The National Lottery Community Fund: Digital Fund

Overview

Under Strands 1 and 2, they awarded £12.1m to 29 organisations and £500,000 for a support contract to work with them. There is £2.4m remaining of the £15m allocated to the Digital Fund, as announced in 2018.

They are currently doing some discovery work to determine the needs of micro organisations across the UK, and whether these needs are primarily digital. They will use this work to inform how they support these groups in 2020. Alongside this, they are scoping how the remaining funds can have the most impact and hope to launch a small number of small, strategic funds in 2020. For regular updates on the Digital Fund, please follow the team’s Medium blog.

The Digital Fund will open in phases over the next two years. The first phase, open from 22nd October 2018 to 5pm 3rd December 2018, will accept proposals in two strands.

Digital Fund Strand 1 offers grants of up to £500,000 and a tailored support package. The aim is to help established charities use digital to take a major leap forward.

Digital Fund Strand 2 offers grants of up to £500,000 for newer organisations that have already launched promising services that use digital to achieve scale or impact.

Grants have now been awarded and will last from 1 to 4 years.

Who can apply?

The following eligibility criteria apply to both strands of funding. There are specific criteria for each strand below this section.

You can apply if you’re a:

• voluntary and community organisation
• registered charity
• social enterprise
• group of organisations, if they are led by a voluntary and community organisations or social enterprise
• community interest companies (with two or more directors).

Digital Strand 1

Digital Fund Strand 1 offers grants of up to £500,000 and a tailored support package. The aim is to help established charities use digital to take a major leap forward. They expect grants to last from 1 to 4 years.

Successful Strand 1 proposals will:

• Demonstrate a firm commitment by organisational leadership to changing the way that the organisation serves people and communities.
• Contain a plan that has been developed in accordance with good digital practices, such as committing to an iterative approach, and making sure that people are in the lead.
• Supply evidence that the organisation has already invested in digital, prior to this proposal.
• Show a commitment to working generously, sharing what you learn and the products or services you produce with others.

They are not looking for:

• Proposals that contain a highly detailed plan setting out every detail of your forthcoming transformation. Instead they welcome proposals that clearly differentiate between what you know now, and what you will learn along the journey.
• Proposals that are driven by a desire to use technology.
• Proposals that are based around core budget shortfalls.

Additional eligibility criteria that apply only to Strand 1

• Your organisation must have an income over £500,000 per year. If your organisation had income of over £10m last year, they will ask for a matching contribution that will be tailored to your size
• Your organisation must be incorporated within the UK, and must work primarily in the voluntary and community sector

Find out more about this strand

Digital Strand 2

Digital Fund Strand 2 offers grants of up to £500,000 for newer organisations that have already launched promising services that use digital to achieve scale or impact. They expect grants to last from 1 to 4 years.

Successful strand 2 proposals will:

• Have made use of user-centred design.
• Clearly demonstrate either the potential to scale your impact at low cost, or clearly demonstrate potential to use digital to bring substantial benefits to a specific group of people.
• Be driven by teams that combine knowledge of an issue that matters to people and communities, with experience of digital delivery.
• Relate to a product or service that is far enough through its development process that people are currently benefiting from it.
• Provide evidence of impact upon those people.
• Have a theory of change or similar document showing how the product or service will achieve aims that benefit a specific group of people.
• Show an understanding of the challenge of sustaining impact after the ending of Big Lottery Fund support.

They are not looking for:

• Products or services that are not yet mature enough to be benefiting people.
• Products or services that cannot show considerable evidence of user research in their creation.
• Products or services that duplicate existing services with no substantial innovation.

Additional eligibility criteria that apply only to Strand 2

• Your organisation must have been incorporated after the year 2000
• You must currently operate a product or service that is functional and being used by the type of people and communities you plan to serve in future

Find out more about this strand

What can you spend the money on?

They can fund:

• staff salaries
• project activities
• running costs
• small-scale refurbishment
• equipment
• organisational development