This page has answers to questions that were responded to in writing during or shortly after our pre-application Q&A for Creative, Confident Communities on 14 November 2024. We have grouped similar questions together.
Please see the full transcript for questions answered live during the webinar.
Esmée's strategy and funding
1. Would you consider a country-wide application - i.e. a project that covers all of Scotland?
2. Do you fund organisations and projects that work with and within a number of different communities in different parts of the country?
3. Will you consider supporting ambitious partnerships across different regions in the UK? (e.g. England and Scotland) Or does this have to be a single geographic region (e.g. Scotland only)?
We will support work of varying scales including: national initiatives and programmes working in multiple places; and region-wide activity as well as county, city or borough-wide programmes. What we’re interested in is the potential for the approach to spread – for instance, through sharing learning and/or replication elsewhere. We’re also interested in collaborative approaches – which may involve unusual alliances, cross-sector and multi-agency approaches.
4. Do you consider prisons local communities?
Creative, Confident Communities funding is intended for work involving diverse communities in a place, so we are supporting work that is about a whole (geographic community), rather than targeted work involving one particular group in a community.
5. Can 'community' include local authority partners?
Yes, absolutely.
6. How do you feel about organisations delivering statutory services (alongside the project/work they are asking you to support)?
If the work you're seeking support for isn't a statutory service, that's fine, but we won't support work that is the responsibility of the state. Learn more about what we don't support.
7. Based on the requirement that projects do not have any overlap with statutory obligations, do you have any specific advice for eligibility of work involving schools?
We know that engagement with schools is a valuable way to reach children and young people. Whilst we will consider work that takes place in schools, we do not fund work that is exclusively in schools and part of the curriculum.
8. Say there is an under-representation for a particular group i.e. Black and other ethnic minoritised artists within a field: this could be in the whole of Wales or London. Would such work be eligible, meeting all other strands of the criteria?
Please see our guidance for our priority 'Art and creativity making change' in our aim for A Fairer Future, which is focused on diversity, equity and inclusion within the professional arts sector. One of our long-term outcomes is 'a representative cultural workforce led by a new and diverse generation of cultural leaders', which may be more a better fit.
9. Would you regard a 'place' as something virtual - a shared characteristic that creates a community for example young people online?
The work needs to be about geographically place, although digital tools can definitely be a tool in order to create change.
10. Could you explain what “alternative finance models” are?
By this, we mean innovative ways of raising funds such as community share offers, blending loans and grants, local bonds etc.
11. When you refer to artists is this only physical artists or can it be wider to include musicians, video production / film making activities/areas?
We don't specify what an artist is, we leave this to you to tell us.
12. Regarding your criteria on creating long-term change: does our current venue having a lease of 3 years impact our ability to demonstrate this?
There isn't a one size fits all answer. The first things we want to know about are the role of the applicant within the community. Elements like having a visible and accessible physical presence in the place is sometimes part of this role. Having a 'presence' in a community can take different forms - so it's up to the applicant how they understand their presence in a place. We'd need to understand the implications of this for the organisation's work if the applicant raises this as an issue.
13. Are you able to share which priority areas you are prioritising applications from organisations that are led by and for the communities they serve?
We're focussing on diversity, equity and inclusion across all of our priority areas, including funding led by and for organisations.
14. The panel just mentioned that in terms of finding out about the track record of an organisation, that Esmée will look at Charities Commission and Companies House for information. Will late filing have a negative impact in deciding if an organisation is chosen to submit application?
The financial status of an organisation is something that forms part of the second stage of assessment and we would discuss this with applicants at that stage.
15. That was a helpful explanation of what "community led" means, thank you. Can I just check whether there would be an expectation for a certain percentage of an organisation's leadership to have lived experience of the issues/groups we're representing (e.g. homelessness), or whether it is enough that our organisation works closely with the community in consulting with them on how to support them (and therefore solutions are based on the lived experiences those people have shared with us, rather than us having lived experience ourselves)?
For areas of our strategy where we want to prioritise work that is shaped by people with lived experience of the issues, we will want to understand how you are engaging, supporting, and compensating those with lived experience to shape the work. If we take your expression of interest further, we will discuss what this means within your organisation and to your work.
We don’t want this to be a tick box exercise, we think that's reductive. What we want to do is to have a conversation about the values and the ways of engagement and your approach towards co-production that sits behind your work.
16. Do you have a preference re match funding or do you prefer to be sole funder?
We don't have fixed criteria on match funding. There is usually a range of sources of funding/resource involved in work we are supporting - local or national. We would want to know about what other resource is brought to the work and how the long term impacts of the work can be sustained once a grant ended.
Eligibility
17. Our turnover for the financial year 2024 was £72K. For 2025, it is confirmed to be £169K but accounts for 2025 won’t be submitted to the Charity Commission for a while. Can we still apply?
Yes, you can. When you submit your expression of interest, you will be asked eligibility questions, including one on turnover. You can submit your 2025 figure there.
18. Would you fund a CIC which does not have an annual turnover of over £100k however does exceed this threshold when considering all 'in-kind' contributions (e.g. infrastructure , property, staffing and volunteers)?
The financial threshold in the criteria does not include in-kind contributions or fixed assets.
19. We are an ethnic minority focused registered charity. We have received our charity status in May 2024. We are raising funds through donations and community events but haven’t applied for external funding yet. Would this affect our application?
Not necessarily, however you will need to make sure that you meet our criteria when applying.
20. Do you only accept applications from registered charities and those with asset locks? We are not either at the moment, although we are in the process of gaining charitable status.
For organisations that are not registered charities, we will need to see a copy of their constitution - a document that outlines the rules that will govern the organisation - to check that: there is sufficient public benefit; there is good governance; and there is protection against private gain. You can learn more about the types of organisations we support in our FAQs.
21. Do you fund Community Benefit Societies?
Yes, we do.
Applying for funding
22. Can you apply for this funding if you are already receiving another grant from Esmée?
You can, yes, but it is unusual. In general, we will accept more than one application for funding (usually, not more than two) from an organisation when:
- There is not any duplication in terms of the programme of work being covered and we aren't being asked to fund the same costs twice.
- The organisation is acting as the lead in an application on behalf of a partnership, and the other application is for funding for that organisation in its own right and for its own needs.
23. Can expressions of interest be video-based?
We are not currently accepting video-based applications for our main grant funding programme. We did pilot video and audio applications for our Youth-Led Creativity programme and hope to use the learning from this to review our current application process. However, if our funding process is a barrier to you applying, we can provide an Access Payment of up to £500 to support you to apply. Learn more about our accessibility-related support.
24. I think you said applications should focus on one priority area. So if our project covers more than one area we should not waste any of the 300 words on a second area?
If you think that your work fits into more than one of our priority areas, you are more than welcome to state how and why. However, there is no benefit of fitting into multiple priorities.
25. We are a partnership of 6 organisations (charities and CICs); the partnership has no legal structure/bank account of its own. Can one of the partners 'host' an application on behalf of the partnership?
26. Can we make a joint application with another community organisation to strengthen our offer to the community?
Yes, we encourage collaborative approaches across our aims. We can fund both existing or new collaborations. One organisation will need to apply as the 'lead' (or host) - they will be treated as the grant-holding organisation in our system and hold responsibility for the progress of the work.
The lead organisation will be treated as the grant-holding organisation in our system and hold responsibility for the progress of the work. We'll need the collaboration partners to confirm their involvement. Not all partners have to be registered charities. You'll also nominate two contacts; one from the 'lead' organisation and one of the partners.
You can include anticipated costs of setting up and co-ordinating networks or partnerships in your application.
Please note: The 'lead' organisation will need to meet our minimum eligibility criteria. If you would like to discuss this further, get in touch by emailing communications@esmeefairbairn.org.uk.
27. If the project proposal is for a joint or consortium bid, do you need details of all partners websites?
We'd want details of all the partners including their websites if they have one.
28. Are there deadlines for applications or is it a rolling application process?
It is a rolling application process for requests towards our priorities in Creative, Confident, Communities.
29. If an EOI fails to to be invited to full review, can another EOI be submitted straight away or is there a period before another EOI can be submitted?
We don’t have a cool-off period but whilst an organisation who has been turned down for funding can apply again, the new application should not be for the same work and costs.
30. Our proposal meets two of the priorities: Communities working together for change and Community led art and creativity. Should we only apply under one priority, or both priorities?
If you think that your work fits into more than one of our priority areas, you are more than welcome to state how and why. However, there is no benefit of fitting into multiple priorities within our assessment process. We encourage you to check our funding guidance for specific fit.