John Ellerman Foundation: Social Action
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.
SOCIAL ACTION: Championing Change
They aim to help create an inclusive society where all can thrive, by supporting organisations which work to create positive changes at a systems-wide level benefitting wider society.
They believe it is people working together who create change. They are interested in organisations with a track record that tackle divisions and inequity, and who bring together individuals, community organisations and others, including national bodies, to influence government and the agencies that shape our lives.
What they fund
They want to support those with ambition to achieve positive change at scale while also creating benefits for those involved. They will therefore concentrate funding in pursuit of a thriving society on work which:
- Actively involves those with personal experience of the issue tackled – reflecting their belief that those with direct personal experience of the issue/s understand them best and should have the agency and support to use their expertise, understanding and insights to drive forward the organisation’s work. They want them to be able to do this in a supportive environment that is committed to their success. They do not expect disclosures of an individual’s personal experience in applications, if this information is not already publicly known or available. They also value the importance of the expertise and insight of those that work alongside individuals and communities with personal experience.
- Improves systems through policy, advocacy and campaigning – by ensuring those with personal experience are empowered to influence change and progress on the issues that matter to them, or on securing their rights; by connecting people and the establishment and creating opportunities for contact and dialogue, or by designing ad imagining alternative approaches to influencing if this is more appropriate; creating environments in which professionals and their organisations engage meaningfully; and using these approaches to advocate or campaign for improving policies, practices and systems.
They expect a variety of individuals and communities experiencing a range of inequities and discrimination to benefit from our funding. Given this broad canvas, they will prioritise work which tackles the greatest barriers created by divisions and inequity.
What they are looking for
Organisations that:
- are rooted in practical experience, rather than working exclusively on policy
- understand the need to build people’s confidence and skills so they are ready to engage with others
- value, promote and learn from the experience of those they support
- are engaging with the unpopular or difficult cause
- seek to tackle causes as well as symptoms.
For more details and guidelines for each area of work see the website
For FAQ's visit the website here
For information on grants the Foundation has awarded click here