John Ellerman Foundation: Arts

Archived Addiction and substance misuse Advice services Animal Welfare Archives and artefacts Arts, culture and heritage Cultural heritage Cultural, events and festivals environment Health promotion Health, wellbeing and sport Healthcare services Human rights and equality Medical conditions Natural environment and climate Overseas aid and development People with disabilities Performing arts Poverty and deprivation Social inclusion Social welfare and poverty Verbal arts Visual arts and media World issues Antrim & Newtownabbey Ards & North Down Armagh City, Banbridge & Craigavon Belfast City Causeway Coast and Glens Derry City and Strabane England Fermanagh and Omagh Great Britain Lisburn and Castlereagh Mid and East Antrim Mid Ulster Newry, Mourne and Down Northern Ireland Scotland Wales Large (over £60,000) Medium (up to £60,000)

Track grant Notes

Overview

Note:

Their current strategy ends in 2025, and they are undertaking a strategic review to plan for 2025 onwards. There are no plans to close as part of this review. However, as with any new strategy, there may be some changes to their funding priorities and criteria. These changes will be flagged up in advance, and they will transition to any such changes to an agreed and publicly available timeline with clear guidance on how they wish to minimise any disruption to current and prospective applicants.

Criteria applicable to all funding

They ask that organisations applying to us meet the following two criteria, which apply to all three of our funding categories:

Organisational size and form

They prioritise UK-registered charities with an income between £100,000 and £10m. This focus allows them to use their capacity and resources by supporting organisations that are established and experienced in the work they undertake. They rarely fund organisations that are outside of this preferred income range.

National significance

They want their funds to make a difference, with as wide an impact as possible, to organisations that are nationally significant. This may involve creating art of the highest quality; working across a wide geographical area; or sharing and expanding successful initiatives. They also recognise it may be necessary to change the system, and that by influencing policy, campaigning or adopting other approaches more far-reaching and longer-term benefits are possible.

National significance may look different in each of their categories:

Arts – the creation of new work in itself has the potential to create a national or international legacy to inspire others. Using high quality as a key criterion is designed to strengthen and widen impact, thus demonstrating UK-wide significance. Partnerships, whether cross-art form, cross-sector or geographical, may also enhance this significance, and touring and digital output may contribute to a national footprint.
Environment – certain species, habitats and/or ecosystems may have national significance due to their relative scarcity and/or the benefits ('ecosystem services') they provide to people. Some organisations may occupy a nationally significant niche because few other organisations cover the thematic area they specialise on.

Initiatives which have national reach or reach within the countries that make up the UK, may also be nationally significant. Furthermore, more locally based initiatives which have clear potential for replicability or are scalable to country level may also be considered to be nationally significant. They also consider the biodiversity of the UK Overseas Territories to be of national and/or international importance.

Social Action – they look to support organisations whose work is rooted in practical experience, often in more than one locality, and is nationally significant because their work can be applied at an England, Scotland, Wales and/or Northern Ireland level.

What the look for in applications:

Effectiveness and impact – this could mean a good understanding of the needs being met and how best to tackle them; awareness of how your work adds value and relates to and complements the work of others; effective systems to monitor and review progress; a culture of learning, reflection and improvement; and being alert to opportunities to widen impact.
Strong governance and management – a diverse and representative organisation with a well-qualified and engaged board and strong and inspiring leadership; a thorough understanding and oversight of finances across the Board and leadership team; and awareness of the organisation’s strengths and weaknesses.
Financial management – All applicants should demonstrate a funding need and are not expected to hold excessive free reserves, i.e. unspent, unrestricted or designated funds, unless there is a clear Board approved reason for doing so. They expect applicants to have a reserves policy in place that is being followed.
Collaborative – this could mean organisations that are well connected, understand how they fit within their world, and work well with others relevant to the work being done.
Fit with category criteria – they recommend that in your application you focus on one of their categories, as each has slightly different criteria. They find those seeking to apply across multiple categories tend to present a weaker case than those applying to one.

Core funding has long been their signature, but they are also happy to make grants for projects or programmes. These costs could include:

staff salaries, training and expenses
day-to-day running costs and operations
monitoring and evaluation
communications and digital innovation

Funding Level

Their main grants programme generally makes grants of between £10,000 and £50,000 per year, for up to three years.

Last year their grants in the Arts, Environment, and Social Action categories ranged from £30,000 to £150,000 and the average grant size was around £106,000.

To get an idea of the size of grant they make, take a look at the grants list on their website, and they also publish their data to 360Giving which can be reviewed here.

ARTS: Creators and Curators

They believe arts and culture have the potential to enrich and transform lives, and they recognise its inherent value and unique effects.

They will fund organisations that nurture, incubate and commission those people who make and curate work.

What they fund

They concentrate Arts funding under two separate headings:

1. Creators in the performing arts – they focus on the creation of the highest quality, nationally significant work, by funding organisations which collaborate with, commission or otherwise support artists to create new or reimagined work. They prioritise applicants from outside the capital, but do consider those based in London where the proposal would bring significant benefits elsewhere. (Organisations can apply at any time under this heading.)

2. Curators in museums and galleries outside London – they aim to strengthen those institutions that focus on making use of curatorial skills to attract a wider public. (This is an annual programme with its own funding guidelines and decision-making process; please see their website for the latest information.)

What they look for in the performing arts:

Organisations that do some of the following:

organisations with new or original work at their heart
track record of producing excellent work
exciting, fresh and imaginative ideas and models of working
regional work that is valued and recognised nationally (foremost) and internationally
integration of emerging talent and artist development into the artistic programme of work (i.e. developing an individual is not the organisation’s main or sole focus)
an understanding of actual and potential audiences and how the artistic plans relate to them.

For FAQ's visit the website here

For information on grants the Foundation has awarded click here