Welcome to the Speaking Out Small Grants Programme 2009!
Following the success of the first round of funding launched in 2008, the Speaking Out project has opened a second round - the Small Grants Programme 2009. This funding is aimed at enabling voluntary and community organisations working with children and young people (aged 0 to 25) in England, who are part of the NCVYS or Children England networks, to apply for small grants of up to £1000 to deliver one-off projects or activities in their local communities. The grants will fund the development and implementation of new activities or extensions of existing projects that aim to raise the voice of the children and young people’s voluntary and community sector, focusing on five key themes: The grant programme is looking to fund up to 30 one-off projects or activities. The funded activities should involve children and young people, and should aim to raise awareness and promote debate about the issues noted above.
Funding can be used to organise and implement a range of activities including events, festivals, exhibitions, residentials, publications, web resources, small research projects, sports activities, and creative and performance arts projects. The grant recipients should aim to produce audio, visual or written materials to document the use of the grant such as photographs, art work or a film. These may be used in the publicity of the programme or as case studies on the Speaking Out partners’ websites (www.ncvys.org.uk and www.childrenengland.org.uk) and in Speaking Out publications. These will be used to influence policy and decision making, and will be distributed to a variety of statutory bodies and other organisations to promote the work of the children and young people’s voluntary and community sector. Objectives of the grants programmeThe objectives of the grants programme are to raise the voice of the children and young people’s voluntary and community sector, focusing on five key themes: health; communitiy empowerment; youth justice; homelessness and housing; employment, education and training. In doing so, activities funded by this programme should provide opportunities to express, discuss and debate the key themes as relevant to children and young people. Who can apply for the Speaking Out Small Grants Programme?Any voluntary or community organisation working to support children and/or young people in England that is a member of either NCVYS or Children England can apply for a grant. The organisation must designate an individual to be the lead contact for their project. The project must involve children and young people throughout the course of the project. Each organisation can only submit ONE application. Members of NCVYS and Children England can act as a sponsor or work in partnership with another organisation or group. The applying organisation can be the lead accountable body for the activity with the support of a member. If a member organisation is happy to support an affiliated group’s application, a letter of support needs to accompany the application. To check your membership status with NCVYS or Children England, please contact the respective membership contacts:
What will the programme fund?
The one-off project or activity must either be new or a marked extension of an existing project that has already been dealing with the selected themes. Activities to be funded will raise awareness and debate issues around the following five themes: Funding can be used to organise and implement a range of activities including events, festivals, exhibitions, residentials, publications, web resources, small research projects, sports activities, and creative and performance arts projects. Funding from the programme should not be used to cover strategic and operational costs of organisations and salaries or fees that are not directly related to the activity. Projects cannot raise funds from the activity of the project – this includes charging a fee to participants, selling goods or services or raising funds for other charities, organisations or activities. The funding cannot be used for a celebration or recognition event as the aim of the grant is to give voice to relevant issues and provide opportunities for debate. However, awards may be presented as part of the activity. The project must aim to produce audio/visual materials to document the use of the grant. Photographs, art work, video, audio or written material from the project may be used in the publicity of the programme or as case studies on the Speaking Out partners’ websites (www.ncvys.org.uk and www.childrenengland.org.uk) and publications. These will be used to support Speaking Out’s policy work. When can funded activities take place?The projects must be completed within 6 months of receiving the funds. Projects should start within 3 months of receiving the full payment of the grant, which will be paid in advance upon satisfactory receipt of all supporting documents (see Application Section 4 for list of required Supporting Documents). TimelineApplication deadline: 12 noon on 2 March 2009
Grant recipients announced by: 13 March 2009
Projects to be completed within 6 months of receiving funds
Project report and materials to be submitted by 31 October 2009 What will the funding panel be looking for?Successful projects will be closely allied to one (or more) of the five proposed themes. The panel will be looking for projects that demonstrate the contribution of the children and young people’s voluntary sector, particularly projects that raise the voices of those that are less often heard or groups that are particularly at risk as a result of the economic downturn and other deprivation factors, and would benefit from this funding to achieve improved outcomes. The panel will also be interested to learn how groups are using environmentally sustainable practices in their work. Finally it is important that applications outline clear plans to produce material evidence of their activity such as video, audio, publicity or written material. The Terms and Conditions can be found in Section 5 of the Application Form. Additional Documents>> Guidelines (PDF version of information on this webpage) >> Application (Word - includes the Terms and Conditions and submission instructions) Any questions?Ilona Pinter - Speaking Out Small Grants Programme Co-ordinator
E: speakingout@ncvys.org.uk
T: 020 7278 1041 Review of last year's grants programmeTo view examples of the projects funded last year and a review of the funding process >> Small Grants Review 2008 (PDF). To order free hard copies of the review, please email speakingout@ncvys.org.uk or call 020 7278 1041. |