Applying for Funding Plus

• Tailored expert advice, support or training to give the extra help to an organisation at a difficult or opportune moment.
• Key issues we know organisations need help with are: evaluation, business planning, income diversification and financial management.
• Consultancy support to adapt business models and redesign services.
• Digital advice e.g. help to move existing services online.
• Support for charities with retail businesses e.g. help to move sales online where there is an established market.

We have a few suppliers we have worked with before, but mostly fund organisations to work with consultants they know and trust.

• Training, networking, or learning events to which we invite groups of those we fund, eg communications, digital skills development, financial management training, evaluation and learning.

• Strategy and planning, public affairs, digital planning, media training, messaging, crisis communications, advocacy and campaigns.

We want to ensure organisations we fund are able to communicate effectively for maximum impact in their work. We would welcome a conversation with you, if you have:

• Identified that your organisation requires communication support.
• A strong understanding of what your communications needs and issues are.
• A clear idea of the tangible outcomes of this support.

• Consultation on:
  • How to examine, develop and implement diversity, equity and inclusion practices
  • How to support the wellbeing and mental health of your staff
  • Income generation and diversifying income
  • HR and legal issues
  • Bespoke training and opportunities for staff development
  • Financial health and insolvency
• Resilience and crisis management coaching and mentoring for sector leaders and staff.

• Connections to other organisations we fund or other funders where appropriate.
• Signposting to useful sector resources including free online support, advice, best practice and peer support networks.

• Work that doesn’t build the skills and capacity of the organisation and still leaves a skills shortage.
• Work that has already taken place.
• Work that is a core activity for most organisations.
• Work that is already being supported with 'beyond money'/funder plus support from another funder if it's not clear where we could add value, or why the existing support isn't enough.
• Part-time or temporary staffing costs.
• Fundraising: we would fund advice, training, and support with developing a fundraising or income generation strategy. We would not fund direct fundraising costs, including bid writing.
• Recruitment: we would fund advice, skills or strategy development around recruitment; we would not fund direct recruitment costs, including outsourced recruitment services, agency commission or advertising fees.
• Marketing costs
• Impact measurement and evaluation where the primary aim isn’t to improve services i.e. to meet funders’ requirements
• General legal advice
• Website upgrade or redesign
• Brand refresh work
• Work to update standard IT systems and infrastructure

Email our Impact Support Manager, Shemain, at shemain@esmeefairbairn.org.uk or on 020 7812 3712. If you're unsure about whether you're eligible to apply for Funding Plus or if it is appropriate for the support you require, please get in touch.

As there is currently more demand for this type of support, we are prioritising requests from funded organisations that:

• Have not yet received Funding Plus
• Are led by and for communities experiencing racial inequity

Requests will be assessed against:

• Fit to Funding Plus guidance
• Work that’s most important for achieving our strategy
• Potential impact of the work
• Funding Plus budget available

Funding decisions will be made every four weeks, possibly quicker for applications requiring urgent or time sensitive support.

If you would like us to share your tender for Funding Plus support on our website, please send it to shemain@esmeefairbairn.org.uk. If helpful, we have created an example tender brief document, which you can adapt. We have also written a rough guide to setting project budgets.

Please note: It isn’t necessary to go out to tender for Funding Plus support and you do not need to tell us about your procurement process.