Webinar recordings and additional questions
Speakers
- Gina Crane, Director of Communications and Learning
- Genevieve Ford-Saville, Funding Manager
- Heather Salmon, Funding Manager
- Luna Dizon, Communications Manager
Welcome and housekeeping
Gina Crane
Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to this pre-application question and answer session. We're really pleased so many of you could join us today and we hope you find this useful. I'm Gina Crane. I'm Director of Communications and Learning here at Esmée Fairbairn foundation. I'm here with my colleagues, Luna, who's managing the tech and dealing with all the questions, and Genevieve and Heather, who will share more detail behind our priorities. My colleagues, Hannah, Laura and Will, are also on hand in the background to help with the Q&A. For accessibility, we have Louise and Sarah Jane, who will be providing British Sign Language interpretation and interpreting what is spoken live. We've also asked speakers to describe themselves and where they are.
So I'm Gina I'm a middle aged white woman wearing glasses and my favourite green jacket. We are in our sort of library room at an office in London. I'll pass over to Gen.
Genevieve Ford-Saville
Hello, I'm Genevieve. My pronouns are she/her. I have chestnut brown skin. I've got short, dark brown curly hair, and dark brown eyes. I'm wearing a headband with a bright purple flower on it. I'm wearing a white blouse with a silver necklace and the dangling silver earrings.
Heather Salmon
Hi, I'm Heather, I'm also chestnut brown, ironically, for a Black woman. And I am an older representative, probably the oldest on the panel. Lovely to be. And I am wearing a kind of neutral coloured dress with brown spots on it. And my hair is dark brown, my eyes dark brown.
Gina Crane
Thanks, everyone. And so, just a few brief details on practicalities. Before we start, I can already see Luna answering some practical questions in the Q&A. So live captioning is available for this session. Luna has shared a link in the chat. If you'd like to see captions in a separate window. You can also click the live transcript button at the bottom of this window to see them within zoom.
You can post questions at any point using the Q&A facility, which you can find at the bottom of your screen. So I'd encourage you to vote for questions submitted by another participant if you'd really like to see that one answered. You can do that by clicking on the thumbs up next to the question. As mentioned, we've also got colleagues typing responses to the questions in the Q&A. We're going to try and answer as many questions as possible. And we'll prioritise questions that are up voted. If there are any we missed, we will answer them afterwards. We'll also be using all of this to update our frequently asked questions on the website. And you might find the answer to your question is already there. But that doesn't mean we won't answer it. There are no stupid questions. We're happy to answer everything today. We're expecting a lot. And please don't worry if you miss anything. It can be quite hard to follow everything. We're recording the webinar and we'll share the transcript afterwards with all of the questions covered and on our website too. So you don't need to take notes.
Presentation
Introduction - slide 2
Gina Crane
So, welcome. We'll get going. Okay, this is the second time that we've run a webinar like this. Applicants told us that being able to ask us questions before they submit an expression of interest in our application process would be really helpful. And we have considered different ways of offering this, we hope that this pre-application Q&A webinar gives you a good chance to ask your questions and make sure we have to answer them. And it's a good use of everyone's time. However, this is still only the second time we've run this. So honest feedback is really helpful. And we will be gathering it after the session or you can send us an email.
We want to use most of the time to answer your questions. So we will try to limit this bit, our part, leaving time for what you want to say. So we're going to cover quick introduction to Esmée on our strategy. What we don't fund, what we're looking for, what we consider when making decisions, a brief outline of the application process, then it's over to you for questions.
And we're aware we need to strike a tricky balance today. We want to be transparent but we also want to be absolutely honest, we're not holding this webinar to encourage more applications, we already get a lot more than we can fund. That's not the aim.
So, need is rising across the sector in sectors we support. And in the past few months, we've been receiving more funding applications than before, we're still making the same number of grants. So we know we need to do more to save you from spending precious time applying to us when or if it's unlikely we'll fund your work. So we hope this webinar will help you better understand whether to invest time into applying to us or if your efforts might be better focused elsewhere. We want to answer as many questions as possible. But we know the main question for many of you will be will Esmée fund my work, and I'm sorry, but the answer for most of you is going to be no, we won't be able to give you one to one advice or feedback about your own organisation. But we hope we can give you a clearer picture of what we are looking to fund, how we make decisions and how we use our application process to do that.
About Esmée - slides 3, 4 and 5
Gina Crane
And so a little bit about us. Our strategy, which will run until the end of 2027 focuses on three main aims: improving our natural world, securing a fairer future and strengthening bonds in communities in the UK. And as well as assessing and managing grants, our funding managers are exploring other ways we can be a bit more proactive in making progress towards these goals. They're doing things like commissioning research, convening, or co-designing and using our influence, and also in getting out there, meeting people and inviting applications for work.
This is an overview of our strategy, you can find all the details of our strategic priorities on our website, as well as full funding guidance, more information on each priority, including what outcomes we want to see and examples of work we've done and we've funded. I'm going to hand over now to my colleague, Gen.
Genevieve Ford-Saville
Hi, everybody. So let's look at our grants in numbers in practical terms. This slide shows you the size and shape of our grant making towards our aims and priorities. We've chosen to focus mainly on a relatively small number of long term grants, and we mostly make core cost grants. Last year, we made 188 grants 39 grants made to organisations we haven't funded before. The remaining 71% by number going to organisations that we have funded at some point previously. Since 1961, we've more we supported 12,000 organisations, so quite a lot.
What we don't fund and what we're looking for - slides 6, 7 and 8
Genevieve Ford-Saville
But obviously, there's quite a lot of things that we don't fund. So those are things that we don't support. Because our focus is on long term grants for work with a more strategic focus, we don't fund very small organisations in terms of their turnover. So that's what we call less than £100,000 a year. And there might be some questions about that, we can talk about that later. That's how we currently classify it. And we don't fund organisations that don't have what we would call well established governance. And there's more information about what we mean by that on our website.
All the exclusions in detail, but all the information about that is available and hopefully can be explained on the website. If anything that you think isn't clear on that list, then please feel free to give us give us feedback on that.
So what are we looking for when we're assessing applications. So this is what we're looking for when we're looking at your expression of interest and your proposals. We're looking for applicants to show us that you are leading the way yourselves, or that you're part of a collaborative or a movement or a partnership to maximise your impact. We're looking for you to show us that you're driving change for the future, you can be doing that either by doing something new breaking new ground or doesn't have to be innovative, it could be using a tried and tested model to push things forward for change in the future.
We're also looking for you to demonstrate that you are making a lasting difference so that your work reaches beyond those immediately impacted by it, and is looking to influence policy, practice and behaviour so that we can see sustained change for the future.
And although lots of work will obviously meet those criteria, we still won't be able to fund everything that meets those criteria. There are other things we're also looking for and this slide shows you what those are. We're interested in unusual collaborations and ambitious partnerships. And they may be working regionally or nationally. You might be working with organisations that aren't in the same sector as you, thinking creatively about how you can come together to work on issues where you where you align.
We're looking for work that makes connections across our aims. So as Gina pointed out, we have we have several aims within our strategy. If your work meets more than one of them, that's quite exciting to us, although it doesn't have to do that. And we'll talk about that later on as well in the webinar.
We're also looking for work that is led by people or communities most affected by the issues that they're looking to tackle. So you might call this 'lived experience led by' work, we are focusing on funding organisations, which prioritise the voices of those people who have been affected by the issues that they are looking to tackle.
We are looking for work that takes a preventative approach. So we want to be at the top of the cliff, not at the bottom of the cliff, when we are looking at what we're trying to deliver.
And we're looking at work that has practical plans. Now by practical, what we mean is that you have thought about how you will achieve what you're looking to do. So it needs to be off the drawing board, by the time it comes to us. We're looking for you to have an idea of how you're going to deliver what you want to achieve. And we're looking for you to show us that you want to deliver sustained change over the longer term.
What we consider when making decisions - slide 9
Genevieve Ford-Saville
So again, saying all of that, there's still going to be applications that do all those things, but we won't be able to fund everything that meets those criteria. So we're also, when we're making decisions, considering the four areas on this slide.
We're going to be looking at your track record. So that's looking at the impact you've had in the past. And also where things haven't gone as you've planned. What did you learn? And how did you learn? In what ways did you do that? How are you listening and learning as you're going along?
Were interested in the connections, your proposed work could have with other work that we support. Is there potential for increased impact by thinking about your work in a cohort with other people doing something similar or complementary?
We're interested in the broader context of your work. So at a political socio economic level, locally, regionally or nationally, what are the opportunities? What are the barriers? Who are the allies and the collaborators? And given the external environment? What influence or leverage can the work have?
And finally, we're looking at the difference our support could make to you. So what value would us being in partnership with you add in terms of delivering this work?
So when you submit an expression of interest to us, you're letting us know that you think you fit our strategy. And we'll look at your application based on all those things I've just spoken about.
Always in the context of our strategy, and as Gina has said, we have to make judgments. And you know, lots of applications won't be successful as a result of that. We can't fund everything. But please be assured that everything will be assessed carefully based on what we just talked about that. So let's have a look at the next section.
How to apply - slide 10 (video)
Luna Dizon
So, we're just going to share a short video about how to apply.
Genevieve Ford-Saville
There are six steps to apply.
One, take a quiz to check you meet the minimum eligibility criteria. You'll be asked quick questions on the funding you're seeking and your organisation. The quiz takes a few minutes.
Two, read our funding guidance. It has three sections. A, more detail on how to apply. B, what we do and don't support. And C, our strategy and funding priorities. Sections A and B take 30 minutes to read. For C, our strategy, read the parts relevant to your work. You'll find information on the outcomes we are focusing our support on.
Three. If you think Esmée is a good fit for your work, submit an expression of interest. Use this to tell us briefly what work you would like us to support, about the change your focused on achieving, and how your organisation is well placed to deliver it. You'll have 300 words. We'll also look at your website to learn more about your organisation and work. You'll hear from us within four weeks to let you know whether we'll take your application further.
Four, if your work is a potential match, we'll invite you for a conversation to learn more. The conversation will cover fit to our strategy, your approach and your track record.
Five, if your plans are a strong fit, we invite you to submit a proposal. You'll have three months to submit a proposal. If you already have a document that describes your work, and shows how your work aligns with our strategy, you can use this.
Six, after receiving your proposal, we'll invite you for a follow up conversation. We'll then do a detailed assessment of your application. We aim to give you a decision within three months of receiving your proposal.
Application process and success rates in 2022 - slides 11 and 12
Heather Salmon
Great, thank you. Thank you, Luna. So we're now going to take a look behind the scenes. What happens when you submit an expression of interest application to us. So we use the expression of interest as a basic screening tool. And what we're looking to establish is whether or not, and the extent to which, you meet our minimum eligibility criteria. And whether or not the work is a good fit for our funding priorities.
Is the work leading the way as we've said before, driving change for the future, and does it aim to make a lasting difference?
We also check your organisation's website, other publicly available document information at Charity Commission. For example, Companies House if you're a CIC (Community Interest Company), we may also look at 360Givinga and other available information in the public domain.
We also look to see if you are a really good match. For those that are, we'll invite you for an expression of interest phone call, which gives us the chance together to explore the application further.
For reference, we have recently I think, a few months ago, we changed our expression of interest questions. So now everybody completes the same questions.
So let's have a look at applications we received in 2022. So we want to be really upfront about the numbers of applications we receive, we were actually closed (for applications in one of our aims) for part of 2022. So the number of applications we received that year were lower than in previous years across the board.
Now, 4.4% of expressions of interest that had come through our website with no previous contact with Esmée were invited to go through to a full proposal.
So of these organisations - the 4.4%, 70% received a grant.
This share in 2022 is lower than usual, in 2021 84% received a grant. And the success rates at proposal stage are again going higher in 2023.
For expressions of interest we invite success rates are much higher. Those figures here don't include applications which were withdrawn.
Now we are very mindful of bias. So we ask the same questions in an expression of interest conversation, and use the same assessment tools for those that we do invite, and for those that we don't. But our existing knowledge and learning, contacts, collaborations, the information we know of a sector does influence and impact our decisions. Back to you.
Q&A - questions are in bold
Luna Dizon
So we are going to kick off with the questions. But I am going to start with a few of the questions that were submitted before the webinar. So we have a few from Ewa, apologies if I'm saying your name wrong.
And so their first question was, can we arrange pre-application discussions? Anybody who wants to take that?
Heather Salmon
We receive so many applications that unfortunately, we have no capacity to enable pre-application conversations. So generally speaking, for the most part, the answer would be no, I think the only exception is where we have reached out to the potential applicant to invite the potential expression of interest, then we might have a conversation in advance, but generally, the answer would be no, sorry.
Luna Dizon
And just to add that, one of the reasons we started doing these Q&A webinars, is to allow for some kind of way for you to get in touch with us and ask questions. I know it's not as good as a detailed one to one. But it's the best way that we could think of to answer as many questions as possible, in an open way so that the information that we share is hopefully useful to other people as well.
So another of the questions that we got was about where work falls under more than one priority. We do have some advice on that in FAQs. But I wonder, Gen, do you want to take that?
Genevieve Ford-Saville
Yes, happily. If your work is in more than one priority, that's great. Also, it doesn't have to. Where it sits, is kind of more of an us problem than a you problem. If you can see it fits, but it's more than one priority. Tell us about that in your EOI. It's about communicating that clearly about how you see it fitting with the priorities that we that we've outlined. And then we'll have a look at that and see how we think it sits within. It's great if it does meet more than one priority. But also, just to say, it doesn't have to fit more than one priority. It's okay, just to fit one really well.
Luna Dizon
Thank you. And I know someone's having problems with the sound. I don't know if people are still having problems, but just keep adding notes in there in the Q&A, and I'll try and look at those and try and figure out what's going on.
I'll just move on to the next question for now.
Do we have a maximum amount of funding that people can apply for? I think that was covered in the presentation. But is there any advice from the panel on what people should consider when thinking about the amount that they request?
Genevieve Ford-Saville
I think you should ask for what you need. We're aware of the cost of living crisis, of the increased cost of delivering services, of collaborating. We're also thinking about the cost for the prioritisation and support for people with lived experience involved in this work. So I think you should ask us for what you need. We can have a conversation later down the line if the application goes through the EOI process about how that fits with our budget. But it's better to be honest upfront about what it is you need. You can see from our GrantNav data, the average size of grant that we make so you can make your own assessment of what sort of level of funding we have been given to work that might look similar to yours, based on GrantNav data. But I would say you think about your budget beforehand, and also what you need.
Luna Dizon
Thanks, Gen. I'm going to move on to a question from Dan.
One of our criteria is that we don't offer grants to individuals. I think Dan's question relates to this - can artists directly contribute towards the success of organisations' applications, if not eligible themselves? If so how?
Heather Salmon
So the way I would suggest an artist might contribute, would be to form a collaboration or to get themselves involved in a piece of work or on a change initiative, and then your cost as the artists should be included in the grant application, because, as you said, we wouldn't fund you as an individual but if you're making a contribution to a transformational change. An organisation can see the value of that and includes you that would be I would suggest the best way to seek to get your contribution covered.
Luna Dizon
Thank you. And I'm just going to ask the last question that was submitted before the webinar.
So this one is from Cathy. Cathy has a question about applying as a collective. So their collective brings together people from many different institutions. Whilst the project is well established, this year, they set up a Community Interest Company to hold the funds and be the lead applicant. Their question is, would we be treated as a new organisation? And would we be eligible to apply?
Genevieve Ford-Saville
Well, that's a great question. Technically, yes, you are a new organisation. So legally, you are now in your organisation, and we need you to have had at least a year's worth of accounts to be able to apply to us. So you'll need to have produced your first set of annual accounts. And for those to meet our eligibility criteria for you to be able to apply to us. Your application will then also talk about your track record in relation to the work that you have been doing prior to setting up the company. But legally as an entity, yes, you will have to wait until your first set of accounts before you could apply to us.
Luna Dizon
Thanks, Gen. So moving to the questions in the Q&A now. And the first one is from Sam.
And so this is about all the various different things that Gen talked about in terms of what we look for in an application. And Sam asks: do you look for all of this, or aspects of it depending on the organisation or the context? Gina, do you want to take that?
Gina Crane
I think Gen shared a few different lists of what we're assessing and what we're looking for, but the reality is on the 'applicants must show that they are' slide, which has leading the way, driving change for the future, aiming to make a lasting difference. Yes, we are looking for all of those things. So it is all of them. So if you feel 'I don't think I'm doing all of these', I would recommend that maybe we're not the funder for you. On the other more assessment based questions. Yeah, that that does depend on what you're doing, how that fits with the strategy. And the kind of key aspects of your work that is a bit more nuanced. But yeah, leading the way, driving change for the future, making a lasting difference. Yes, we will be expecting all of those, or asking for all of those. It's not an expectation.
Luna Dizon
Thanks, Gina. I'm going to go to Andrew's question.
Andrew is at the Church of England's new community... And sorry about that, just the questions keep moving around. So Andrew's at the new Engine Room in Tottenham. And they say that often we feel big name funders and not interested in small organisations with a turnover under £250k. Is this true of Esmée?
Heather Salmon
Our eligibility criteria are for organisations to have a turnover of £100,000 as a minimum and we do honour that. We will look at organisations that come through at that level. In terms of how we look at our work, we will fund organisations that are smaller - with that turnover of £100,000, typically. We may fund quite narrow work, specific work. So the work doesn't have to necessarily be at scale. But we're not necessarily looking for large organisations, though, if your turnover is £100,000 or more you can apply for our funding.
Luna Dizon
Thank you.
I'm going to ask India's question. So they're from an organisation whose purpose is to ensure that everyone in the UK has financial security so that they can thrive? Would we consider programmes that include grant making for individuals and families?
Gina Crane
It's a good question and we have funded and do fund organisations or projects that give money away to other people. We've funded work that includes participatory grantmaking, delegated funding. And I would say we've done more of that within our Creative, Confident Communities work than we have, perhaps, when it comes to thinking about justice. Is that fair?
Heather Salmon
I think in racial justice, we're looking at that more and more funding through conduit or through another organisation that can reach people that we don't reach particularly smaller organisations, those that may have under £100,000 turnover, maybe using different types of legal structures. That again, we wouldn't typically fund because they wouldn't meet our normal governance requirements. So a good way for us to do that knowing that we're not the best funder to work with those people is to fund through another organisation, in racial justice, definitely.
Luna Dizon
Thanks.
There's a good question from James about whether we provide pre-application support as reasonable adjustments for a disability.
We do have support and provide support to help people with access needs. There's more details about it on our website, and I will be sharing a link towards the end of this webinar. But what I would say is that, in the first instance, get in touch with us, either by phone or email, and let us know what it is that you need. And then we can take it from there. But we do provide access to payments of up to £500, which people can use to support them to make an application for a number of different things. But yes, I will share the link towards the end of the webinar.
Luna Dizon
Okay, so next question. How do you choose who we reach out to invite to an application?
Gina Crane
I'm happy to answer that one. We want to work more proactively not just react to applications. It's really important to us to be open to applications to give everyone a chance to tell us about their work. That's what the website process is about. And we read everything carefully. We make judgments and they are judgments, they are our assessment of whether this fits what we see our strategy to be. We know that when you apply, you have decided that you think it fits, I guess, when we're looking at it, we're thinking whether we do. Those two things might not always agree. And usually they don't. Because we have a limited budget to spend on everyone's work. When it comes to work that we invite or we have already funded we already know about, essentially we're picking things that we think fit. So we're out there, at sector events, we go to conferences, we go to meetings, we're doing some research, we're on social media in some cases, we're finding things that we think fit the goals in our strategy. So we're out there finding that. We also get recommended things that other people think we should be funding. So the organisations we fund say it's really important that this organisation is supported. And we'll investigate that. I think have I missed any other opportunities for finding work to support?
Heather Salmon
I don't think so. And networks, our ecosystem, essentially.
Luna Dizon
Thanks, Gina. So next question comes from Lucy.
Could you expand on what are the most common reasons for expressions of interest being turned down?
Genevieve Ford-Saville
Yes, I think it relates back to what I said in the slides that I was presenting earlier, because we are looking for all of those things. And it's, you know, those are quite a lot of things. So lots of EOIs don't meet all of those criteria. I'd say, you know, we're looking for impact, it's got to really clearly strongly fit our impact goals to start with. And that's usually the first place that applications sort of may fall down. If they're not the strongest fit for our impact goals. And they can't demonstrate that they're going to have that longer term lasting impact is that they're not working at a policy level, at a sustainable change level, then maybe regional national level, to create that level of change. So that might be one of the key reasons that applications are turned down. But we are looking at all of the things that we talked about earlier, and we recognise it's not easy to meet all of those. And that is why lots of things don't make it through.
Luna Dizon
Thanks, Gen.
And so this is related to a question already asked in terms of the getting invited to apply. Seema said, if Esmée is out and about viewing projects, and then might invite applications as a result of that, is it possible to arrange them at all?
Gina Crane
I mean, the short answer is, unfortunately, no. So you will have seen last year, we had eight hundreds expressions of interest, usually the number is higher than that. Unfortunately, it's not possible to do that. And we do try to sort of target our getting out and about around the goals in our strategy. But when it comes to something like Creative, Confident Communities, that could be absolutely anywhere in the UK. So we know we're not going to touch all that. So I'm afraid I'm sorry, the answer is no on that one.
Luna Dizon
Thanks, Gina.
I'm going to go on to Michael's question, which is about looking at track records. They have run some successful small pilots of the activity they have in mind for funding. And they're looking to increase the size of this work significantly, which is what they would be looking for a grant for. Realistically, would you be expecting to fund activity in the same level of what they have previously done, or will we support their ambition to expand?
Heather Salmon
So I always think that there's a kind of sweet spot in relation to Esmée's funding, and by that what I mean is that we tend to be drawn towards work where meeting that criteria we've mentioned already, we can see that the organisation has been working on testing and have proven some aspects of transformational change for either individuals or groups of people or the environment. And they are at the stage that if they don't then get some funding, they're going to run out of steam, they need that investment to be able to actually prove whether that change could be scalable, could spread and have impact for the community it involves but, equally, the learning could be applied to other communities too. So I think in terms of how we look at funding, yes, we do like to look at pilots, we do like to see that there's some evidence of change happening. And some evidence that that change could be impactful for others beyond the narrow group of people who are actually impacted by it directly. And that tends to be the type of work the type of change that we're attracted to.
Luna Dizon
I'm moving now to Samantha's question. If a charity is looking for core or unrestricted funding, will an application that covers the general mission be considered? Or do you want some more specific focus on the areas of the charities work that align with your funding aims?
Genevieve Ford-Saville
Thanks for your question, Samantha, I would say the latter. So we would like you to look at our strategy and aims, and specifically our outcomes. So I really advise you to look at the outcomes that sit within our priorities, and think about how the work that you've been doing and the work that you intend to do fits with those long term outcomes. And then use the EOI to tell us about that.
Luna Dizon
Thanks, Gen. I'm going to Sam's question.
They'd like to explore our priority on 'communities working together to make change happen'. Could this be communities across a number of geographic areas? And are there any further steers on the type of change we're looking for here?
Heather Salmon
So the first part of the question is, can they be across a range of geographical areas? The answer to that is yes, we have got the examples on our website of change that is happening in a variety of locations, that they will tend to be a link or some aspect of the change that is common to those areas. But yes, but the answers as part of your question is yes. And then what's the second part of the question?
Luna Dizon
They're looking for a steer on the type of change we're looking for. So this is with our community-led work.
Heather Salmon
Picking up Gen's point a moment ago, when you look at our website, and you look at the strategic aim - Creative, Confident Communities in this case, and then you look at the priority, then look at the long term outcome. Because we at Esmée, we have, as a partner offering funding, our impact happens through the actions and activities that that we create in partnership with you, the people we fund. So if you look at our long term outcomes, if you see that your work is a good match for that long term outcome, that's how you know whether or not there's a possibility of us funding you. I think, often when I read EOIs, which I read a lot, people skirt over the long term outcomes, they look at the impact goals and to be honest, we're doing all of that. But they don't actually look to see whether the work is a match for any of the outcomes. In A Fairer Future, we have 17 long term outcomes, there's plenty to choose from. But if you're not a match to any of those, we will not fund you. So I would look at it from that perspective, rather than what we're seeking, what type of change we're seeking to attract.
Luna Dizon
I've also just shared a link to the guidance that takes you straight to the guidance, for Creative, Confident Communities, because there are some key features across all our work under that aim, such as: is inclusive and accessible, is co-owned and co-created with local people, is collaborative. I won't read them all. But I think that's also a good place to look at. We're not really prescriptive in terms of what is it that's actually been changed under that aim. That is what I'm trying to say.
Heather Salmon
So the change is open. It's talking to the how isn't it? But the change itself is, if it's a good change for people, for communities.
Luna Dizon
And particularly if it links to or make connections to other areas of work in terms of social justice and the environment, for instance.
I'm going to now go to Risue's question, apologies if I've pronounced your name wrong.
And so, I wonder if you could give me more detail on how you assess applications for core rather than project costs to determine which could have the greatest impact, as core won't necessarily add anything to existing workstreams. Is it about demonstrating the organisation's aims for the grant period? Or could you give a strong example.
Gina Crane
I mean, just talking about our funding for core or unrestricted costs versus project, it's our preference where we can, to make unrestricted grants. There are limits on that. We can't make an unrestricted grant if you're not a charity, for instance. And we do want to fund core costs where possible, because apart from that, giving you the funding that you need to do the work in the way that you see best, which is great. It also means that your organisation, your whole organisation's work fits our strategy. So that makes things kind of easier all round. We do, however, give project grants quite often for big collaborative work, where that's what's needed. And we need to see the sort of specific boundaries of that project. And it's helpful to support a collaborative effort. And we do make project grants where there might be an aspect of the organisation's work that takes place overseas. That's a limit for us. We can't do that, or where there's a capital project involved that we also couldn't get involved in funding, and we need to sort of separate out the funding from that. Hope that helps answer that question.
Luna Dizon
The next question is, would you fund a project run in partnership with another charity that you are already providing core funding to the other charity in the partnership?
Genevieve Ford-Saville
Good question. The answer is potentially, yes, you can hold more than one grant at a time, if the two grants are very distinct pieces of work. So it will depend on the overlap between the existing core cost grant and the piece of work that you're planning to deliver in partnership with the other charity, and we can have a conversation about that. But yes, in principle, it's possible, it will depend on the distinctiveness of the pieces of work. I hope that makes sense.
Gina Crane
And I would just add on that where we have done that, it's because the work is incredibly important for our strategy. So we will have done it on something like kinship care in children and young people's rights. And we've done it particularly around the environment, NGOs, getting together to influence. There's a lot of sort of crossover with many of our grantees and those groups. But if you know, it's really important to also support collaborative efforts to influence. Yeah, so where it's really important for our strategy, we will do that.
Genevieve Ford-Saville
And what maybe is also timely as well. So there's a window of opportunity for this collaboration to have impact now - that's another reason for us, potentially, to consider that as well.
Luna Dizon
Thanks, both. So a question from Natasha.
Do you ever do special projects funding which sit outside our normal priorities?
Gina Crane
Interesting question. I think we've only done this in the last couple of years where trustees have wanted to make an emergency grant in response to a crisis. So we made a grant to Disasters Emergency Committee for work on Ukraine, and something else. But I think that is it. I don't think we've done it beyond that.
Luna Dizon
Thank you. A question from Zoe.
There's a big difference in the success rate between organisations invited to submit an expression of interest and those submitting through the website, how would you suggest that they make their organisation known to the Foundation, in addition to submitting an application? There may be a couple of other questions along similar lines.
Gina Crane
I guess we talked already about us getting out there and meeting people. You've already done it by attending this webinar and putting your name out there. And, and I guess, it is tricky. But I guess the ball is in our court rather than yours. And I know that can feel really unfair. But we absolutely have an open application process for a reason, which is you can put in your ideas to us. And we will read them and we will take them seriously. And that is the best way of letting us know about your work. And as you do that, we also, as we said, don't just read your expression of interest, we will look at your website, we will do a bit of extra research to find out who you are and what you do. But I think that is that's the way.
Heather Salmon
I think also that the networks you're in, the ecosystems you're in, how well you're known within the sector that you're representing, will also be a way that you've come to our attention. So people you partner with, people you've worked with in the past, will mention you as you get better known within your sector. So that's another critical way that we can start to hear about your work.
Luna Dizon
Thank you. And so the question from Catherine, oh sorry, it's not a question.
And so a question has just come in, do you fund full cost recovery?
Genevieve Ford-Saville
Yes, we do. I know lots of funders in the past haven't done that. We definitely do. As I said before, please ask for what you need. We are very aware of the increased cost of things. And people should be paid properly and supported properly. So please, yes, include full cost recovery in what you do. We understand what it takes to deliver a piece of work, it requires all the things, all the people, the photocopiers, all the heat, the light. So please, all the clinical supervision, please include all the things.
Luna Dizon
Thank you.
So, a question here, from somebody who's been awarded a grant from us before, they're currently beginning to explore the possibility of merging with another charity to mutually strengthen both partners' reach, delivery and influence. Would it be appropriate to submit an application in the early stages of a merger if their charity moves ahead with this?
Gina Crane
I think it's tricky to answer this question without knowing a little bit more about the detail. We have, in the past, had a sort of specific Mergers Fund, which actually we got very few applications for, and perhaps the time was not quite right for that and maybe the time is right for that now. I would say if your organisation is in transition, flux, change, that shouldn't be a barrier for you putting in an application. If you can still talk about what you're going to be delivering, and if the impact of it matches our funding priorities, we can get into the discussion about your specific situation at the second stage of our process, rather than at the expression of interest. think the space for that conversation is probably not there at the expression of interest phase. Your bid would need to be about what you're going to deliver currently in your future form and that's what you should put in, and then we can have that conversation at the next stage.
Luna Dizon
Thank you. So we've got seven minutes left. I think I'm going to take another couple of hopefully quick questions before we start wrapping up. Just to remind you all any questions that we're not able to answer today, we will follow up on. And again, the recording, transcription, and all the questions we've answered, given typed responses to, we'll also share those so you can come back to it. And if there's anything that you need clarification on, just send us an email at the communications@esmeefairbairn.org.uk address.
Okay, so two more questions, hopefully.
Adam asks, is it possible to submit multiple EOIs simultaneously if they are clearly distinct and link strongly with the strategy? And if it's possible, would it hurt their chances of success to do so?
Gina Crane
I'm happy to take it, I wouldn't recommend it. I would stick to one at a time. I think it's a bit confusing for the team to know what your priority is what makes most sense for you. Yeah, I would stick to one at a time.
Luna Dizon
Thank you. I'm just going to have a quick scan of the questions...
So, would you expect applications from national organisations to demonstrate anything specific, in addition to the funding priorities?
Gina Crane
Not sure what that's getting at.
Luna Dizon
We might come back to you on that one.
Gina Crane
We should say that we do fund an awful lot of national organisations. I think that's maybe why the question is foxing us. I think if you are a national organisation looking to apply under Creative, Confident Communities, that might be more difficult. Maybe that's what the question's getting that? I don't know.
Luna Dizon
I'm just having a quick scan of questions to see if there is a good last one. Okay, I'm just going to pick one.
How similar can a new application be to a previous application, especially where aspects such as the website, Charity Commission presence and reporting tell a clear story now than when they previously applied?
Genevieve Ford-Saville
I think that's a question about whether or not... We have no stand down period. So you can reapply again as quickly as you want. But there will have been a reason why your initial EOI wasn't successful. So I think it's about you considering again, how closely the work you're applying for sits within those long term outcomes that we're looking for within the priorities. And if it's the case that you have adjusted the EOI, and maybe your social media and your website and your work, now tell us about what you're doing. And that fits really closely with one of the outcomes within our priorities, then that will be significant enough a change, that we would be considering taking applications to the next stage. But if that's not what has changed, it is unlikely. But another reason why it may not be successful, because as we said before, we are looking for all of those things that we listed on the slide, it's quite a lot of stuff. So if what's changed isn't that you move closer to those things, it is unlikely that the new EOI would be any more successful than the previous one.
Heather Salmon
Especially because those things take time to develop. So how could you have developed it at the level where we would take it through in a shorter space of time? So it's really thinking about how much better do you fit our funding criteria than you did the last time you applied and using any feedback to inform the timing of when you apply again.
Further resources and thanks
Luna Dizon
Thank you. We can start wrapping up and the slide that I've shared right now, is also in the slides that you are able to download, but I'll send them in a follow up as well. So links to accessibility related support, our online FAQs, where you can find out how you can search our funding data on GrantNav, which is a platform where lots of funders, not just us, share information about what they fund. And also previous links to previous webinar webinars where we talk through a bit more detail about each of our main aims.
And then also, there is also a link to other funding sources, where we signpost to different funding directories and also a page on useful sector resources. You won't be able to click on those links there now, but they are in the presentation slides. So we've got two more minutes. Do the panel just want to say a final word.
Gina Crane
Happy to do that. Thank you to Luna, thanks to the panel. Thanks to the interpreters. Thank you to the Esmée team behind the scenes answering questions. But most of all, thank you for turning up and asking us questions. We know that some of the things we had to say are not what you want to hear. And please remember, our choices are our choices. They're not a judgement on the quality of your work or the need for it. It's not you, it's us. We are making decisions to make a small number of grants against an absolute wave of demand. You're out there doing the work. And thank you for that.
Heather Salmon
And thanks for coming. Thank you. Thank you.
Luna Dizon
And just to say again, yeah, I think just to reiterate, we'll be sharing all of this and if you have follow up questions, just send us an email. Thank you