Funding information

How will you decide what to fund?

We will assess your application against a few key criteria:

• Your organisation’s previous experience in this space and understanding of democratic participation and the barriers impacting some groups.
• How the project reaches groups most under-registered and under-represented and how project activity meets the aims of the fund.
• How you will ensure the community is involved in the development and delivery of the project.
• How accessibility has been considered and factored into the budget.
• How project activity will meet the legal guidance and remain impartial at all times.
• How clear you are on how to make your proposal happen, including a well thought-out budget and timeline, including any risks and how you will mitigate them.
• Whether the organisation is equity-led.
• How you plan to monitor delivery and impact, as well as report via intermediary and final evaluation reports.

What costs will the grant cover?

We will fund a broad range of activities and the costs associated with running your project.

Costs could include (but are not limited to):

• Project management costs, including staff costs, transport and overheads (administrative and office costs can be up to 10% of your total grant amount)
• Volunteer costs, such as travel expenses, participation fees (in line with London Living Wage) and provision of refreshments.
• Venue hire.
• Professional fees, such as cost of hiring people to help with the project (e.g. graphic designer, video maker, BSL interpreter, etc.)
• Production of materials and resources to support the delivery of outreach activity (as long as they do not duplicate materials already produced by the GLA)
• We expect grants to include costs to support accessibility requirements for project activities.

What costs will the grant not cover?

The following costs will not be covered by the grant:

• General overheads not related to the delivery of the project.
• Retrospective costs, including any costs incurred in community consultation and/or submitting your application.
• Large-scale capital costs or routine repairs and minor improvements to community buildings.
• Activities that have already happened or taken place before we have reached a decision on the application.
• Activities and resources that have not been vetted by the GLA to meet the impartiality test.
• Activities outside of London and profit-making activities.
• Loan repayments.
• Recoverable VAT – if you are not VAT registered, you will need to include VAT costs as part of the funding you request for your programme.

Do organisations need to report on grant funded activity?

Yes, all grant funded organisations will need to report on their projects. This will include the following:

• High level mid-delivery reports in mid-February and mid- March 2023.
• Final detailed evaluation report no later than a month after the grants project has finished.

We will give successful applicants more information about the monitoring and evaluation information that we will want them to collect at a welcome/inception meeting before the project starts, but some of the key metrics could include (this is not an exhaustive list):

• Total number and the demographics (age, gender, ethnicity and other key protected characteristics) of under-registered and under-represented Londoners who participate in grant funded activity and the locations and boroughs where activity happened.
• Reach and engagement via social media channels.
• Londoners who do not have or cannot afford a photo Voter ID understand that they can apply for a free Voter Authority Certificate and how many of these applications have been made via grant funded activity.
• Londoners from under-registered and under-represented groups who participate in grant funded projects say they feel they belong to their neighbourhood and/or Londoners are ready to use their voice and their vote.

What support will be offered to grantees once they have been awarded funding?

Support will be provided by Groundwork and the GLA team overseeing this grant programme as part of the GLA Civic and Democratic Participation programme.

Grantees will be supported throughout the grant period from general queries, to accessibility and impartiality support. Groundwork will be available to speak to you over the phone and via email, with the possibility of face-to-face meetings if necessary. We can provide advice around partnership working, volunteer management, budgeting, marketing and communications and other topics.

Successful grant recipients will be required to update Groundwork on the progress of their project via a mid-delivery phone call or in a written format for deaf-led projects. This is an opportunity for us to hear about your project, understand what support you may need, feed back to the funder and give you the chance to ask us any questions.

Groundwork will all contact successful applicants during the delivery period to arrange project visits and collect content for case studies.