The Circular Future Fund: The Million Pound Challenge

Overview

In partnership with Hubbub, the John Lewis Partnership is launching a £1 million fund to support trailblazing ideas and innovations that can accelerate the transition towards a more circular economy.

Whether it's rethinking waste with new products or materials, finding creative ways to shift consumer mindsets or developing new business models and services, they’d like to hear from you.

The fund will provide grants between £150,000-£300,000.

Funding Aims

They are looking for innovators with pioneering new approaches to challenge the outdated 'take, make, dispose' model. If you feel you have a circular solution in the areas of food, textiles or household products, technology or services, they want to hear about it.

They will be supporting a small number of high quality, innovative projects over one year, starting in May 2022. Projects will be selected by a Grant Panel, consisting of independent experts on the circular economy, grant making and innovation authorities, as well as senior representatives from the John Lewis Partnership.

They would like to fund projects which will have a measurable impact (now or in the future), and a clear legacy. They will openly share all learnings and results from the funded projects to enable others to build on and amplify the impact.

Your application will require you to

1. Describe your project and how it will promote and enable the circular economy
2. How it addresses one or moe of the three focus areas (below)
3. How it fits into your organisation's business plan or wider activities and at what stage the idea is at, i.e. initial concept, researc, testing, development.
4. What wider social or environmental benefits your project is likely to bring including its legacy

Focus Areas

• Textiles - Solution examples: Production factors such as water and energy efficiency, material innovation, disruptive reuse platforms, chemical reduction/alternatives.
• Household products, technology, and services - Solution examples: Zero emissions delivery, innovation in home goods, disruptive reuse/recycling platforms, consumption awareness and behaviour change, tech solutions and products.
• Food - Solution examples: Full supply chain food waste reduction, smart food waste solutions or changes in consumption awareness and behaviour change.

Criteria

• A truly circular solution: You need to explain how your project offers a viable and truly circular solution. Read their definition of the circular economy.
• Impact: The project needs to demonstrate its tangible impact. This could be a direct and immediate impact or a clear path to future impact.  
• Legacy: They want to see that the project will have a longer-term impact beyond the scope of the funded year, and ideally it would have wider social and environmental benefits too.  Where will your idea be in 3 years’ time?
• Fund project activity (not core costs): They want to fund a discrete project, or specific project activity rather than contribute towards an organisation’s core costs. 
• Innovation and why you: They want to know what is innovative about this project and why the people, and organisation(s) delivering it are the right ones.  
• Open sharing: How will you share the learnings and results to inspire and enable others to learn from and amplify your project and thereby increase the impact?  (They recognise that you might have intellectual property or patents for your idea, they won’t ask you to share anything commercially sensitive but would like you to share your broader learnings).

Eligibility

The grant fund is open to the following types of organisation. Collaboration is encouraged, partnership applications are welcome. The monies will need to be paid to the applicant which must be a registered body, and one of the following:

• Charity
• Academic Body
• Community Interest Companies
• Social Enterprise*
• Registered company less than 5 years old

*The fund is open to social enterprises that have a clear charitable mission, that can demonstrate the positive difference they are trying to make and which reinvest profits to further their social mission, and/or which, in a ‘wind-up’ situation, pass remaining assets on to another non-profit social enterprise that has a charitable purpose.

Funding

They expect to fund projects between £150,000 and £300,000 each. Please state why if you are applying for less.

For ideas and campaigns, please explore Hubbub’s ideas and campaigns to get inspired.