2023 National Express Foundation Grant Programme – United Kingdom

Our funding programme in 2023 is open to any of the below applicant types across the United Kingdom, providing they are able to meet the applicant requirements

Applicant Types

– An Unincorporated Association

– Charity

– Community Interest Company (CIC)

– Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO)

– Voluntary Group

– Sport and Community Clubs

Applicant Requirements

– Applicants have an annual turnover of less than £250,000*
– Applicants are able to provide a reference from a local person or group who can provide supporting evidence of the community activity they do

*Funding applications from organisations who turnover more than £250,000 annually will be considered, providing they can guarantee match funding in-kind from another organisation or grant.

Applications which:

• Focus on young people aged between 15 and 24
• Meet the requirement to support young people as they continue to build out of the pandemic
• Involve or benefit a large number of young people – a minimum of ten
• Deliver a sustained programme of activity over a number of months
• Ensure that anyone employed on the projects is paid a minimum of the prevailing Real Living Wage rate
• Have specific key milestones or dates that allow the Foundation to get involved with the project
• Show how you will seek to minimise your impact on the environment
• Provide a clear plan on how they will use social media to promote the project
• Are unique to National Express Foundation and we are the sole funding source for the activity
• Provide a clear budget breakdown
• Set out a plan for measuring the impact of the activity

How much can we apply for?

We are asking community groups to apply for specific sums of money, saying what they could deliver for either £1,000, £2,500 or £5,000. Your application should clearly set out what you could achieve if you were awarded the money.

If you are applying for one of the larger value grants, it is very important that your application is robust, comprehensive and clearly sets out how you will deliver your project and how it might benefit a large number of young people – potentially over a longer period than one year.

Application process

We follow a two-step process to consider applications. In the first instance you will be asked to complete our online form to provide an executive summary explaining how the funding will be used to deliver the project as well as information about your organisation.

This will then be assessed by our team and if this meets the strategic aims and values of the National Express Foundation, you will be invited to complete the second stage application form which will ask you to include the following information:

• Background to the organisation, membership and funding
• Evidence of constitution and independent bank account
• Explanation of how the proposed project would benefit the community
• Statement as to how the project will reflect the diversity of the community that you are working in
• Timescale and process for delivering the project – we prefer projects to have key milestones throughout
• Plans for using social media to publicise our support and the activity being delivered, and engagement with stakeholders
• Proposal for how the Foundation could be engaged with the project
• Plans to evaluate and quantify the benefits – an example of the type of evaluation report we would like to receive is available to view on our website
• Evidence of a commitment to safeguarding within your organisation

The National Express Foundation is committed to safeguarding children, young people and vulnerable adults and therefore request that all second stage applications include a copy of your organisational safeguarding policy. For guidance on writing a safeguarding policy, please follow the NSPCC link below;

https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/safeguarding-child-protection/writing-a-safeguarding-policy-statement/

Applicants should indicate the size of grant that they are applying for: £1,000, £2,500 or £5,000 and explain what they would deliver for the level of grant applied for.

While we do not propose to set restrictions on how the funding would be applied, we will be seeking evidence of innovation in how the projects will be delivered.

Remember that our trustees may not know anything about your organisation. You should set out clearly in your application form what you intend to do and how a Foundation grant will support that.

We need to understand the detail of what activities you intend to deliver with the funding.

Saying: „We will run a youth club and will engage with young people“ – is not enough. You need to be clear on timescales and the nature of the activities you are delivering.  A clearer application would say:  “We will run a weekly youth club from 6.30-8.30pm every Wednesday at [venue]. Each session will offer pool, table tennis, video games – with weekly discussion group on different topics: bullying, inclusion, substance abuse, employment skills”  If you are successful at the first stage you can provide more detail at the second stage.

What sorts of projects are successful?

Applications which:

• Focus on young people (25 and below)
• Meet the requirement to support young people through one of the four funding themes
• Involve or benefit a large number of young people – a minimum of ten
• Deliver a sustained programme of activity over a number of months
• Ensure that anyone employed on the projects is paid a minimum of the prevailing Real Living Wage rate
• Have specific key milestones or dates that allow the Foundation to get involved with the project
• Show how you will seek to minimise your impact on the environment
• Provide a clear plan on how they will use social media to promote the project
• Provide a clear budget breakdown
• Set out a plan for measuring the impact of the project

You can read about the types of projects we have supported on our website www.nationalexpressgroup.com/foundation.