Macmillan: Learning and Development Grants for Health Professionals

Overview

Macmillan provides two grants for professionals with the aim of improving the lives of people living with cancer.

Individual Grants

To enable Macmillan professionals to access learning opportunities to support professional development in their role and their career progression. This grant can be used to pay for conferences and courses.

Group Grants

To provide bespoke learning for a group or team of cancer care professionals. Only the applicant needs to be a Macmillan professional. The grant can be used to cover the costs of facilitators and accommodation/catering for the programme. This grant cannot be used by a team to attend conferences and courses provided externally.

Application Criteria: All Grants

• The application must be completed by a Macmillan professional, who can be full-time, part-time or work on a sessional basis. They must complete the application themselves, and should not ask anyone else to complete it on their behalf.
• You must have been in your Macmillan post a minimum of 3 months before you submit an application
• If you are in an adopted Macmillan post, the 3 month period will only start once your employer has completed the adoption process, as you are not officially adopted until this is done
• You must have attended your Macmillan induction (We are Macmillan) before you submit an application.
• All applications must be completed using the online system LearnZone.org.uk/grants
• A profile must be completed before you submit an application.
• All sections of the application must be completed.
• You must attach evidence outlining the course you are applying for (course synopsis and course outlines), and including the course dates and course costs which should be in the form of official documentation on headed paper or a screen shot. This evidence must be attached either as a Word.Doc or as a PDF. Due to audit requirements, it’s not possible to accept hyperlinks to websites.
• You must have your line manager’s approval for your application and provide their contact details on your profile.
• The deadline for receipt of completed applications is midnight on 15th of each month. Applications submitted after this point will be assessed in the following month’s round.
• The proposed activity cannot start prior to the 1st of the month following the above deadline.
• Funding for deposits or prepayment for events will only be available after the application has been approved. Macmillan will only pay the event provider, so you will need to arrange to have your payment refunded by them where you have paid in advance. Advance payments are made at your own risk.
• Applications should be for a single activity or programme. Please do not apply for more than one course per application. Where you are applying for a modular programme, please provide details for each module.
• Applicants may apply for both grant types in a calendar year. Two applications for individual grants may be made per calendar year, up to the funding limit. The funding is allocated using the start date of the learning activity. i.e. If you apply in 2017 for a course that starts in 2018, if approved it will be deducted from your 2018 grant allocation.
• If you have previously attended a conference or course this does not mean that a subsequent application for the same conference or course in subsequent years will automatically be approved. Grants cannot be used to fund salary or backfill costs.
• Applications must demonstrate how the activity will improve the lives of people living with cancer.
• An evaluation will be undertaken with you 3 months after completion of your learning. You are required to complete this evaluation as a condition of the grant being approved. In some cases this will include the provision of a case study, which may be published on Learn Zone to illustrate the impact of the learning undertaken.
• Please note that further grant applications will not be considered until the evaluation has been completed and approved within the required timeframe.The approval of other grant applications made in the interim period may also be withdrawn
• The Macmillan grant budget is capped. Therefore, applicants are reminded that some applications may be declined due to funding constraints.

Application Criteria: Individual Grants

• Only a Macmillan professional may submit an application, and the applicant must be the person who attends.
• The grant is for attendance at conferences, courses and other events not provided by Macmillan.
• The maximum amount of funding available is £1000 per calendar year. This is not guaranteed and subject to approval. A maximum of two applications may be made per calendar year.
• Travel and accommodation expenses should not be claimed as part of your grant application. You should ask your employer to cover these costs in the first instance. If you do need to claim expenses, you should read the policy first before you submit a claim. Details can be found here
• You may apply for a course that runs for longer than one year, up to the funding limit of £1000.
• You may apply each year for funding for a course that runs over a number of years. Please note that future funding is not guaranteed and subject to approval.
• You may apply for courses that take place outside the UK.

Application Criteria: Group Grants

• Only a Macmillan professional may submit an application. However, only one Macmillan professional is required to participate in the learning. The other audience members can be non-Macmillan health and social care professionals, including volunteers and people affected by cancer.
• The grant is for the development and delivery of a bespoke learning programme for a group/team.
• The maximum amount of funding available is £5000 per calendar year. This is not guaranteed and subject to approval. Only 1 application may be made per calendar year.
• Participant places should be provided free of charge. If the cost of your programme is greater than £5000, additional funding needs to be provided from another stakeholder.
• To enable you to plan your group grant activity well in advance, you are required to submit estimates of the costs you expect to incur and quotes should be provided.
• The following may be claimed through a group grant:
  • Reasonable facilitator programme development time
  • Facilitator delivery time
  • Facilitator travel and accommodation costs, in line with Macmillan’s Expenses policy
  • Accommodation costs for the activity. You should try to use your own venue where possible
  • Catering costs, in line with Macmillan’s Expenses Policy
  • Other reasonable costs, which could include some administration time or the purchase of essential materials required
• The following may not be claimed through a group grant:
• Travel or accommodation costs for any participants, including Macmillan professionals
• Facilitator development and/or delivery time where the facilitator is a Macmillan professional
• Funding is only available for activities that take place in the UK
• You must clearly demonstrate how you are evaluating the impact of the grant at the end of the activity. You will be required to complete a further evaluation 3 months later to demonstrate the impact on services for people living with cancer.
• Your activity must be branded as a Macmillan funded/supported programme.