Implementing Changes to the Open Grants Programme

Last month, we launched our new website along with the new application forms and processes for our Open Grants Programme. As you will know from our posts earlier in the year, ever-increasing demand for our capital grants led us to look at how we could best respond to that demand.

We considered a few ways we could do this. One option was to reduce the types of organisations eligible to apply. Organisations supporting Disabled People, or Young People Facing Disadvantage always make up large proportions of our applicants and grantees. But we have a broad mission to serve marginalised and disadvantaged communities, and saw no rationale to exclude any of those communities. We could have removed a project type from eligibility – for example vehicles. But we know how hard these are to fund, particularly for small organisations, and what a difference they make to reach, and to reliability, of delivery. They can be a perfect example of the impact of capital funding.  

So we moved away from looking for things we didn’t want to fund, and started to  consider which organisations and projects we most wanted to support, in alignment with our overall mission. We thought about which needs we want to meet, and the impact we wanted to enable. This led us to an Impact Framework that allows us to prioritise between eligible applications on two distinct criteria:  

• We prioritise organisations that are embedding lived experience of the issues they tackle into their decision-making.
• We prioritise projects that will help organisations make significant change to their delivery, reach or sustainability (not necessarily all three).
  

Why are we prioritising 'lived experience'?

Despite the broad range of areas we fund, there is no area of social need where it isn’t relevant to embed the voices of those who have experienced that issue. It’s a crucial part of the organisational picture if services are to be effective, and change is to be made towards a more equitable society. We have been supporting organisations that are fully ‘led by and for’ the communities they serve through our Proactive Equity Programmes, and we consulted with these organisations and others as we developed our thinking. This helped us to understand how lived experience is, in practice, embedded in different organisations, the challenges that can be encountered, and the difference it makes.

We also know that the extent to which those with lived experience lead an organisation, and how their voices are embedded, differs depending on the area and type of work an organisation does, its size and its history.  We don’t hold prescriptive views – we are keen to keep learning how the diverse organisations we support undertake this work. As a result, our new application forms ask quantitative and qualitative questions about lived experience – but there are no thresholds (e.g. the number of trustees with lived experience) in place for funding. We do expect to fund more organisations that are led by and for the communities they serve as a result of our Impact Framework. We also expect to fund organisations which are integrating lived experiences in other ways, such as through user engagement or staff and board recruitment.  ‍

Why are we prioritising ‘significant change’? ‍

Capital funding can support diverse needs, and we receive the full range of applications from ambitious ownership and renovation projects, to replacement minibuses and windows. We have decided to prioritise those projects that enable organisations to reach more people, deliver new services, or positively impact their finances. That means we expect to fund more purchases and significant constructions, as well as first-time equipment and vehicles.  

We tested the effect of these criteria over the first six months of 2025, and we expect we will continue to fund some projects that are less likely to deliver significant change, particularly from lived-experience led organisations. We also ring-fence our Small Grants funding, enabling us to assess these applications against other small projects.

What do potential grant applicants need to know?

We hope reading this update will give more insight into why we have made these decisions. We also know that organisations will read our website and wonder if they should apply!

It’s important to say that our Impact Framework has been designed to respond flexibly to demand – which has climbed over the past three years, but with significant and unpredictable fluctuations. When demand is high relative to budget, we expect to fund more eligible and higher scoring applications. When it’s low, we will also be able to fund some eligible but lower-scoring applications.  

If you’re thinking of applying, our Application Guidance and Eligibility Quiz will help you address the first key question – are you eligible? Our sample application form (available as PDF) can then help you think through how you’ll answer our questions on lived experience and project impact, and of course we want to hear about these things in your own words.  

Finally, our Impact Framework can help you understand more about what we mean by embedding lived experience and significant change.

Over time, we’ll be able to share data about which organisations and which projects are being funded under the new Impact Framework. Those results may lead to further changes to eligibility or prioritisation as we endeavour not to waste organisations' time. With that goal in mind, we have:  

• Reviewed all the questions we ask on our one-stage Small Grants Application to ensure we are asking only for the information we need to assess, prioritise, and reasonably report on our grants.
• Introduced a two-stage Large Grants Application – so that organisations who are unlikely to be prioritised get a quicker decision, with less time wasted on completing the full form.  

We are also thinking about how lived experience of marginalisation and disadvantage can be better embedded and valued in our decision-making. We have much more work to do on this over the remainder of our current strategy period, and actively centreing lived experience-led work in our funding is a part of this.  

You can read about our Impact Framework and eligibility on the 'Applying for a Grant' page, where you can also download the full Application Guidance document (a PDF that includes sample application forms).

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