WESTFIELD EAST BANK CREATIVE FUTURES FUND LOOKING AT THE APPLICATION SMALL GRANTS SCHEME – UP TO £5,000 HOSTED BY LISA STEPANOVIC, ASHTON MULLINS & MOSES ADEYEMI ABOUT YOUR HOSTS Lisa Stepanovic Lisa is a working - class, award - winning social entrepreneur, experienced businesswoman, activist, and mentor who was born and raised in London’s East End. She is best known as the founder of Social Ark; Social Ark builds on Lisa's many years of experience in running her own businesses and supporting hundreds of entrepreneurs on their journey. Ashton Mullins Ashton is the Grants & Programme Manager at Foundation for Future London. Ashton is passionate about ensuring funding and support opportunities go directly to local East London changemakers. Moses Adeyemi Moses is an East London based, award - winning entrepreneur, and expert facilitator. He founded the Silverline Project, a specialist wellbeing programme. Moses is a Lived Experience expert and serial entrepreneur, his most recent venture, FlickFirst Ltd, launched in 2020 bringing a fresh perspective to the world of eCommerce. AGENDA During this session, you’ll: ¡ Go through the actual application, with examples ¡ Look at how to structure your Expression of Interest (EOI) ¡ Read through an example EOI ¡ Have the chance to ask any questions you may have We’ll then open up to a Q & A where Ashton and Lisa will be on hand to answer any questions. ABOUT THE FUND GUIDANCE & CRITERIA ABOUT THE FUND In 2020, Foundation for Future London, through funding from Westfield Stratford City, created the Westfield East Bank Creative Futures Fund – over 5 years, the fund aims to invest £10 million into local East London communities. The Fund aims to support exceptional individuals, local organisations and businesses in their drive to create new jobs, learning, training, and educational programmes through entrepreneurship, enterprise, arts, culture, and innovation. In short, the Fund aims to put funding, resources and support straight into local people’s hands. The Small Grant Scheme has a pot of £180k and will award 30 - 35 small grants. Small Grants – up to £5,000 ¡ EOI opens 23 rd August ¡ EOI closes 24 th September FUNDING THEMES For all three of the community grants schemes, at the heart of your project there must be a core commitment to one or more of the following: Employment opportunities ¡ Will your project provide employment opportunities for local people, including access to paid work experience / internships, access to apprenticeships or gaining access to jobs? Learning opportunities ¡ Will your project provide ladders of opportunity for local people? E.g including lifelong opportunities from early learning, schools through to late career and post retirement and/or will your project offer bespoke career and higher education support, training, and secondment? Young people ¡ Will your project have a young person led approach with particular provision for local young people to access broader skills development opportunities, careers workshops and related learning and/or one to one coaching and mentoring? Business and entrepreneur support ¡ Will your project provide local people with the opportunity to have business and/or entrepreneur support including freelance, business and entrepreneur set up, development and training? PROJECT ACTIVITIES Our Fund is about creating inclusive and sustainable opportunity — we are keen to back a range of activities and innovative ideas that drive the proposed outcomes. The Foundation for Future London is a strong advocate for the ability of creativity to enable levelling up opportunities and to be a strong contributor to the London economy. Therefore, we are keen to fund project activity that has origins in: Arts, Culture, Heritage Business & Start Up Community Creative Ideas Diversity & Inclusion Digital Collaboration Intergenerational Health, Wellbeing & Environment Education Covid - 19 recovery Creative, Inclusive Public Realm and/or Placemaking OUTCOMES Short Term Outcomes Medium / Long Term Outcomes Participants gain technical/sector - specific and/or creative skills Increased employability of participants Participants gain essential skills Increased capacity for innovation and entrepreneurship Participants grow their networks and awareness of local opportunities Increased diversity in the creative/entrepreneurial sector in the boroughs Participants gain confidence in their potential and self - initiative More diverse audiences engage with the cultural sector and benefit from community assets/available services Participants are better equipped to process difficult emotions Participants act as agents of change within the local community Participants are equipped to act as agent of change in their boroughs Organisations and schools integrate creative approaches within their projects Organisations and schools are exposed to creative approaches to wellbeing Outcomes are the project’s short, medium or long - term goals that will lead to a meaningful impact for communities in the local boroughs. Applicants will be asked to identify a set number of outcomes that their project will achieve. The number of outcomes expected will be based on which strand you are applying for. We have provided a list of 13 short, medium and long - term outcomes to be selected. Number of outcomes expected will be based on which strand you are applying for. THE IMPORTANCE OF EVIDENCING ‘NEED’ & LOCAL ENGAGEMENT We need to understand what the need is for your project, how this has been identified and how local people have been involved in the planning and development of the proposed activities. You should be able to demonstrate that you have: ¡ Considered community engagement and consultation - how have your beneficiaries been involved in shaping and steering your project? ¡ Strong links/networks in the community to deliver the activities. Are you working with partners? Who are they and what is their role in your work? ¡ Have you considered ‘longevity’? Will your project provide longer - term opportunities for participants? The points in orange will be considered more favourable for being awarded funding! GRANT PROCESS Value: £1,000 to £5,000 Project Duration: 6 – 12 - month projects Outcomes: Minimum of two short to medium outcomes must be demonstrated Eligibility: individuals; schools; small to medium not for profit organisations with less than £500k turnover (priority will be given to g ras sroots organisations) Timeline of Process: Taking on board feedback from Year 1, we have simplified the process for the Small Grant scheme with an understanding that application processes can be overwhelming for small organisations and individuals. We have broken the process into two simple st ages this year. Stage 1 : Expression of Interest Form opens 24 August and closes 24 September 2021 This stage will ask basic organisation/individual key details and request a one - page summary of your project’s aims and objectives. Stage 2 : Shortlisted proposals will be notified on 11 October and will have four weeks to develop and submit additional information. T his stage will delve a little further into expected outcomes and more detailed budgetary information. Awarded: Late November 2021 Commencement of Projects: December 2021/January 2022 Review Process: Stage 1 applications will be internally shortlisted by three team members. Project overviews will be matched against the four ke y core foundation themes and suggested activity outcomes. Stage 2 applications and those to be awarded will be assessed interna lly by three team members and the Foundation’s CEO. We expect to shortlist approximately 100 applications at this stage, which will be matched aga inst the assessment criteria. Feedback will be given to those unsuccessful in Stage 2 only. Additional criteria: If you are applying for the maximum fund amount, you must evidence why the full amount is needed. If you have previously been awarded funding from the Westfield East Bank Creative Futures Fund or any other Foundation grant pro gramme, you are still welcome to apply for Year 2 funds. However, you must be clear if this application is for a new project or an extens ion to the already funded project. Need for the new project or additional funding must be evidenced. GOING THROUGH THE APPLICATION SMALL GRANTS SCHEME – FUNDING UP TO £5,000 ELIGIBILITY CHECKLIST ¡ I am aged over 18 and based (live, work or study) in one of the four boroughs (Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets or Waltham Forest) ¡ Project takes place in one of the four boroughs (Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets or Waltham Forest) ¡ I can commit to completing project in 12 months ¡ I am an individual or organisation with an annual income of less than £500,000 ¡ I have a commitment to, or are working towards, London Living Wage where possible ¡ By the time of project delivery, I will have relevant insurance, risk assessments and a comprehensive safeguarding policy in place if working with children and young people under the age of 18 or vulnerable adults ¡ If an organisation, you are a not - for - profit organisation that is formally constituted i.e. has a signed governing document in the group’s name ¡ If an individual, you must have two relevant named organisations willing to act your referee Please Note: Further documents (e.g. governance documents, insurance, risk assessments etc.) may be requested at later stages of the application process. SECTION 1 – ABOUT YOU ¡ Name ¡ Email ¡ Phone number ¡ Organization role/position ¡ Please indicate if English is not your first language If you need additional support to complete your application, please get in touch at grants@future.london ¡ Borough ¡ Are you applying as an organization or individual? SECTION 1 – ABOUT YOU ¡ Does your organisation or project team identify as 'diverse - led' based on key people involved in the development and delivery of the project? ¡ If yes, in which category does your organisation or project team primarily identify as 'diverse - led'? Example - Senior management, board or individual project team identify is higher than 51% ¡ Disabled, Deaf or Neurodiverse ¡ Black, Asian or Ethnically Diverse ¡ Social Economic ¡ Female ¡ LGBTQ+ ¡ Young People ¡ Other: If you tick this box, you will be able to add details of any intersecting diverse backgrounds of your team members or anyone involved in the development & delivery of this project. SECTION 1 – ABOUT YOUR ORGANISATION ¡ Name ¡ Address ¡ Borough ¡ Postcode ¡ Email ¡ Website ¡ Legal Status: ¡ If you have selected ‘Other’ please describe further ¡ Registered Charity ¡ Company Limited by Guarantee ¡ Unincorporated club or Association ¡ Community Interest Company (CIC) ¡ Social Enterprise ¡ School ¡ Charitable Incorporated Organisations (CIO) ¡ Informal or Non - constituted Group ¡ Other: SECTION 2 – YOUR PROJECT ¡ What is the title of your project or idea? ¡ Where will it take place? ¡ Please provide a short summary of your project ¡ We may use this on our website and elsewhere if your application is successful. Please use a maximum of 300 characters. ¡ The Elders Rock ‘Last Forever’ project is an intergenerational over 60s 8 - month programme that uses photography, creative arts and digital media to showcase, remember and celebrate the life experiences of Newham’s diverse elder community. ‘Leaving the East End legacy for generations to come.’ ¡ Project start/end date ¡ How much would you be applying for? (You can apply for up to £5,000) SECTION 2 – YOUR PROJECT THE ACTUAL EXPRESSION OF INTEREST (EOI) This is your time to shine! You will be asked for some basic details and given the opportunity to outline your project’s creative vision. Please use no more than 6,000 characters ( approx 2 sides of A4) in Arial font size 12. Please do not use formatting features such as tabs, emboldening and underlining as these do not easily transfer to our database. a) What is the project activity? ¡ Where will it take place/when/how often? b) Why is the project needed? Why is it important to you? How has your community been involved in developing it? ¡ This part may include details of your lived experience and how it has shaped and inspired your project c) Who will benefit? ¡ What difference/impact will it make? ¡ What will we see/feel? d) Who else is involved? ¡ Do you have any partnerships in place? e) What will the funding be used for? (A) WHAT IS THE PROJECT ACTIVITY? Elders Rock, based in Newham’s Rathbone Centre, is a user led creative community project that uses arts and wellbeing activities to address health/wellbeing, long term illness, loneliness and isolation of Elders, aged 60+ across Newham. Elders, representative of our working - class community, from all backgrounds come together, share experiences, make friends, and emotionally uplift each other. Over 8 months, in the Newham’s Rathbone Centre, we want to run a photography project for up to 12 of our beneficiaries consisting of weekly 2 - hour workshops. Facilitated by a voluntary professional photographer, and supported by local university student volunteers, the group will work in small teams, learning the basics of digital photography, creating life albums and portraits of each other. Part of the programme also includes an introduction to Photoshop, participants will be encouraged to use the photos they’ve collected throughout their lives to create digital albums that will ‘last forever’. By the end of the project, our aim is for all participants to have an album that showcases their lives and what’s been important to them, it will also include the professional looking portrait that they worked in each of their small teams to create. Our plans also involve showcasing our work in a one - month open exhibition at the University of East London. We will then create a permanent pace, open to the public in our centre, where the exhibition will be on show for all to enjoy, we hope this will encourage longer - term projects and learning opportunities. Important to include a brief introduction, don’t assume the person reading this knows who you are and what you do! Be specific! The question is broken down into smaller chunks, make sure you cover: who, what, where, when and how often. Make the aim of your project clear, how does your activity achieve the aim? Projects that can demonstrate longevity or follow - up/longer - term opportunities will be considered more favourably for funding. (B) WHY IS THIS PROJECT NEEDED? WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO YOU? HOW HAS YOUR COMMUNITY BEEN INVOLVED IN DEVELOPING IT? The Elders Rock centre is the only place in Newham that is ‘user led’. We have a board of 10, of which 5 are service users, 2 are carers/family members, the other 3 are from NHS/Local Authority backgrounds. Our project is supporting people who experience disproportionate challenge and difficulty because of COVID19. Our working - class beneficiaries are significantly affected, they all struggle with disadvantages and poverty; the majority are from Black and Minority Ethnic backgrounds, many living in isolation. They do not have access to relatable, creative, social opportunities that allow them to reflect on their long, full, lives or what they want to pass down to younger generations. Our beneficiaries are more vulnerable and in greater need right now. We have an increased demand for creative wellbeing support and social opportunities as a direct result of the COVID19 crisis. We also lost valued beneficiaries due to COVID19. They told us this sudden onset of bereavement and unexpected loss made them feel ‘helpless’. This is where the need for this project came from. Over 2 weeks of coffee mornings, a group of 15 of us explored ideas around trying to find ways we could celebrate each other’s ‘forever’, challenging the pain and grief we were currently feeling, using our culture and heritage to try and recover from Covid creatively. Our beneficiaries also talked about regeneration and gentrification; all expressed concerns around the quickly changing East End and some told us how they’re struggling to see where they ‘fit in’ in these new spaces of luxury developments. We explored ideas around cultural cooking classes, drama workshops, digital literacy and photography. Beneficiaries expressed sadness that they had very little to remember those who had passed, and very little to pass on. The ‘Last Forever’ photography project idea was born from those conversations, it would showcase their lives and the backgrounds they’re from and the now unrecognisable East End streets they grew up in. This powerful work, regardless of social/financial standing would ensure that each one of them is able to leave a legacy for generations to come. Demonstrating you are user - led with lived experience will strengthen your application. Can you demonstrate your board is at least 51% diverse led? Make sure your answers match up to what you said and the boxes you ticked earlier in the application! Directly answers ‘why is this project needed?’. It relates to key funding priorities: COVID19 recovery. It also aligns with many project activities the fund is keen to support. Co - design with your beneficiaries is important, it lets them tell you what they need, showing that you understand what your community wants. Bring creativity and show us where your idea came from. Show us how your project fits the Creative Futures Fund, it’s all in the name! (C) WHO WILL BENEFIT? WHAT DIFFERENCE/IMPACT WILL IT MAKE? WHAT WILL WE SEE/FEEL? The beneficiaries for this project will be Elders and their friends & families across Newham’s working - class communities. We know sharing cultural stories and documenting them for all to share benefits and enriches us all. Using digital cameras and software, our beneficiaries will gain technical and creative skills, they’ll be better equipped to process the difficult emotions around bereavement, loss and isolation - especially around Covid related matters. In the longer term, this intergenerational project will result in more diverse audiences engaging with the cultural sector, increasing diversity in creativity in our borough. Younger people and the wider community will also benefit from learning about the history, culture, and heritage of the Elders that came before them. BE SPECIFIC! Don’t be afraid to use the funder’s language in your answer. If the question is ‘who will benefit?’, your answer could start with ‘[group] Will benefit....' Exact outcomes from the Westfield East Bank Creative Futures Fund Guidance. Use their language, it shows them you understand what they want and that your project can give it to them! Always refer to the outcomes! (Slide 4) Short term outcome Short term outcome Long term outcome REMEMBER! For the Small Grants scheme, you need a combination of: At least 2 short - term outcomes At least 1 medium/longer - term outcome See how we’ve incorporated them into this application?