Apply for funding

How to apply

Lydia Booth Photography © - Two boys involved with Jamie's Farm are smiling, with the boy in the middle looking towards the camera, and the other boy looking at his friend. In the background a woman in glasses looks at the camera with her hands clasped by her chin.

We receive more applications than we are able to fund, and if you are unsuccessful we will provide feedback as to why. Unsuccessful applicants are asked to wait for one year from the date you submitted your previous application before you reapply.

OUR APPROACH TO ACCESSIBILITY

We ask that all applicants submit a two page written application, which can be in Word or PDF format. However, if you have a specific access requirement that makes submitting in this way difficult, please do contact us and we will be happy to discuss making reasonable adjustments to the process. This includes if you are having difficulty navigating the online portal. To support applicants, you can access a PDF copy of our application form by clicking here. These aim to be compatible with accessibility tools, but if you would like to receive a version in a different format, please do get in touch. For all such enquiries, please reach out to beth@ellerman.org.uk.

We are actively seeking to improve our accessibility and welcome any feedback on this front. You can see more detail about our approach to accessibility in our Accessibility Statement that can be accessed by clicking here and in this blog on our website which can be read by clicking here.

The application process consists of two stages:

STAGE ONE

To make an application to us, you need to use our online portal to create an online account. You can create a new account or log in to an existing account by clicking here. To start a new application, click here. Once you have created your online account and uploaded your first stage application you will receive an instant confirmation.

Once you have created your online account and uploaded your first stage application you will receive an instant confirmation.

1. Please complete and upload a two A4 page proposal using a minimum font size of 10 with the following headings:

A brief summary of your organisation’s aims and activities, including demonstrating that you are a well-run organisation.

An outline of your approach to changemaking and advancing justice through the active involvement of individuals and communities with personal or direct experience of the issues, and sharing how your work relates to one or more of the following:

tackling the triple planetary crisis of climate change, pollution and nature loss;
building greater trust and connection, reducing polarisation in society and increasing the levels of participation and influence in the political process;
promoting the development and adoption of economic models and systems that support people and planet and reduce wealth inequalities;
advancing equity and justice for marginalised communities impacted by these issues.

What you would like us to fund and why you are well placed to do this work.

2. You will be asked to upload the following financial documents alongside the application to evidence that your annual income is above £100k and below £10m:

Your financial accounts (draft or published) from the previous financial year.

Your management accounts (including a full year income and expenditure budget) for the current financial year.

If your accounts show a significant surplus or deficit, high or low reserves outside of your reserves policy, we will ask you to provide a brief explanation.

3. You will also be asked to submit an accompanying application form with basic data such as contact details, and information relating to the DEI Data Standard.

Once you have created your online account and uploaded your first stage application you will receive an instant confirmation.

STAGE TWO

If your application proceeds to second stage, we will ask for a more detailed proposal and additional information. Then we will arrange to meet you to find out more about your work.

At this second stage we aim to make a decision within three months. If your application takes longer we will be in touch.

TIMELINES

We make funding decisions throughout the year, which means you can apply for funding all year. We spend evenly throughout the year and there is no ‘good’ or ‘bad’ time of year to apply to us.

We review the eligibility of applications once a month, usually in the middle of the month. If you are aiming for a specific round of eligibility checks, we suggest that you submit your application by the beginning of that month. Our Trustees work with the team in monthly ‘Sifting Meetings’ to review all eligible first stage applications, usually at the beginning of the month. At this meeting, they decide which applications to progress to the second stage. If you proceed to stage two then you will be given four weeks to submit your second stage proposal, and a further four weeks for us to meet with your team, totalling eight weeks for this stage. Our Trustees will then make a final decision about which applications to fund at our bi-monthly Board meetings.

Below, we set out the timelines in which we aim to respond to your application by:

We will assess your eligibility within approximately four to six weeks of submitting your first stage application to us. If you are not eligible, we will let you know at this point.
If you are eligible, we will undertake further assessment which we call ‘sifting’, and you will receive a decision on your first stage application within eight to 10 weeks of submitting your first stage application to us.
You will receive a decision on your second stage application within four to eight weeks of submitting your second stage application to us.

The table below outlines the sequencing of these three decision points over the course of the year:

Further advice

If you are unsure about whether to apply or need further information about the application process, please call us on 020 7451 1471 or email beth@ellerman.org.uk. We are happy to offer advice on applications via phone, video call, or email.