Consortium appointed an independent Grants Committee in order to make the decision on grant applications received through the LGBT+ Futures Fund Small Grants Programme.

The Committee were chosen on the basis of thier diverse LGBT+ community expertise and will be governed by Grants Committee Guidance to ensure fair, equitable and objective decisions are made throughout the process. Underpinning this the Committee follows the well-established 7 Principles of Public Life known as the NOLAN Principles.

The following people were appointed to the Grants Committee and we thank them for volunteering their time for this:

• John Peart, Senior Policy Adviser for LGBT Policy at the Government Equalities Office
• Helen Belcher, Chair of Trustees at Consortium
• Sara Llewellin, Chief Executive at The Barrow Cadbury Trust
• Jen Yockney MBE, Convenor at BiPhoria
• Paul Martin OBE, Chief Executive at The LGBT Foundation
• Kris Auld, Rainbow Network at Lloyds Banking Group
• Mazz Image, Co-Chair at UK Pride Organisers Network
• Chih Hoong Sin, Director at Traverse
• Sally Carr MBE, Joint CEO at The Proud Trust
• Niranjan Kamatkar, Artistic Director at Wise Thoughts
• Salim Khalifa, Services Director at Trade Sexual Health

Paul Roberts OBE, Chief Executive at Consortium was an Advisor to the Grants Committee and present at its Committee Days but not part of the decision making on successful grant applications.

For any further information please contact our Grants Team.

Got a question about the LGBT+ Futures Fund? You may find the answer here but if not, get in touch with our Grants Team.

We have an idea, but we aren’t experienced in shaping ideas into projects for funding, can you help us?

There are a range of resources available on how to write funding bids and our Funding Team are on hand to offer guidance and information.

Can we ask for funding to carry out anti-homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying work in schools?

Because the Government Equality Office is already funding a wide range of projects tackling HBT Bullying in schools, this will not be a priority area for the fund.

Can we apply for funding to cover our Pride running costs?

We welcome applications from Prides but we will not fund general pride running costs or repeat event costs.

We will only fund NEW element of Pride events which fall under the fund criteria e.g. new elements designed to reach, include and cater for more marginalised and underrepresented LGBT+ people and communities at your event.

How will you be assessing Grants?

Once an application is received it is assessed for eligibility and checked against the criteria laid out in the Guidance. It is then prepared for the LGBT+ Futures Fund Grants Committee who will score it, discuss it and make a decision.

If your application is not complete, or you have failed to send the correct supporting documents your application will not go through to the Committee stage. We will contact you to let you know and we can support you to resubmit an application in a subsequent Grant Round.

Who makes the decisions?

The LGBT+ Futures Fund Grants Committee makes all the decisions about grants. The Grants Committee is made up of a diverse range of people from a range of sectors including the LGBT+ Sector and the Funding Sector.  You can find a full list of our Grants Committee Members in the section above.

Each Member of the Grants Committee scores the application against a set of criteria. Each application is scored in the same way, using the same criteria. Each score is weighted depending on which grant you are applying for.
You can find a list of the weighting in the Guidance.

Please note that while Consortium Staff assess initial eligibility, they do not make the decision on awarding grants.

We have an idea for a one off piece of work, will you fund that?

Applications must demonstrate how they have considered the organisations and/or sectors wider work and development. One off, stand alone projects or events are less likely to be funded than those that feed into the long term strategy and development of an organisation.

Can we use a grant to hire a fundraiser?

No. We would discourage quick fixes e.g. hiring a fundraiser for 6 months to churn out grant applications. We would encourage using a grant to develop the skills of existing staff and volunteers for them to explore fundraising strategies and income diversification. This capacity increase could mean buying in external training or hiring a part time worker to take some of the work off existing staff so that they can dedicate time to developing strategies for sustainability.

Applicants should make sure that they consider how they can make the most of the Sector Development Programme alongside their grants.

I don’t know how many people will benefit. Should I guess?

It is acceptable to estimate how many people will benefit from the work your grant will fund. You should base estimations on previous work and be realistic, this small grants programme is more concerned with how your work will reach new people and contribute to the sustainability of your organisations, so we are less focussed on figures and more focussed on lasting change.

You use the words impact, output and outcome in the guidance, I am not sure about the differences , can you explain?

We need to understand what activities you will undertake, what you will produce or deliver and what changes you think will happen as a result. We use several terms to cover the ideas involved in demonstrating change;

• Activity: the action and work associated with delivering the project or event.
• Output: represent the short-term results of the activities you have undertaken e.g. a service or event. Outputs measure, they don’t address change or value.
• Outcome: represent the differences made by the outputs, the change the work has made. Outcomes should clearly link to the aim of your project.
• Impact: impact is any positive or negative, planned or unforeseen effects arising from an your project or work. Impact tends to be viewed as longer term or wider reaching change.

A simple example: Small LGBT+ Group identifies that bi women do not use their support service.

• Activity: staff develop a plan to run a series of events to consult bisexual women on how they use their service.
• Output: 3 events, 25 women attend.
• Outcome: bi women are more represented in service design/ bi women access more support and report improved mental health.
• Impact: more diverse voices embedded in core work of organisation effects how all services are designed and the organisations becomes more inclusive and accessed by more women.

We have an existing service that we believe we can develop to a point where it can become commissionable, will you fund the service?

While we can’t fund the service, we can award money that will allow organisations to increase their capacity to work on such developments. This might mean increasing the hours of a member of staff to give them time to explore how the service can be developed and potentially access training in order to have the right skills and knowledge to do so.

We are based in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland. Why can't we apply?

Due to the source of the funding, the Government Equalities Office, we have to put limits on the geographical reach of this funding--The GEO only operates in England. We are looking to work with our Members in other parts of the UK though to explore how we can use this opportunity as leverage to bring funding into the rest of the UK. Don't forget though, any LGBT+ organisation can engage in the Skills Development and Training Programme we will start from April.

We have a grant from round one. Can we reapply?

No. Organisations can only hold one grant under this programme.

We are a faith based organisation. Can we apply?

Yes you can apply for funding provided the activity is not used to promote a particular religion.

We are mainstream youth organisation providing an LGBT+ group. Can we apply?

Sorry but not through this funding. The LGBT+ Futures Fund is restricted to be distributed to organisations whose primary audience or service delivery is for LGBT+ people and communities.