wider geographical area and may require larger grants or longer term funding. Applicants will have to either target one or more of the Community Fund's preferred outcomes for its six priority groups or specify alternative ones. Applicants are encouraged to develop flagship projects which bring added value through their approach to their work. Applicants may apply through either the Grants for large projects or the Grants for Medium projects application forms.

What do you mean by 'Flagship' projects?

Flagship projects may involve innovative approaches to addressing disadvantage or could replicate approaches which have proved to be successful on a wider scale. They could involve collaboration or partnership working. They could address cross-cutting themes related to the Community Fund's priority groups. They could disseminate project results to others with an interest or they could draw on the experience of the project to influence policy makers. Applicants using one or more of these approaches will receive recognition in our assessment scoring processes. The additional costs involved in these approaches may be included in the application.

What are the Community Fund's preferred outcomes for its priority groups?

In our Strategic Plan we have identified six priority groups that we are going to target - children and young people, disabled people and their carers, black and minority ethnic communities, refugees and asylum seekers, older people and their carers, and people in areas disadvantaged by social and economic change. Following consultation with a selection of voluntary sector agencies working with these groups, the Strategic Grants Committee has identified a number of outcomes for each of these groups which it is particularly keen to see achieved. These outcomes list the kind of changes we are keen to see projects bring about in the lives of our priority groups - for example increased independence of disabled people. Focusing on these outcomes will enable the Committee to ensure greater impact with its grant making. However, we recognise that applicants may wish to specify other outcomes, which they feel are particularly important, based on their knowledge of the field. Applicants will not receive any advantage in our assessment scoring system through picking one of our preferred outcomes.

Why are you launching the Strategic Grants Programme now?

We see the new programme as playing a key role in helping us deliver our new Strategic Plan for 2002-07 and enabling us to pursue our mission of helping meet the needs of disadvantaged people. The programme will bring added value to our local grant making and should enable high quality projects to be supported. The programme will replace our England-wide and UK-wide programmes. In order to deliver the programme efficiently and effectively we are merging our England-wide office in Leicester and UK-wide office in London into one Strategic Grants office in Nottingham.

What are the advantages of the Strategic Grants Programme?

For applicants, the new programme will enable national organisations of all sizes to apply to one office for support for large or medium sized projects. For large projects, they will be able to apply for larger grants than are possible from our local offices. If appropriate, they can submit one application for the same project activity, rather than multiple applications to different regional and/or country committees for the Community Fund. For the Community Fund, the new programme aims to attract applications for flagship projects, which will have a significant impact on the lives of our priority groups. By stating our preferred outcomes for projects, we hope to be able to focus that impact more where it is most needed and thus ensure that our funds help bring about positive change.

Isn't this 'change for the sake of change' - will charities and communities really benefit?

Communities and voluntary organisations will definitely see a benefit. It's a simpler structure - there's no confusion as to which office they should apply if they operate across a field wider than simply a region or country. They're also going to get more money if they need it. We're offering them the possibility of funding for up to nine years for their projects - that is to say three grants per project, each for up to three years duration. Usually funding is for three years. This will give them more time to work through the problem they're trying to overcome. Under the Strategic Grants Programme there'll be no ceiling on the amount of grant we're able to give, so groups applying won't be limited on the amount they ask for.

Won't larger charities benefit at the expense of smaller ones?

No - we would like applications from small national as well as large national organisations. We have already had success in supporting relatively small charities, which run projects that benefit people right across the UK. Nearly 30% of our grants have been awarded to organisations with an annual income less than £100,000.

Does it mean that some groups that received funding in the past won't get it in the future? How are you going to help them?

We realise that some groups may have some problems applying under this new programme because we have now set very clear funding priorities - the six groups we are pledged to help. We certainly can't guarantee funding to all groups. Even so, we remain a general funder and organisations can still apply if they feel their project is exceptional because it helps people in an innovative or creative way, or addresses a specific needy group or is unlikely to win funding from other sources. Our six funding priorities were chosen after extensive consultation with key organisations at a national, regional and local level and our choice is widely supported by voluntary organisations.

Who can apply?

Voluntary organisations working for the benefit of people living in either: the UK as a whole, more than one UK country, England as a whole or three English regions or more. We are particularly keen to hear from voluntary organisations working with any of the six priority groups that the Strategic Grants Programme will be focussing on: children and young people, black and minority ethnic communities, refugees and asylum-seekers, older people and their carers, disabled people and their carers, and people in areas disadvantaged by social and economic change. An example of the latter would be former mining areas where the pits, which were once the sole employer, have closed and nothing has come in to replace that source of employment.

Applicants will fill in the same application form as though they were applying for a grant to a country or regional office under Large or Medium Grants. They'll also be asked to fill in an extra questionnaire, giving us a clear idea of the outcomes and benefits they're expecting from the project, and indicating if they think their project is a 'flagship' project.

Will projects that strengthen the voluntary
sector be funded?

Yes - we recognise the importance of developing the capacity and effectiveness of the voluntary and community sector, both at the level of individual organisations and individual areas and at the strategic level. However, at the individual organisation level, we will only fund projects which will benefit people in one or more of our six priority groups or in our fair share areas. At the strategic level, we are keen to work with relevant voluntary and community sector agencies to identify the priorities for voluntary sector development. Applicants who cannot demonstrate wide spread support across the sector for a project at the strategic level are unlikely to be funded. We will also expect projects at the strategic level to benefit organisations working with our priority groups or in our fair share areas. We are unlikely to fund voluntary sector development projects that do not benefit organisations working with our priority groups or that target their work in our fair share areas.

Who can't apply?

Organisations whose projects don't satisfy the geographical criteria outlined in Q9 above will not be eligible to apply. Also organisations can't apply if they're running residential projects based in one region or country, but whose users may come from a wider catchment area. In this case they should apply to the region or country in which the project is based, and apply under Large or Medium grants. An example would be a residential home for disadvantaged youngsters in, say , Brighton, but with young people attending from all over the UK. However, organisations interested in these type of projects should check the local funding priorities for the England region or country before applying.

How much money will the Strategic Grants Programme distribute?

The Strategic Grants Programme has the largest grants pot in the Community Fund - 11% of the entire grant-making budget. This coming year that amounts to around £31.6m.

When is the new programme being introduced?

The programme was lauched at the beginning of November 2002.

How many grants can an organisation hold?

Our policy on this has not changed.

Organisations can hold more than one grant at a time for different projects from the same or different committees. This means applicants can hold more than one strategic grant at any time, however we would look closely at the capacity of the organisation to manage more than one grant at any time.

How do people contact the Strategic Grants Programme?

By mail:
Enquiries Officer
Community Fund
Strategic Grants Office
St Nicholas Court
15 Castle Gate
Nottingham
NG1 7AQ

By phone: 0115 934 2950

By email: [email protected]

Is there any way an organisation can find out if it's worth applying before it invests time filling in the application form?

Our Strategic Grants Programme booklet provides full details about the programme's criteria and priorities. In addition the staff involved in the Strategic Grants Programme hold regular briefing sessions for voluntary organisations. These will give information on how to apply and what is meant by 'added value'. They will also help groups develop outcomes for their projects and answer any questions they have before applying. Details of briefings, seminars and workshops are on our website (www.community-fund.org.uk)

How much money can be applied for?

Unlike with our local grant making, applicants can apply for more than £300,000, since there is no indicative maximum limit. There is, though, a minimum project size under Large Grants of £60,000 for revenue projects and £30,000 for capital projects. So if the total project cost is below either of these amounts the group should apply under Medium grants.

Do Medium grant applications have to meet the same criteria as large grant applications?

Yes - although the application from is much simpler than for Large grants and the assessment time is up to four months, rather than five.

Do you give more small grants than large ones?

Yes - but this is true of all grant-making bodies. It sometimes surprises people to hear that two out of every three of the organisations the Community Fund helps actually asks for only between £500-£5,000. The £500 which goes to a village community group or the £3,000 to do some work with the elderly is just as important as the larger grant for the delivery of a UK wide service. Having said that, in this programme we want to encourage organisations to THINK BIG and we welcome applications that are not only ambitious but have been well thought through, can justify the money they're asking for and demonstrate how they'll fulfil the needs of people in one of our priority groups by producing long-term, positive results. We will however require organisations with incomes over £5M to fund 25% of the project cost from other sources.

What type of project are you looking for?

An example of a project that meets a key approach would be a social inclusion project that aims to tackle poverty, particularly targeting the beneficiary groups listed in above. This would bring together experts and community leaders who have skills in working with marginalized communities. They'd come up with schemes based on previously successful projects after having looked at some of the projects they felt were shining examples of 'best practice'. These, for example, would have found the best way to involve local people in taking decisions for themselves, found the most successful method for allocating resources and had achieved success in setting up networks to promote and encourage learning and the sharing of information in the community.

The lessons gained through the project would then be used to influence wider policy and practice. This example illustrates the use of the approach which draws on the experience of the project to influence policy makers and service providers. It would also meet the preferred outcome 5b "increased levels of community activity and social cohesion through developing community leaders and social entrepreneurs in rural and, or urban areas."

What if the project doesn't fall within the Strategic Grant Programme's priority groups - can it still receive funding?

Yes - organisations can still apply if they fall outside the priority groups we've outlined in Q9. We continue to be a general funder but we will only give money to exceptional projects outside our priorities.

Will an application for a Strategic Grant take longer to get a decision?

No - an application for under Large grants that's made to the Strategic Grants programme will take a maximum of five months, whilst an application under Medium grants will take a maximum of four months. We are encouraging organisations to contact the Strategic Grants team before they submit an application so they can find out about when the Strategic Grants Committee is meeting. Meetings are held once every two months, the same as other grant committees.

Who sits on the Strategic Grants Committee and decides whether a group is given money?

The Committee are all members of the Community Fund Board, including the chair and the vice-chair of the Board and representatives from all four countries. There are eight members in total.