Covenant Fund: Funding much needed projects that make a difference
Our three Covenant Fund programmes this year are specifically designed to address hidden or compelling needs for cohorts that may not have previously had sufficient access to support.
This has enabled us to target funding where it is aimed at making a significant difference in these challenging times. We deliberately designed these programmes to be broad in nature and project ideas do not have to be new.
We will be making further grants under these programmes and under our Transformational Grants programme in February. We have received a very high number of applications for these programmes.
However, we have only finite funding and so, as much as we would wish to do so, we will not be able to fund all of the projects that have requested support from the Trust. The number of good applications we are receiving far outstrips the budget we have available.
How do we make decisions under our grant making programmes?
So, what are the Trust’s processes and how are the decisions made about what to fund? We develop programme guidance, carefully designed based on learning from previous programmes, engagement with those who deliver frontline support and relevant research; and we plan to do even more consultation in future to shape this.
Each application is read and reviewed by an experienced, independent grants assessor; then reviewed again pre- committee. Finally, our Trustees make decisions on where our funding should go, sometimes having to make incredibly tough calls when we have more good applications then we can support through our grants.
You can find out more about what information we consider for each programme by looking at the programme guidance. We publish programme guidance for each funding programme that we run and you can find this on our programme pages.
Fair and ethical decision making
Our Trustee Board is formed of an expert panel of decision makers, representative of the community they serve and including members from the Devolved Administrations. They consider the full portfolio of applications received each round, based on a national picture of need, project type and funding available.
After our Trustees have made their decisions, we contact everyone. For those who are not awarded funding, we are committed to providing constructive feedback to as many organisations as we can, including sharing their assessment with them for transparency. We think this is really important as it helps you to understand the strengths and weaknesses of your application, allowing you to make improvements, where needed, going forward.
We work with those projects we can support by putting formal grant agreements in place, and in the case of larger grants, agreeing key milestones.
We then work with our grant holders, sometimes over several years, while they deliver their work and we take the time to learn and share what the projects have achieved.
Other areas of support
We know that many people are finding life challenging at the moment. There is lots of support and guidance out there for organisations struggling.
The Trust is likely one amongst several funders you will approach – and this is a great idea to ensure your organisation doesn’t become too reliant on a single source of money.
A good place to start could be the National Council for Voluntary Organisations(NCVO) who feature lots of free resources and guidance on everything from finding funding to supporting the mental health and wellbeing of your staff or volunteers. The Cobseo website also has lots of information for Service charities.
We also encourage you to keep up to date with our latest developments – funding announcements, research and reports, opportunities to get involved and have your say. You can sign up to our e-newsletter here.