Final 2022 Med&Large FFL Guidance - incl. large grant slide.pdf - Foundation for Future London

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WESTFIELD EAST BANK CREATIVE FUTURES FUND INFORMATION & GUIDANCE HOSTED BY LISA STEPANOVIC AGENDA During this session, you’ll: ¡ Learn more about the Westfield East Bank Creative Futures Fund as we go through the application process and guidance for the Large funding scheme ¡ Find out about our ongoing Capacity Building programme We’ll then open up to a Q & A where Lisa will be on hand to answer any questions. 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 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. Year 3 has been designed with evaluation and feedback obtained from Year 1 and 2 grantees to ensure that the process is as accessible, transparent, and allows applicants to make informed decisions, follow a simple applications process, and gain additional support when needed. This year, the Large Grant scheme has a pot of £300,000 and will award 5 – 6 grants. KEY DATES FOR YOUR DIARY Medium Grants – up to £15,000 ¡ Online application process ¡ Applications open 11th July ¡ Applications close 16th September Large Grants - up to £50,000 ¡ Online application process – must speak with a member of staff first ¡ Applications open 11th July ¡ Applications close 16th September WHAT WILL WE FUND? You can apply for funding to cover: ¡ project activities and staffing, ¡ running costs related to the project ¡ the purchase of equipment you need to deliver your activities We can fund a mix of project activities, operating costs, and organisational development but all costs must directly relate to the delivery of proposed activities. WHAT WON’T WE FUND? The Westfield East Bank Creative Futures Fund will not fund: ¡ Expenditure or activities that have already taken place ¡ Religious or political activity (we will accept applications from religious organisations if they can clearly demonstrate wider community benefit) ¡ Services that are a statutory responsibility (i.e. are the responsibility of the Council, Government or Health Authorities) ¡ Projects or activities that have no community or charitable element ¡ Foreign travel ¡ Projects that do not have a strong arts/cultural component ¡ Activities that have no public benefit for residents of Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets or Waltham Forest ¡ Activities placed in a formal education setting as part of the core curriculum ¡ Recurring or on-going projects costs such as regular workshops/existing provisions 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? OUTCOMES Number of outcomes expected Short Term Outcomes Medium / Long Term Outcomes will be based on which strand you are applying for. Participants gain technical/sector- Increased employability of participants specific and/or creative skills For the medium grants Participants gain essential skills Increased capacity for innovation and scheme, a minimum of 3 short, entrepreneurship medium to long-term outcomes must be demonstrated Participants grow their networks and Increased diversity in the awareness of local opportunities creative/entrepreneurial sector in the For the large grants scheme, a boroughs minimum of 5 medium and Participants gain confidence in their More diverse audiences engage with the long-term outcomes must be potential and self-initiative cultural sector and benefit from community demonstrated assets/available services Participants are better equipped to Participants act as agents of change within process difficult emotions the local community Participants are equipped to act as agent Organisations and schools integrate creative of change in their boroughs approaches within their projects Organisations and schools are exposed to creative approaches to wellbeing 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 Collaboration Creative Ideas Community Covid-19 recovery Diversity & Inclusion Creative, Inclusive Public Realm and/or Placemaking Education Intergenerational Digital Health, Wellbeing & Environment GRANT INFORMATION - MEDIUM Value: Up to £15,000 Project Duration: 12-month projects Outcomes: Minimum of three short, medium, or long-term outcomes must be demonstrated Eligibility: Schools; not for profit organisations with less than £1.5 million turnover (schools and East Bank partners are exempt from turnover) Review Process: All applications will be carefully reviewed and evaluated against the four key core foundation themes as well as short, medium, and long-term goals, expected impact, user, and beneficiary groups and budgetary spend. Shortlisting will take place internally via our online system and by three team members. Final awarding will be decided by the Foundation Grant Assessment Panel, which includes the Foundation’s CEO and one/two Foundation Trustees. Feedback will be given to all applicants; however, level of feedback will vary dependent on the stage of the process and size of the grant applying for. Additional criteria: If you are a school applying you must evidence that the funding applied for will not be for core school day/ curriculum activity If you are applying for the maximum fund, you must evidence why the full amount is needed and where it will be used. If you have previously been awarded funding from the Westfield East Bank Creative Futures Fund or any other Foundation grant programme, you are still welcome to apply for Year 3 funds. However, you must be clear if this application is for a new project or an extension to the already funded project. Need for the new project or additional funding must be evidenced by provision of an impact report from the previous project. The Medium Grant Scheme pot is £200k and will award 10-13 grants. GRANT INFORMATION - LARGE Value: up to £50,000 Project Duration: 12-18 month projects Outcomes: Minimum of five medium and large outcomes must be demonstrated Eligibility: Schools, not for profit organisations with less than £1.5 million turnover (Schools and East Bank Partners are exempt from turnover). A partnership and/or consortium approach to the project must be evidenced. Review Process: All applications will be carefully reviewed and evaluated against the four key core foundation themes; short, medium, and long-term goals; expected impact; user and beneficiary groups; and budgetary spend. Shortlisting will take place internally via our online system and by three team members. Final awarding will be decided by the Foundation Grant Assessment Panel. On occasion, we may request further information to help us determine the outcome of any application. Feedback will be given to all applicants; however, the level of feedback will vary depending on the stage of the process and the size of the grant applied for. Additional criteria: If you are a school applying, you must evidence that the funding applied for will not be for core school day/ curriculum activity If you are applying for the maximum fund, you must evidence why the full amount is needed and where it will be used. If you have previously been awarded funding from the Westfield East Bank Creative Futures Fund or any other Foundation grant programme, you are still welcome to apply for Year 3 funds. However, you must be clear if this application is for a new project or an extension to the already funded project. Need for the new project or additional funding must be evidenced by provision of an impact report from the previous project. The Large Grant Scheme has a pot of £300k and will award 5-6 grants. GOING THROUGH THE APPLICATION MEDIUM & LARGE SCHEME – FUNDING UP TO £50,000 SECTION 1 – ELIGIBILITY CHECKLIST ¡ On the application form, you will have to complete the eligibility checklist. SECTION 2 – ABOUT YOU & YOUR ORGANISATION ¡ Name ¡ Email ¡ Phone number ¡ Organization role/position ¡ Borough ¡ Legal status of organization ¡ Organisation turnover ¡ FTE staff involved ¡ Year organization established SECTION 2 – DIVERSE-LED ORGANISATION ¡ Does your organisation or project team identify as 'diverse-led' based on key people involved in the development and delivery of the project? Note: The Foundation aims to prioritise support to organisations that are led by, and work that is developed and delivered with people and communities who are most affected in order to recognise the urgent need to address historical power imbalance between who leads, creates and makes work. ¡ 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 2 – ORGANISATION’S AIMS & VALUES – 250 WORDS As the lead applicant describe how this work fits with the aims and values of you and/or your organisation. We would also like to hear about your previous experience and commitment to diversity and inclusion. NOTE: The Foundations assessors will be particularly interested to hear how you involve, support and champions people with lived and learnt experience to inform the work that you do/want to do through the planning, delivery and evaluation of your work. Example Answer: The Chefs in Schools project, in partnership with George Green in Sir Jon Cass schools, aligns with our organisation’s aims and values around changing the food culture within the wider community. Both schools are in high deprivation areas, with low engagement rates in hospitality and catering careers. At Chefs in Schools, we want food culture to be at the heart of our work within the education system, providing skills-based learning that leads to training and employment pathways for young people. Led, steered, and delivered by lived-experienced local community experts, notable chefs and qualified training providers, our vision involves striving for equal access to meaningful careers within the hospitality & catering sectors for working-class communities. Chefs in Schools is a values driven, inclusive charity that does not discriminate, or recruit, based on protected characteristics. Through recognition and celebration of one another’s differences, we make it as easy as possible for all children and young people to take part in our programmes. When recruiting, our aim is to be as inclusive as possible and work with beneficiaries representative of our entire community. We know that East London communities are made up of many different races and cultures as well as the disabled, traveller, LGBTQI+, and carers groups. Diversity and inclusion is embedded in our work, showing cultural awareness and sensitivity throughout. SECTION 2 - ADDITIONAL SUPPORT ¡ Tell us about any help, support or adjustments that you would like to make us aware of as part of your application? Are there any areas of your project or your own development where you feel you would benefit from additional support, including access support? ¡ Medium - 150 words, Large - 250 words ¡ Is your first language not English? ¡ Yes/No If you need additional support to complete your application, please get in touch at [email protected] SECTION 3 – YOUR PROJECT ¡ What is the title of your project? ¡ Where will it take place? ¡ Note: We encourage the development of activities and connections across more than 1 of the 4 boroughs. Select all the boroughs your activities are taking place across. ¡ Hackney / Tower Hamlets / Newham / Waltham Forest ¡ Please provide a short summary of your project (30 words) ¡ Please see next slide. ¡ Proposed project start & end date ¡ How much are you applying for? ¡ Medium – up to £15,000 ¡ Large – up to £50,000 SECTION 3 – YOUR PROJECT SUMMARY The 30 word summary provides a grant assessor with their first impression of your project. To remind themselves of your proposal, they may glance at your summary when making their final recommendations, so it may also be their last impression of your project. If your application is successful, it may even be used by the funder for advertising and/or publicity purposes. The summary should explain the key elements of your project. Most summaries state: 1. The general purpose: 50 elders 2. Specific goals: will take part in weekly photography workshops 3. To achieve what?: creating the ’last forever’ exhibition, 4. Methods: showcasing the everchanging East End through their eyes and experiences, 5. Significance (contribution/outcome): leaving a legacy for future generations. 50 elders will take part in weekly photography workshops, creating the ’last forever’ exhibition, showcasing the everchanging East End through their eyes and experiences, leaving a legacy for future generations. (30 words) SECTION 3 – ISSUES BEING ADDRESSED ¡ Project start/end date ¡ How much would you be applying for? (You can apply for up to £50,000) ¡ Issue being addressed (250 words max) ¡ What is the issue your project is addressing and why is change needed? ¡ This is a chance for you to tell us about the issue you are (or want to) address, why the project is needed, why is it important to you, what makes you well placed to address it and how has your community been involved in developing it. Example: The issue we are addressing is Elder isolation across our working class East End communities, and the lack of creative intergenerational opportunities for this marginalised group. We are also addressing Covid-19 recovery, our beneficiaries are from majority Black, and Minority Ethnic backgrounds, the groups most disproportionally impacted by Covid, which has affected their health and wellbeing, including mental health and emotional wellbeing. Many of our beneficiaries are without family support, this intergenerational creative digital photography project will see 10 elders and 10 young people come together, using digital cameras and software to reflect on their long, full, lives, and their learned and lived life experiences, enabling them to leave a photographic legacy for younger generations. Young people have told us that they want to learn more about their forefathers’ cultures and identities; when planning this project, they said it was important for them to use their digital skills to bring to celebrate local community working class history. The elders involved in this project will be leading on cultural storytelling, the young people will peer-coach the elders with digital skills. This project is important because we recognise the need to preserve the culture across our communities. Our organisation is best placed to run this project, we are known and trusted in the community, with a diverse group of volunteers from all ages and backgrounds who will be on hand to support and champion this one-of-a-kind intergenerational project. SECTION 3 - PROJECT OVERVIEW – 1500 WORDS Please tell us about your project and what you want to deliver. This is your chance to tell us how the project meets the Westfield East Bank Creative Futures Fund priorities and outcomes, who would be involved in the planning and running of your project, what is the project activity, who would benefit and what positive change/impact would it bring about e.g. what will participants see/feel both during the course the project and into the future. 1. Start with a short paragraph about the background of your organisation ¡ When were you founded? What work do you do? Who do you work with? What are your vision, mission and values? Tell us about the make up of your board, are you beneficiary led? Do you have a youth/steering group? ¡ REMEMBER: The funder doesn’t know you – introduce yourself. 2. Tell us about your project and what you want to deliver ¡ What are the activities? When? Where? How often? do you have partners involved? How does the activity you want to run meet the Westfield East Bank outcomes, make sure to always refer back to the funder’s outcomes/themes. (slides 7, 8, 9) 3. Who are the beneficiaries – what backgrounds do they come from? what age group are they in? what barriers do they face? How have they been involved in shaping and steering your project? SECTION 3 - PROJECT OVERVIEW - 1500 WORDS – CONT. 4. Who would be involved in the planning and running of your project? ¡ Things to consider: do you have any partners or partnerships in place? Are you lived experience led? Are you working with volunteers? If you’re working with lived experience and industry experts, mention them here. Will beneficiaries be involved in facilitation? Be specific – provide details of who will do what and when. 5. How have you identified the need for the project? Who did you consult and when? If relevant, can you refer to evidence?- keep this short, to the point using current and local evidence 4. What positive change/impact will your project bring about? e.g. What will we see/feel both during the course the project and into the future? ¡ What are the outcomes of your project? What will we see or feel? What is the long term benefit of getting involved or taking part in your project? How will it benefit the individual, or wider community? Be specific here about the difference your activities will make. TIP-Base this answer on the Funder’s outcomes (slide 8) 5. Longevity & sustainability – what are your plans for the future? What happens when the funding ends? 6. Use remaining wordcount to wrap up with a powerful closing statement Make it personal and creative, remember this is the ‘creative futures fund’- you could include beneficiary and partner quotes SECTION 3 – PROJECT TIMELINE (250 WORDS) Provide a summary project timeline of your planned activities alongside key activities your project will involve e.g. engagement, outreach, workshops, events, evaluation etc. Here’s an example of a simple project timeline, just to give you an idea: Jan 2022 - Weeks 1 – 3: Funding confirmed, volunteer induction, outreach, facilitator safeguarding training and pre-evaluation data gathering Jan 2022 – Feb 2022 - Week 4- 12: Weekly workshop delivery, individual progress plans in place, interim data gathering Feb 2022 – March 2022 Weeks 13 – 17: Project progress update, Milestone - April 2022: All young people will have completed [their accredited training] This enables them to access the employment opportunity. SECTION 3 – PROJECT AWARENESS (250 WORDS) How will you make local people aware of your project/activity? Please outline how you have designed your approach to ensure the project is as accessible as possible for participants e.g. digital inclusion, audience engagement, access requirements, safeguarding and risks to participant. How will you make sure the people you want to reach know about what you’re doing and how they can get involved? ¡ Will you advertise on social media? What about physical advertising, will you make posters? ¡ Will you deliver outreach, taster sessions or assemblies? ¡ Will you take referrals? Who from? How will these referrals be made? ¡ Will you consider any potential accessibility barriers? COVID, transport, access requirements, digital inclusion (laptops/tech), Zoom accounts, etc. ¡ How have you implemented safeguarding into the work you do? Are your team trained in safeguarding? Do you have a safeguarding policy & lead? What could go wrong on your programme and how will you avoid and mitigate risk? SECTION 3 – ORGANISATION EXPERIENCE (250 WORDS) Tell us know about your organisation's experience delivery previous projects and other relevant experience to deliver this project. You may also want to tell us about the people and partners involved in your project and why you are confident in their ability to make the project a success. NOTE: The Foundations assessors will be particularly interested to hear how your organisation involve, support and champion people with lived and learnt experience to inform the work that you do/want to do through the planning, delivery and evaluation of your work ¡ This is your chance to demonstrate to the funder that you’re a credible organisation with a track record of delivering impactful work. They want to know how you’ve considered partnerships, why you’ve chosen your partners, and the skills those partners bring to the table. ¡ Do you have lived experience of the issues you’re addressing? Does your team have lived experience? Do you embed co-design in your work, consulting the beneficiaries you seek to serve? What does this co-design look like? ¡ Is your organisation committed to ‘continuously learning’ regarding delivery plans and evaluation? Shout about these things when you’re answering this question! SECTION 3 – PREVIOUS ENGAGEMENT (250 WORDS) Tell us about whether you have previously worked with or had engagement with The Foundation or any of our East Bank partners? Provide details of this and any connections you have and why you may have chosen to apply to us to fund your work. Note: Engagement with the Foundation and our partners is not a pre-requisite to applying. We also encourage you to think about ways your project might aspire to build those connections longer-term. If you have, shout about it! Tell us about the impact you’ve made working with The Foundation or the East Bank partners in the past. Include a quote or two if you want to. If you haven’t, don’t worry about it! Now is the time to make that connection, tell us about any plans or ideas you may have of working together now or in the future. SECTION 3 – MONITORING & REPORTING (250 WORDS) Explain how you will measure and report on the positive changes made to your local community. How will you monitor the quality of delivery? What tools will you use to collect evidence? How will you share your learnings post completion? Example answer: Monitoring, measuring and evaluation (MME) are deeply embedded in our work. We understand the significance of accurate monitoring and know how important it is to identify and have the systems in place for what we are going to measure at the start of the programme. We will collect data, record observations, use note-taking, questionnaires, baseline measurements and record the distance travelled. Feedback will come from project beneficiaries and also the schools and individuals we work with. We will also use photographs and film and share our journey on social media. After each session, the participants will provide detailed feedback. We will have 1:1 time with the participants throughout the project, this will enable them to discuss any issues they're struggling with, it will also be an opportunity for us to gain further feedback. At the end of the project, we will compile a thorough evaluation, including input and case-studies from the participants including the distance they have travelled. It will cover what worked well and what could be improved. This will help us to learn and shape future projects. This approach will also assure the schools and volunteers supporting us that we value their input and that we are a trusted organisation that does exactly what we say we are going to do. We will share the evaluation with our stakeholders and supporters and will also publicise the evaluation on-line to share our learning with the community and others who may be interested in our work. (248 words) SECTION 3 – CONSORTIUM / PARTNERSHIP TEAM – 250 WORDS Tell us about the other people involved in your consortium/partnership team and what their anticipated role will be in the project and your approach to collaboration. It’s important that partnerships are equitable and underpinned by inclusive values. SECTION 3 – LEARNING & ACHIEVEMENTS – 250 WORDS What do you hope to have learnt or to have achieved by the end of your grant and how do you intend to ensure a legacy for the work beyond the grant? SECTION 3 – PROJECT RISKS – 250 WORDS Provide a list of at least three risks you see in the delivery of your project that could potentially affect your project and how you will aim to mitigate these risks. SECTION 3 – SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION This is a chance for you to add an engaging 1-2 page impact report. ABOUT YOUR PROJECT (LARGE GRANT ONLY) Please note if you are applying for the large grant, you will need to make sure you have done/considered the following: ¡ Discussed your project - Have you discussed your project with a member of the Foundation’s grants team? The funder will only accept applications for large grants from organisations who have discussed their project idea with the Foundation in advance. You will need to ensure you speak with a member of staff at the Foundation at least 7-10 days in advance of the deadline to ensure your eligibility. SECTION 4 – PROJECT AIMS & IMPACT You’ll be asked some tickbox questions: ¡ Funding Themes ¡ Support areas / issues ¡ Project Outcomes ¡ Project Beneficiaries ¡ Ethnicity of beneficiaries / user groups ¡ Age of beneficiaries / user groups SECTION 4 – ENGAGEMENT PLAN – 250 WORDS You will be asked for a simple estimate of the numbers of individuals that you are expecting to see engage with your project. You’ll only be able to give numbers as a response. Use the question below to explain how you’ll reach these numbers. ¡ Engagement Plan (250 words max) ¡ Use this space to provide some further details explaining how you have determined that you will work with the number of beneficiaries outline above? Be realistic with your engagement estimates, and explain specifically how you will do this in the engagement plan. In addition to outlining the number of physical activities and engagement, consider other avenues of engagement. For example… Will you be reaching audiences through social media? Will they tune in to your YouTube channel? How many will visit your website? It’s important you write this in your engagement plan. SECTION 5 – PROJECT BUDGET BREAKDOWN Budget expenditure detail (250 words) Describe how any fees, rates and purchases have been calculated e.g. artist fees, equipment purchases, service rates, venue hire etc. Project Income (250 words) Provide details of all project income both confirmed and expected. You should include any other income that is either confirmed or expected towards the project, including any earnt income, funding applications, matched funding, private income etc. NOTE: Please also detail relevant in-kind contributions e.g. volunteer time, venue discounts etc Will participants be asked to contribute financially? Have you received funding from the Foundation before? SECTION 6 – DECLARATION & FINAL SUBMISSION Finally! You’re at the very last section – check and check again that you’ve answered all the questions clearly. You might find it helpful to print a copy of your application and read it outloud to make sure everything makes sense. If you’re confident and feel ready, tick the box and submit the application. CAPACITY BUILDING ¡ The Foundation aims to make the Westfield East Bank Creative Futures Fund as accessible as possible. We are pleased to continue our Capacity Building Programme this year for all existing and future potential grantees, giving them the opportunity to build skills and ideas for present or future projects and funding applications. ¡ If you require adjustments or access support to take part in the application process or to participate in the Capacity Building Programme due to a disability, neurodiversity, caring responsibilities or for any other reason, you will be able to provide details in the application form or contact us to discuss further. If you need any of the information about this Fund in a different format, please contact us at [email protected] Q&A [email protected] ANY QUESTIONS? DROP US YOUR DETAILS VIA ZOOM OR EMAIL AND WE’LL ADD YOU INTO THE CAPACITY BUILDING WHATSAPP GROUP CHAT!