Next steps with funder collaboration: application webinars for Deliver and Develop Grants

All of this groundwork has been crucial in creating a shared understanding of the ambitions for the programme. Working together we can…

• build a platform to act collectively on issues that are bigger than any one of us - drawing on the relationships between us and the assets of us all;
• prioritise equity, inclusion and social justice – our shared ‘north star’ - addressing structural inequalities for Londoners for transformational change;
• develop bold, innovative and creative programmes – sharing risks together to learn, unlearn, and achieve more; 
• achieve system-wide impact – through civil society, the public sector and business, focusing on solving big problems and delivering impact at scale; and
• deliver both crisis and long-term funding – with strong and collaborative civil society as its legacy.

These are big ambitions, and over the past few months, things have been moving at pace to develop funding programmes which can put these ambitions into practice.

We are now in the final stages of designing two types of grants, ready to be launched later in the Autumn. We are inviting civil society groups to sign up for one of a series of workshops and webinars in October to find out more about these grants, what sort of work they might fund, and how to apply.

Starting with a small grant to explore the issue you want to address, or a larger grant if you can build on existing work to deliver and develop a wider partnership for change, the initial grants could lead onto a long term, extended, flexible funding partnership. We want to build collaborations to act together to tackle the issues facing London, from tackling structural inequalities to the cost of living crisis, drawing on the strengths and assets of us all.

Find out more about the Deliver and Develop Grants below about how you can join us on this journey together.

You can find out more about the Explore Grants here.

Deliver and Develop Grants

Deliver and Develop Grants will enable civil society organisations to expand existing delivery, learn about and evidence what works, as well as considering how your approach can be embedded across the system that you’re working in to deliver lasting change. 

Deliver and Develop Grants will be for up to three years.  At the end of Deliver and Develop Grants, there is likely to be an opportunity to apply for a Long-Term Grant (potentially five years or more) to lead a collaboration that delivers systemic change for London. 

Who can apply? 

To apply for a Deliver and Develop Grant, you will need to be one of the following:

• Registered, exempted, or excepted charity 
• Charitable incorporated organisation (CIO) 
• Community Interest Company limited by guarantee (CIC) 
• Charitable community benefit society (Industrial and Provident society)

We encourage applications from organisations already delivering work that focuses on changing systems.

You might already be working in collaboration with others (like other charities, businesses and public sector organisations) or you might have ideas about who you would need to work with to deliver the change you want to make.  

You will need to demonstrate that principles of equity and justice are at the centre of your approach. In line with the principles of this programme, applications from equity-led organisations will be prioritised (i.e. they will be assessed first). By equity led we mean organisations led by and for marginalised communities, in particular:

• Deaf and Disabled communities
• Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT+) communities
• Racially minoritised communities
• Women and girls

We define ‘led by’ as when more than 75% of an organisation’s Trustees and more than 50% of staff members (including senior) are people from the communities that you serve/have lived experience of the issues that your organisation is tackling.    

However your organisation is structured, you will need to demonstrate that the people who benefit from your work are involved in its design and evaluation. 

What will these grants focus on? 

Deliver and Develop Grants will focus on three missions set out by the London Recovery Board, the body which guides the capital’s post-Covid recovery – providing a New Deal for Young People, Building Stronger Communities and a Robust Safety Net for people .

New Deal for Young People

Deliver and Develop grants will support organisations working with disadvantaged young people aged between 10 and 24, and will: 

1. Increase the quantity and quality of mentoring for high numbers of disadvantaged young people. Mentoring includes quality youth activities that build a trusted relationship over time, is responsive to the needs of the young person, and uses trust to build skills and opportunity for change.
2. Empowers system change and sustainability within the youth sector, by strengthening young people’s voice and leadership, or by connecting smaller and larger youth organisations together with funders, decision makers and regional networks.

An illustrative, not exhaustive, list of target groups of young people is outlined below. There will be other groups of young people that could be targeted based on local need:

• young Disabled people
• young people with special educational needs (SEN)
• young people who are excluded from school or college
• young people who are associated with gangs or impacted by exploitation
• young people who are not in education, employment, or training
• young people who are experiencing, or have been impacted by, domestic abuse
• young refugees and asylum-seekers
• young people with a social worker (looked-after children, those under a Child Protection Plan, children in need and care leavers)
• young people from low-income families/living in poverty
• young parents or carers of pre-school children
• young Carers
• young people from Gypsy, Romany and Traveller communities

Building Strong Communities  

Deliver and Develop Grants will be focused on underpinning or growing the accessibility and sustainability of spaces where communities can come together to support themselves and each other. This includes spaces in geographical places across London, or virtual spaces that serve communities of interest across different areas of London. These spaces should work to strengthen voice, leadership as well as civic and community engagement for London’s most marginalised communities.

Robust Safety Net

Deliver and Develop Grants will focus on building the future workforce for the advice sector, ensuring that advisors are rooted in communities experiencing disadvantage. This includes underpinning the sustainability of organisations and services which serve marginalised communities to ensure that job pathways are available for those who are trained under the workforce development initiatives.   

Q. How do I find out more?

If you think that your work fits with the focus outlined above, and you are ready to scale up your delivery, whilst developing your thinking on how your approach could impact more widely, join us to find out more.

We will be holding three online webinars for organisations interested in finding out more about Deliver and Develop Grants. At these webinars you can:

1. Hear more about the overall Mission, and the plans and priorities of the Mission Team
2. Find out more about the Deliver and Develop Grants
3. Test whether your work might be a good fit for this funding programme
4. Meet the funders involved

The webinars will be recorded and published on London Funders’ YouTube Channel.

Q. When are they happening?

Register below for the webinar that is most relevant to you.

• 11 October, 10.00 – 11.30: Deliver and Develop grants for Robust Safety Net. Register here.
• 11 October, 15.00 – 17.00: Deliver and Develop grants for the New Deal for Young People. Register here.
• 13 October, 10.00 – 11.30: Deliver and Develop grants for Building Strong Communities. Register here.

If you cannot attend the webinars, don’t worry. We will record each of the webinars and publish it on the London Funders’ Youtube channel. If you’re unable to attend either of the above webinars, there will be an opportunity to attend a fourth webinar on the 20th October, from 2pm - 3.30pm. This will include more general information about the Deliver and Develop grants and Explore Grants, where you can also ask questions from the funders. You can sign up to this session here.  

Once applications open in October, there will also be more information available online and opportunities to ask further questions. Keep up to date with news about the programme by signing up to our newsletter.