THE ROYAL BRITISH LEGION EXTERNAL GRANTS GUIDELINES FOR APPLICANTS

Transcription

1 THE ROYAL BRITISH LEGION EXTERNAL GRANTS GUIDELINES FOR APPLICANTS The External Grants Programme The External Grants programme accepts applications from organisations running, or planning, charitable activities in support of the Armed Forces community. It is intended to fund specialised projects or services for serving and/or ex-service personnel and/or their families that are not already being provided by The Royal British Legion (the Legion) and that are in line with our programme s Funding Priorities. Funding Priorities Employment and Training Support for Families Supporting the Elderly Homelessness and Outreach Eligibility Criteria You must be a charitable organisation operating for at least two years. You must share our aims and objectives and be able to: demonstrate that the money we give you will directly benefit serving and/or ex- Service personnel and/or their families; demonstrate that you have attempted to secure funding from other sources (whether you were successful or not); demonstrate that your charitable organisation is run efficiently; provide evidence to show that there is demand for the project or service and how your project fits with our aims and objectives; describe the impact (project outcomes) your project will achieve for serving and/or ex-service personnel and/or their families, providing evidence where you can.

2 Application Process Two Stage Application Process Stage One The first stage requires a short expression of interest from the applying organisation via submission of a completed Stage One Application Form. Stage One applications will typically be considered within one month of the submission deadline. Successful applicants will be notified and invited to Stage Two. Stage Two The second stage involves a more comprehensive application and requires submission of accompanying information (e.g. a budget report.) Funding decisions will typically be made within one month of the Stage Two submission deadline. Submission deadlines are listed on page 6. What We Fund Examples of the activities we fund: Projects, for example, a particular time-limited activity that benefits our beneficiaries; Services, for example, to provide a support or welfare service to our beneficiaries; Capital projects, for example, to build a facility or to purchase equipment for the benefit of our beneficiaries. Religious Organisations The Legion will consider applications from faith based organisations but will not fund activities that promote religion or include elements of proselytisation. Reserves Policy We will not normally fund organisations with free or unrestricted reserves that exceed their last year s running costs. Capital The Legion will not normally consider applications of more than 50,000 for any form of building work unless there are exceptional circumstances. This includes construction, renovation or conversion of new buildings, existing premises, playgrounds, sports pitches etc. Page 2

3 Furthermore, we will only consider applications for building work of 50,000 or less where the amount requested from us will complete the total cost required for the project and enable the building work to commence. What We Fund Organisations and services we do not fund: Commercial ventures such as social clubs. Statutory services. Commemoration, memorials, monuments or war cemeteries. What Information will we ask for? Stage One: A fully completed Stage One application form stating: Financial information (as submitted to the Charity Commission, where applicable); please do not send Annual Accounts for this stage. A brief project description, to explain the main activities, the type of beneficiaries you will be helping, how the need was identified, where the project will operate, and the timeframe for the project (500 word limit). Proposed outputs; list three outputs illustrating the number of beneficiaries you aim to support with each intervention. Proposed outcomes; list three differences you aim to make to the lives of beneficiaries as a result of your work. Successful applicants will be sent a Stage Two application form. Stage Two: A fully completed Stage Two application form. The organisation s most recent audited annual accounts. A recommendation letter that must be from someone who knows your organisation in a professional capacity but who is not a part of it. For example, this could be an officer of your local Council for Voluntary Service, Volunteer Bureau or Local Authority. This referee should not be a Legion employee or volunteer, or a member of your committee, a paid member of staff, someone who uses your services or a member of your family. A Budget Report for the project for the current financial year. A job description (if applying for funding for a post). Quotations or costings for purchase of equipment and/or materials. Page 3

4 Stage Two - Supplementary Information It is vital that we have full financial information about your project. You will need to outline and detail on the application form the full costs of your project regardless of whether you are requesting the full amount from the Legion. This information must be completed on the template supplied otherwise you will not be able to submit your application. If the form itself is not fully completed we will not be able to process your application. Accounts We are unable to accept applications without accompanying accounts. These accounts should be the most recent available. If these are more than 18 months old you must also provide draft accounts which provide more recent information about your organisation's finances. Applying for Staffing-Related Costs Please provide the following: Job Description for the post; Person Specification for the post; Work Plan (for new roles) Work Plan Staffing Applications Your work plan should tell us what the person you are (or will be) employing is going to spend their time doing over the year. Your plan needs to show us: The activities the post holder will be doing and when they will be doing them over the year; Key training and personal development for the post holder; Identify the key achievements as they progress through the year. Page 4

5 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS Funding Terms: The typical maximum grant award will be 50,000. Projects that duplicate Legion services will not be eligible. Stage One unsuccessful organisations must wait 6 months before reapplying. Stage Two unsuccessful organisations must wait 12 months before reapplying. Our organisation already has a grant from the Legion. Can we apply for another grant for the same purpose once the grant ends? An organisation may typically only have one live grant at a time. Providing the current grant is coming to an end and that you will be able to spend the new grant within 12 months, we welcome your application; However, we would expect organisations applying for a continuation or follow on grant from the Legion to show they are also seeking funding from other sources, rather than just depending on the Legion. Our organisation has already raised/applied for part of the costs for my project. Will the Legion pay for the rest? The Legion is happy to part-fund projects. If you are applying for part of the costs towards your project, we would like to see who you have applied to for the rest of the costs and, if you haven't had a decision from these other funders, when this is likely. There is space on the project budget form to give us this information. Do you give Grants to Individuals? Yes please call our Contact Centre on or visit our website at: How does the Legion decide whether to give a grant? We will ask you to complete an application form (see section below How do I apply? ) We will read and consider every application we receive. Unfortunately, due to our own funding constraints, we are not able to award a grant in every case, even if the project is eligible. It is essential that you are able to demonstrate: that you fit within our objectives and one of our priority funding groups; Page 5

6 the specific benefits that the project to be funded will provide for our beneficiaries (i.e. serving and ex-service personnel and their families); you have clearly outlined the differences your project will make to our beneficiaries; sound financial and organisational management and that you have explored other sources of funding and insufficient funds are available from other sources; and there are no risks to the Legion whether in terms of mismanagement of funds or of damage to the Legion's reputation. How long will it take? We aim to acknowledge receipt of your application within three working days and we will provide an indication of the timescale at that stage. Stage One applications will typically be considered within one month of the submission deadline. Successful applicants will be notified and invited to Stage Two. Funding decisions will typically be made within two months of Stage Two submission deadline. How do I apply? Please visit our website to download a Stage One application form or our External Grants Officer at externalgrants@britishlegion.org.uk to request a form to be sent to you. Please allow three working days for a response or alternatively you can telephone our External Grants Officer on: Grant applications are typically reviewed by the Grants Panel within two months of the Stage Two Submission Deadline. The submission deadlines for these meetings are outlined below: Stage One Submission Deadlines Stage Two Submission Deadlines 31-May Aug Jul Oct Nov Jan-17 Any applications after the relevant stage deadline for quarterly meetings will automatically be rolled over to the next Grants Panel meeting. Further submission deadlines for the forthcoming year will be updated at end of Page 6

7 Grant Requirements Grant application requirements: Failure to produce all documentation required will result in a delay to your application being progressed. Please ensure that all sections of the application form are fully completed. We will not process incomplete applications. Please do not use continuation sheets. Please ensure you enclose all documents and information required to avoid delays. Please avoid the use of technical terms, acronyms and jargon and if using abbreviations please ensure that you put them in full in the first instance i.e. Personal Recovery Unit (PRU). Please provide the fundraising strategy for the project. This should include details of the funds you have secured and applications pending. Please note we will expect you to have approached local and regional sources of funding prior to applying to us. If this is not possible then please explain why. Existing Grant Holders If you currently hold a grant with us, you can only apply again during the final six months of your existing grant period and any future award will be conditional upon satisfactory report against the previous grant. This application can be for funding for the same project, or a different project. Please note that we do not give automatic priority to work we have funded in the past. Conditions of Grant We give grants subject to our standard terms and conditions, copies of which are available on request. Please note that, in addition to our standard terms and conditions, we may impose further conditions before making a grant. These will be communicated to you in the grant offer letter if your application is successful. Monitoring and Review All grant recipients must complete a Budget Form and Monitoring Report using our standard forms. Please ensure you refer to the Monitoring Report before your project starts in order to plan for what information you will need to collect. Successful applicants will be required to collect quantitative information about our beneficiaries and qualitative information to help demonstrate the changes your project has made to the serving and/or ex-service community. Page 7

8 The information given in your Monitoring Report is collated and presented to our Board of Trustees as part of our Annual Review of Grant Making. This is part of their continuing review of Grant Making practice, policies and procedures, which we carry out in order to ensure that we are funding activities which have maximum impact. Page 8