Civil Society Roots Grant prospectus - Round Two

1. About Civil Society Roots funding

Following the successful launch of Round One of the Civil Society Roots 3 funding programme, The Mayor of London, in partnership with City Bridge Trust (CBT) and The National Lottery Community Fund (NLCF) invites equity-led organisations to invest in their roots and foundations by applying for Round Two of the Civil Society Roots 3 programme.

Civil Society Roots 3 was launched in 2022 to focus on strengthening place-based, civic infrastructure for equity-led organisations. It aims to strengthen civic infrastructure which focuses on relationship building, networking and the development of collective voice and advocacy for the organisations it supports. The programme recognises the role of equity-led infrastructure organisations and activity in helping achieve our ambitions of a thriving civil society. Especially activity that helps:

develop the work and capacity of other specialist, equity-led organisations and groups
advocate on behalf of the sector and the communities they serve
facilitate networks to enable collaboration, learning and strategic coordination
connect local organisations to funders and corporate giving.

Round Two of the programme will continue to fund ideas of equity led groups which develop new sectoral or cross sectoral partnerships, invest in capacity building, research or training or enable space and time to think about what our communities need most.

The funding is specifically aimed at supporting organisations to be in a stronger place to respond to and serve the increasing and ever-changing needs of our communities and is not for delivery of front-line activity.

Similar to Round One, this round of funding is targeted at organisations working in* or based in Bromley, Enfield, Harrow, Havering, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Newham, Redbridge, Sutton, Wandsworth.

These boroughs were identified through an evidence review that highlighted them as areas where funders struggle to support equity-led groups. Read a summary of the evidence review and how these boroughs were chosen.

By equity-led we mean groups that are led by and for communities impacted by structural inequalities. This includes Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Londoners, Deaf and Disabled Londoners, LGBT+ Londoners, older Londoners and women.

2. What types of projects will we support?

All projects must be led by and for groups impacted by structural inequality, and they must take place in one of the 10 London boroughs targeted in this fund. However, we know that groups often organise across boroughs and across communities, so we want to be flexible and respond to the needs you identify.

If you are not registered in one of the 10 boroughs but deliver your activity primarily in one of these boroughs we will ask for two references from borough based organisations in order to evidence your positive track record of delivery in the borough. Please contact us if you are unsure what this means in your specific context.

Civil Society Roots 3 funding is focussed on supporting equity-led organisations to develop networks, build their capacity and strengthen their voice. It is designed to invest in the type of activity that will lead to better support for Londoners through stronger community organisations and civil society. It will not fund front line activity directly.

This is the second round of Civil Society Roots 3 funding, and grants will be up to £30,000 over 12 months (plus up to £2500 for additional access costs). The grants are an opportunity for equity-led organisations to implement a project they have a clear and developed idea for and are ready to be tested. Activity could include (but not limited to):

funding a staff post which focuses on place-based relationship building, networking and advocacy
the development and maintenance of a network
implementing a support model which will deliver on the priorities identified through a Round One development grant
testing out the use of an existing model that is being used well by a community organisation elsewhere and could be scaled up.

3. Who can apply?

To be eligible to apply, applicants must meet the following:

be a not-for-profit organisation, such as such as a:
- registered, exempted or accepted charity
- Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO)
- Community Interest Company limited by guarantee
- Charitable company limited by guarantee (that is also not a registered charity)
- Community benefit society (Industrial and Provident society)
- Faith group, where the activity is not promoting religion
- Community Amateur Sports Club
- Constituted but unincorporated club or association
- Constituted Tenants and Residents Associations, and Tenant Management Organisations
- Constituted community group
- Community Infrastructure Organisations
- Unconstituted community group*
- Mutual Aid Groups*
the lead organisation must have an annual turnover of less than £500k
the lead organisation must be based in or working in one of the 10 target boroughs for this round of funding**
in order to be eligible for this grant, the lead applicant must be an equity led organisation. We define ‘led by’ as when more than 50 per cent of an organisation’s Trustees and staff members (including senior leaders) are people from the community or communities that you serve or have lived experience of the issues that your organisation is tackling.

*Unconstituted community or mutual aid groups can only apply, if they have been a successful Round One Development grantee with an approved fiscal host.

**If you are not registered in one of the 10 boroughs but deliver your activity primarily in one of these boroughs we will ask for two references from borough based organisations in order to evidence a positive track record of delivering in the borough.

4. Who can't apply?

The following categories cannot apply to the fund:

individuals (unless part of a partnership, cannot be lead partners)
businesses and ‘for profit’ organisations (including Company Limited by Shares) unless part of a partnership and cannot be lead partners
local offices of larger regional or national organisations/charities
local authorities
organisations with a turnover in excess of £500k.

5. What support is available for applicants?

Eligible applicants have now been invited to online information sessions. These sessions offer stage two applicants information about the application process and form. They are also an opportunity for applicants to get feedback on their individual projects and application tips.

If you have any questions about the Civil Society Roots fund or the support programme, please email [email protected]

6. How can we apply?

The application will be in two stages as follows:

6.1 Expression of interest

In order to apply for Round Two of Civil Society Roots 3 fund you must first submit an Expression of Interest application form by 19 May 2023. This will include some details about your organisation, information about what you are aiming to achieve and how you will make it happen.

We receive more applications than we can support and want to make sure we are making best use of applicant’s time and resources. Therefore, only applicants that have passed the Expression of Interest stage will be invited to proceed to the next stage and submit a full application. Please ensure that your Expression of Interest application responds to the grant criteria above as only applicants who demonstrate this will be invited to the next stage to apply.

For additional context 120 organisations applied to the programme in Round One, and 31 grants (1 in 4) were awarded. In Round Two we expect to take up to 3 times the applicants we can fund through to the full application stage.

To apply, complete the Expression of Interest form.

Please note that an Easy Read version of the Expression of Interest form is also available.

Please note that passing the expression of interest stage does not guarantee funding, applicants will still need to be assessed fully through a competitive application process.

6.2 Full application

Applicants invited to submit a full application are encouraged to look at section seven and 10 of this prospectus for further information about what we will be looking for.

The deadline for full applications will be 30 June 2023.

As the grants come from public money, we’ll need to carry out a few due diligence checks. These are tests to check that you are who you say you are and that you’ve got all the relevant policies and insurance in place when you start your project. When you submit your full application, we will ask you to provide the following documentation:

provide your organisation’s UK bank account details or attach a confirmation letter from your sponsor organisation to confirm they can hold and ringfence the funds on your behalf alongside a reference statement
provide your or your sponsor organisation’s governance documents that include a suitable ‘dissolution’ or winding up’ clause
provide a copy of your or your sponsor organisation’s most recent audited accounts or accounts signed by an independent and qualified accountant
a statement of your or your sponsor organisation’s cash flow for the current year
evidence of your or your sponsor organisation’s public liability and employer’s liability insurance to a value of £5m
if you are not registered in one of the 10 boroughs but deliver your activity primarily in one of these boroughs we will ask for two references from borough based organisations in order to evidence a positive track record of delivering in this borough.

Please note that we will be sharing your application form with our partnership of funders which includes The National Lottery Community Fund and City Bridge Trust.

The National Lottery Community Fund are aligning their funding with this programme and therefore some requests will also go through their assessment process. Therefore, some organisations could have contact from Greater London Authority (GLA) and TNLCF during assessment and award.

7. What will the grants cover?

We will fund a broad range of activities and the costs associated with running them. It is best practice to offer expenses for people volunteering on your project. Your grant can cover the costs of project management, including contributing to core staff costs for their time spent working on the project.

Costs could include (but are not limited to):

professional fees: the cost of hiring in people to help with your project – researchers, consultants, professional advice
venue hire costs: for example, what it costs you to rent a hall or other type of space for your project
staff costs: and other costs directly related to the running of your project
volunteer costs: expenses to support volunteer’s participation in the project including refreshments
transport: to help you, your staff and volunteers or participants get to your project and back
overheads: such as administrative and office costs up to 10 per cent of your total grant amount.

7.1 Access costs

If you or your participants require additional support to run or be part of the project such as British Sign Language interpretation, translators, personal assistance, you can apply for an additional £2,500 over the fund thresholds to cover these costs.

Note – this is to cover personal access costs rather than the general costs of delivering the project and/or making your organisation or your work more accessible. Costs such as access audits, capital developments or accessibility consultants should be covered within the main budget.

You will be asked about these costs separately in the application form.

8. What costs will the grant not cover?

This fund has been designed to support projects that help organisations and groups to build capacity, develop partnerships and strengthen networks. It will not fund front line activity directly or:

activities that have already happened or take place before we have reached a decision on your application
general overheads not related to the delivery of your project
activities outside London
profit-making activities or projects
faith based activity
overseas travel (in or out bound).

9. What support will be offered to grantees once they have been awarded funding?

Grantees will be supported throughout the grant period to reflect on progress, learn from one another, and continue to build relationships and networks in their borough. Projects can include costs of participating in this support programme as part of their application.

This support, which is currently running with Round One grantees will be delivered by our commissioned partner, Community Regen.

Grantees will receive a 12-month support and learning programme that will be delivered over the lifetime of the grant and which will:

support grantees to develop their ways of working
facilitate relationship building within the borough including with other grantees
support networks in the borough and across communities of interest and key people
facilitate a space for all the grantees to come together, creating opportunities for learning and reflecting on the models they are each developing and implementing
all grantees will be offered up to two days of bespoke consultancy support which can be used to focus on key areas of development.

The bespoke consultancy support could include:

partnership ways of working
long term strategy development
support with developing a theory of change
communication and engagement planning.

By the end of the programme, grantees will have explored sustainable ways of working, made strong connections and networks within the borough and across communities and be supported in planning for next steps.

10. How will you decide what to fund?

We will assess your full application against a few key criteria:

Idea responds to need
- Is there clear evidence of the need or issue you are trying to respond to?
- Does your idea clearly respond to this need or issue?
- Are you able to share details of how the idea will ultimately result in stronger support for communities?
Responding to the objectives of the fund
- Are you clear on how your idea will respond to the objectives of the fund?
- How is the idea demonstrating its response to objectives of the fund e.g. supporting organisations to develop networks, build their capacity and/or strengthen their voice.
- How are you ensuring the community is involved in the development and delivery of the project?
Making it happen
- How much development work have you done on this idea and how well have you shown this in your application?
- How clear are you on the steps to make your proposal happen?
- Is your budget clear and have you considered all costs involved in running the project?

11. Key dates

5 June 2023
Invitations to apply for full application sent out to successful applicants.
30 June 2023
Deadline to submit full application for those invited to do so.
End of July/early August 2023
Successful applicants to be notified.

12. How to apply

To apply, complete our Expression of Interest form.