Esmee Fairbairn Foundation: Young People Leaving Care
Overview
What they will fund
Funding is limited to the charitable work of organisations, and could be for core or project costs, including staff salaries and overheads. There are no limits on grant size or length, with their median average 2015 grant being £100,000 over 3 years. Most support is likely to be in the form of grants, but they would consider making social investments.
They will support:
Work that develops long lasting, supportive relationships for young people in and leaving care, e.g.
- good practice models of how family relationships (including relationships with siblings) can be nurtured rather than broken by the care system
- development of existing non-family relationships with friends and significant adults, such as teachers, previous foster carers, sports coaches etc
- development of practical, informal networks that allow care leavers to receive advice, make friends, reduce isolation and grasp positive opportunities
- policy and practice for looked after children that values and prioritises long lasting supportive relationships and the positive role the care system can play in nurturing and developing these relationships
Work that has a positive impact on the support that care leavers receive from their local authority and other statutory services, e.g.
- involving care leavers in decisions about their own lives and in the design of services, in order that they influence the structures and processes that govern how they are treated
- advocating for young people leaving care to obtain what they are legally entitled to and need
- influencing broader policy, particularly in relation to standardising best practice across the UK
- collecting and sharing data and knowledge about care leavers and benchmarking local authority services for care leavers
The outcomes they want their support to achieve are:
- Care leavers are more easily able to form healthy relationships that help them make a successful transition to adulthood
- Young people receive a consistently high standard of statutory support that has been informed by their views
- There is greater alignment and coherence in the work of the voluntary sector in ensuring a successful transition to adult life for care leavers
They don't expect applications towards outcome 3 - it's something they are going to apply their own financial and non-financial resources, including convening and supporting collaborative work, to achieve.
They are looking for work which:
- combines good practice with impact that is wider than the immediate beneficiaries by, for example, developing models that can be replicated more widely or influencing local and/or national practice and policy;
- is clear about the impact it will make and how this will be measured, providing an evidence base for the effectiveness (or not) of the work;
- is done in partnership with local authorities and other organisations, including fellow grantees, that have responsibility for care leavers.
for further infomraotin and guidance see the website.
Please also see here for general guidelines on why applications are turned down
What organisations can expect from their funding
This focused funding stream is a new way of working for Esmée. They want to understand and learn from what makes a real difference to the lives of young people leaving care, and improve future practice as a result.
Their approach to supporting this work will be developed alongside the organisations they fund, but funded organisations can expect to:
- come together to share learning with others in the programme regularly
- co-create shared measures of impact with others in the programme and collect and share data and evidence
- take part in an external evaluation
- have access to additional funds to recognise the costs involved in taking part in additional learning and evaluation work