Hubbub & Virgin Media O2: Time After Time E-Waste Fund

Overview

They’re looking for for projects that can help close the growing digital divide and spark behaviour change across the UK.

They’ll support a range of projects with funding between £25,000 - £100,000.

This could be a research project to help understand how the issues are connected, a campaign to redistribute devices, a project to fix old devices to be used by more people, or a project that aims to tackle the root causes of these problems.

• They expect to be able to fund between 6-8 projects of varying grant sizes.
• The fund will focus on digital inclusion projects utilising smartphones, tablets and laptops.

Projects will need to demonstrate measurable impact and a clear legacy. They'll openly share all learnings and results from the funded projects to enable others to build on and amplify the impact (while also respecting intellectual property or patents).

Focus area

For this fund, they are interested in projects that help to tackle the digital divide by helping to connect those who are currently disconnected. This could include a focus on a particular group of people who are more likely to be disconnected. This could include, but is not limited to:

• Those over-65
• Those from lower-socio economic backgrounds
• Individuals with disabilities
• Young people
• Those experiencing homelessness
• Refugees/Asylum Seekers
• Survivors of domestic abuse

Applicants should also consider how their projects help to reduce e-waste, rather than tackling the issue through the purchase of new devices.

Criteria

• Focused on increasing digital inclusion within the UK whilst tackling e-waste – This could include a particular focus on a particular group of people who are recognised to be more likely to be disconnected. They hope to fund projects across the UK to ensure the fund has a wide geographical spread.
• Focused on devices: As the fund is focussing on digital inclusion, the electrical items that your project focuses on should increase the ability of individuals, groups or households to connect to the internet. The devices they expect projects to focus on will primarily be smartphones, tablets and laptops. Your project can be part of a wider scheme to reduce waste.
• Feasible: You must have an agreement in place with any proposed project partners. You should be able to demonstrate how you’ve delivered projects in the past successfully. Your organisation should also show an understanding of how this project will fit into your wider activities to ensure you’re well placed to deliver the proposed activity.
• Impact and legacy: The project needs to demonstrate its projected impact on digital inclusion and e-waste as well as any other benefits (e.g. social impact, number of people engaged, expected reach of project, carbon impact). This could be a direct and immediate impact or a clear path to future impact. The project should also have a clear legacy for what happens to the project and sharing learnings after the initial funding period.
• Fund project activity (not core costs): They are happy to fund salaries and overheads related to a discrete project or discrete project activity – but they are unable to contribute to an organisation’s core cost which would support their general work.
• Innovation and why you: They want to know what is innovative about the project and why you, your organisation (and partners) are the right people to deliver it.
• Open sharing: you should plan to 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 require you to share your broader learnings.

Eligibility

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

• Charity
• Academic body
• Community Interest Company
• Social enterprise
• Registered company
• Local authority

Read the full terms and conditions of the fund.