Leeds Community Foundation has opened the final round of the Small Funds Programme, which they manage for Time to Shine. The theme is ‘Intergenerational’

Developing intergenerational activity is now a priority because the response to the pandemic has highlighted and widened a generational gap. Funds are available to support a range of community-based, 6-month projects that bring generations together in a mutually beneficial way to reduce social isolation and loneliness. We are defining ‘Younger generation’ as anyone up to the age of 25 and ‘older generation’ as 50+.

To Apply or to get further information, See full details on Leeds Community Foundation website

Who can apply?

Community groups, charities, social enterprises or other charitable organisations from the third sector that:

• Have a constitution or other relevant governance document
• Have a management committee/board of directors/trustees of at least three unrelated people
• Have a bank account under the name of the group with at least two unrelated signatories (if your organisation doesn’t have its own bank account, but does meet all of the other criteria, please contact us to discuss how we can work around this)
• Are supporting people living in the Leeds Metropolitan District Area. Your organisation doesn’t need to be based in Leeds but the project you apply for must only benefit residents of Leeds. If based outside of Leeds, you will need to explain the links you already have to deliver this activity in the city.
• Have copies of Safeguarding Policies for Children/Young People and Vulnerable Adults.

How much can you apply for?

The minimum request is £3,000 and the maximum is £5,000.

What can the Fund support?

All projects must:

• Apply co-production, to allow equal voice to younger and older beneficiaries and to create a sense of ownership.
• To consider potential of non-contact activity in case Covid-19 restrictions are still in place (not just digital – letters, shared arts etc)
• Apply test and learn ethos and be reflective
• Be challenging and socially impactful

In addition, we are looking for projects to address one or more of the following points:

• To target intergenerational approaches and bridge the intergenerational divide that has been widened by the Covid-19 response
• To create intergenerational activity that fosters community cohesion
• To find common interests between younger and older to bring people together and break down barriers
• To challenge age discrimination and promote Age Proud Leeds
• To highlight the mutual benefits of intergenerational activity – skills sharing, learning from each other
• Consideration that intergenerational project activity can be embedded in organisation beyond project life

The TTS Small Fund can be used to expand or broaden a current scheme / project or introduce a new idea / activity / pilot to address social isolation and loneliness.

Whilst the TTS Small Fund can be used to part-fund a wide range of activities, we like to see the impact our support is having. Accordingly, we prefer for the TTS Small Fund to equal at least 50% of the total cost of the activity or project.

We encourage all applications to consider:

• Full Cost Recovery, including a relevant portion of management costs and overheads
• How they will evidence learning and demonstrate and evaluate outcomes from the project; applicants should consider including costs for external evaluation or additional internal capacity to ensure they can effectively report on this
• Staff costs, which should wherever possible include paying staff at least the real Living Wage
• Costs which enable the project to be fully inclusive and accessible (such as transport, food, childcare)
• How they envisage a successful project could be sustained after this funding ends

What can the Small Fund not support?

Time to Shine Small Funds will not be awarded to or for:

• For-profit organisations, statutory organisations (such as schools and hospitals) or overseas organisations
• Unincorporated/unregistered groups with income exceeding £10,000 in their last 12 months of accounts are ineligible. Similarly, such a group is ineligible if receipt of a Small Fund would take them over the £10,000 threshold
• Unincorporated groups/unregistered groups are also unable to use any funds secured to either recruit or pay direct employees
• Activity that is purely about research, though evaluation of the proposed activity can be funded
• Costs associated with a project which you are already undertaking (although we will pay for expanding or broadening a current project if you can demonstrate it is effective, and how the planned expansion addresses an identified need) or to replace funding streams that are no longer available
• Current Time to Shine delivery partners (Previous recipients of TTS funds are eligible to apply)
• Retrospective funding (activity and costs that have already taken place)
• Grant-making to other organisations and/or individuals
• Activity targeted at a particular group (ethnic, gender, religious etc.) without a good justification
• Activity that promotes a particular political or religious point of view
• Activity primarily for the benefit of animals
• Individuals
• Expeditions or overseas travel
• Capital Projects (where capital costs are between 50%-100% of the total project cost): buildings including upgrades and refurbishment; vehicle purchase (but can fund general transport costs as part of your project)

Only one application per organisation can be considered.

When does the project need to be carried out?

Time to Shine Small Fund holders will have 6 months to deliver their projects, which must be completed by the end of November 2021, with the final report due by the end of December 2021.

When can you apply?

This Time to Shine Small Funds round opened on 23 February 2021. The deadline to apply is 12:00 noon on Wednesday 31 March 2021. Funding will be awarded in May 2021.

How do you apply?

See full details including online application form on Leeds Community Foundation website. You will also need to submit a signed copy of the organisation’s governance document, signed copy of accounts, and list of name and addresses of management committee/board members. Copies of safeguarding policy documents will be requested if applicable.

We expect this programme to be highly oversubscribed, so we strongly recommend you also seek alternative sources of funding for your project to avoid disappointment.

If you’re successful, you’ll also need to sign a funding agreement document and provide a signed copy of your organisation’s most recent bank statement. To start filling in the online form, follow the link at the end of this document. We strongly suggest you submit your application at your earliest opportunity. Incomplete applications will not be considered.

What happens after you’ve applied?

Leeds Community Foundation will acknowledge the receipt of your application. We will then assess your application and may need to contact you and your referee during this time. If your application is shortlisted, it will then be submitted to a TTS Small Funds award panel for further consideration. We’ll tell you their decision as soon as possible after they’ve met.

If you are successful, the offer letter/e-mail will include any additional conditions set by the panel and/or the Small Fund payment and a TTS Small Funds funding agreement you will need to sign. The Small Fund must be spent within 6 months of the date of our letter confirming the offer. You must also complete a final report by the end of December 2021 telling us how the TTS Small Fund has been spent and what was achieved. The deadline for doing so will be specified in your offer letter. Please note that failure to provide appropriate monitoring information will exclude your organisation from applying to future grant schemes.

If your bid is not successful, we will let you know the reasons for declining it. Please note we have limited funding available and we are not able to fund every application we receive, no matter how deserving the project is. The decisions made by the TTS Small Funds panel are final.

Publicity

If your application is successful, you will be required to credit support from the Time to Shine programme, The National Lottery Community Fund and Leeds Community Foundation, on all materials related to the funded work. Successful projects will be required to be available for a potential monitoring visit from funders.

To Apply or to get further information

See full details on Leeds Community Foundation website

This is the final round of Time to Shine’s Small Funds programme. To date, 56 Small Funds projects have been funded, bringing a variety of approaches to engage with isolated, lonely older people. Examples of previously explored intergenerational activity in the city can be found in the Generations United and the Generations Together reports from Leeds Older People’s Forum.

2020/21 was due to be the final year for Time to Shine, which began in 2015. Thanks to the National Lottery Community Fund the programme has been granted a one-year extension, which will take us up to the end of March 2022. This extension has been awarded as recognition of the work already done by Time to Shine’s delivery partners across the city and the other Ageing Better programmes across England.

Leeds Community Foundation