Paul Hamlyn Foundation: Youth Fund

Overview

Aim of the Youth Fund

They believe that services, systems, structures, processes and practice can support young people to thrive. They want young people to have their voices heard, and to have agency and autonomy to drive changes and improvements which transform their transitions to adulthood.

This fund achieves this by:

• Focusing on young people (14–25) who experience systemic inequity. For these young people, transitions are harder due to the way society, systems and structures operate. This often compounds the inequity they experience.
• Driving change in systems, processes, structures and practice to create more equitable, inclusive, asset based environments and experiences for young people.
• Tackling the root causes of inequity and injustice which creates barriers and challenges for young people as they transition to adulthood.
• Centering young people voice, insight and power. Recognizing that many young people are marginalized or excluded, their experiences hidden or less well known and their voices often erased or ignored.

Who they want to support

The fund focuses both on how organisations work, and what they seek to achieve.

They are interested in funding:

• organisations working with young people (14–25);
• targeted work with and for young people who face transitions in their lives which may be challenging or create barriers for example into or out of education, care settings, housing or the secure estate†; and
• work that recognizes young peoples multiple and overlapping identities (for example race, gender, sexual orientation, class, faith, migration status, ability).

They particularly welcome applications from organisations led by people most impacted by racism, ableism, classism, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia, and/or transphobia.

†The secure estate might include prisons, bail accommodation, youth detention accommodation and approved premises.

How you work

They support organisations which:

• work beyond direct delivery to drive strategic and systemic change. We are interested in how your work makes a difference to the future of young people’s transition to adulthood;
• seek to identify, understand and tackle the root causes of the injustice and inequity that young people face as part of the work;
• ensure that their work and workforce are representative, respectful, and relevant to the lived experience of the young people they are working with and for; and
• are committed to anti-racism, which we define as the active work to identify and oppose racism, which includes changing systems, structures, policies and practices, as well as attitudes to create a more equitable society. Organisations will centre anti-racism in the planning and delivery of work and ensure that the processes and approaches are considered through an anti-racist lens.

What you work on

They fund organisations to drive change so that future generations of young people can thrive. For them, this means work that does the following:

• Addresses root causes
  • Work that asks why is this happening to young people, and addresses the root causes of injustices young people face — for example, exclusion or homelessness
• Influences practice
  • By training professionals to provide better services and support to young people; identifying, shaping and sharing best practice; researching and collecting evidence to drive change
• Shapes policy
  • Influencing organisational or government policy to improve experiences of young people; advocating for improved legislation
• Improves systems
  • Holding decision makers to account; ensuring recommendations are implemented appropriately; advocating with and for young people to ensure rights and entitlements are respected
• Influences attitudes or narratives
  • Work that makes connections with history, wider systems of oppression and social justice issues.
• Shapes external context
  • Work that impacts the wider external context in which young people live

They fund organisations who work in an asset-based way. This is a crucial feature of our fund and they look to fund organisations who demonstrate this in their work. For them, this means:

• Young people are seen for their potential not their current or past experiences
• Recognising and building on young people’s strengths
• Centre young people’s power, voice and agency so they can shape decisions that affect them

Funding

The Youth Fund is designed to be a strategic investment in your organisation, so they only fund:

• for the full three years and at the amount appropriate to your plans to drive change;
• organisations where at least 50% of the organisation’s focus is on work with and for 14–25 year olds; and
• not-for-profit organisations which can be charities, community organisations, social enterprises and not-for-profit companies with a turnover over £30,000 and under £3.5 million. Non-charities must clearly declare how funding is for charitable purposes and have an asset lock in place.

For work delivered through partnerships, there must be a lead partner who can receive funds and the partnership must already be active.

They provide funding:

• up to £50,000 per year for three years (max grant £150,000). They prefer to fund organisations at the maximum amount and term. They do not make grants of less than £30,000 per year;
• to cover core operating costs (salaries, organisation and delivery costs); and
• to grow the impact of what you already do. They are not looking to fund new or untested approaches, projects or finite pieces of work.

They make 20 grants a year through the Youth Fund and on average, 10–12% of all applicants receive funding.