Submit an application

You can submit an EOI through our online portal below. We’ll ask about your organisation, the Esmée priority your work is the strongest fit to, and two questions about your work. You’ll have a total of 300 words to answer them.

1. Tell us about your work. What’s the impact you're aiming for and how does it fit with Esmée's priorities? How do you want to use Esmée funding?
2. Tell us about you. How is your organisation or partnership well placed to do this work? Does it centre lived experience or take a collaborative or community-led approach?

We will also look at your website to learn about your organisation and impact so far.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)

After completing your EOI, you’ll be directed to our DEI form to answer questions about the leadership of your organisation and the communities your work supports. This helps us track who our funding is reaching and identify inequities in our practice.

• Download sample EOI and DEI forms
• Learn more about how we're classifying our data

What happens next

• All EOIs are reviewed against our criteria and our long-term outcomes. We also look at the organisation’s website for additional information about the organisation’s impact/track record.
• EOIs may also be discussed at our weekly team meetings to consider potential opportunities for our strategy.
• We’ll make a decision about which EOIs to take forward based on what we think is the most effective use of our resources.

We will let you know the outcome:

• Four weeks for applications towards our funding priorities in A Fairer Future
• Six weeks for applications towards our funding priorities in Creative, Confident Communities and Our Natural World

Because we receive many more requests than we can support, the Expression of Interest is intended to be quick. Unfortunately, this makes it difficult for us to give detailed feedback on applications at this stage. However, we've outlined how we make decisions here, which we hope is helpful.

EOIs taken forward are invited for an assessment call to help us understand how likely it is we will fund your work. Some of the areas the call will cover include:

• Alignment with Esmée’s strategy and long-term outcomes
• Potential impact and reach of the proposed work - including opportunities and risks
• How our support and connections could add value to your work
• How you work and your impact so far
• The governance and leadership of your organisation
• Your approach to diversity, equity and inclusion
• Your approach to safeguarding
• Any major financial concerns

Before the call, we will outline what we want to cover so you know what to expect.

What happens next

• After the call, we’ll consider your application alongside other funding requests at our regular team meeting where we’ll look at fit to strategy as well as how well-placed the organisation is to deliver the work.
• We decide which to take forward based on what we think will be the most effective use of our resources.

We'll let you know the outcome within two weeks. For those we decide not to take forward, we will offer feedback, which we hope is helpful.

If we decide to progress your application to this stage, we'll invite you to submit a proposal with additional information. We will only ask for information that we need to help us carry out a detailed assessment and is proportionate to your request.

Your proposal:

• If you have a business, project or strategic plan already in place that describes your work, which you can use to show how your work aligns with our strategy, please use this rather than write a new proposal.
• If you don't, we'll let you know what additional information we might need following the assessment call.

Additional questions:

• Outcomes: We'll ask for up to three outcomes you are planning to achieve, and what your indicators of progress might be. These should contribute to the long-term outcomes in Esmée’s strategy.  See our guidance on outcomes for more information.
• Real Living Wage: As part of the information about your organisation, we will ask if you pay all staff the real Living Wage. As Esmée is a Living Wage Funder, we encourage all organisations we fund to pay the UK Real Living Wage as a minimum.

Supplementary documents:

Along with your proposal we may also ask for the following documents:

• A copy of your latest approved annual report and accounts
• A set of management accounts covering the last financial year if you do not yet have an audited or independently examined version (if applicable)
• An income and expenditure budget for the organisation for the current financial year
• A copy of your safeguarding policy (learn about our approach to safeguarding)
• If you are applying for a project, a budget identifying what you would like us to fund and any other funding approached/secured. If you are requesting multi-year funding, we encourage you to account for inflation and increase your annual amount accordingly. Visit the Office for National Statistics for information on the current rate of inflation.
• A copy of your Constitution, Memorandum and Articles of Association or other rules (if you are not a registered charity)

You'll have three months to provide this information. We may also have a follow-up call to discuss anything we’re not clear on yet.

What happens next

• We'll carry out a detailed assessment and prepare a recommendation based on all the information provided and conversations we’ve had.
• This will be taken to the relevant committee for discussion and decision.

Our Trustees work with our executive team to make decisions on how to use our resources and make funding decisions.

Decisions are made depending on the size of the funding request:

• Grants up to £90k - Executive Team
• Grants up to £250k & social investment up to £500k - Executive/Trustee committee, which meets every 6 weeks
• Grants over £250k and Social Investment over £500k - Trustee Board, which meets 6 times a year

We aim to give you a decision within three months of receiving your proposal. However, there may be a few occasions where larger requests take longer due to the timing of our Board meetings. Decisions are usually faster for smaller grants (£90,000 or less).

See our FAQs and how we make decisions.