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ESTABLISHING THE ESF COMMUNITY
GRANTS PROGRAMME IN THE SOUTHEAST
The ESF Community
Grants Programme in the South East is managed by a partnership of
five Rural Community Councils. The Project is led by Surrey
Community Action and the partners are the Community Council for
Berkshire (for the Thames Valley), Community Action Hampshire (for
Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and Southampton), Action with
Communities in Rural Kent (for Kent and Medway), Action in rural
Sussex (for East and West Sussex, Brighton & Hove). All the partners
were experienced in managing grant programmes including Global
Grants.
STRATEGY
The project did not
start until October 2008 due to delays in the tendering and awarding
processes. The original plan had been to hold the first distribution
round in November (with 4 subsequent rounds in 2009 and 2010).
Faced with the choice
of achieving the first round by the end of 2008 or putting in place
all the processes and procedures beforehand and delaying the first
round until early 2009, both Surrey CA and the LSC agreed that the
former should have priority and the first rounds took place in the
week of December 15th. It was accepted that the processes
would have to be developed in stages, e.g., application procedure
would be put in place immediately but monitoring delayed until after
the contracts had been awarded. It was anticipated that because of
the limited application period the first round would not be heavily
subscribed and could be used as a pilot to test and further develop
the procedures for the second round in May 2009.
PREPARATORY
ACTIVITIES
The immediate priority
was to promote and raise awareness of the Grants across the region.
A leaflet/flier and poster were designed and produced and
distributed widely by the partner organisations who also used their
websites, newsletters and other routes to publicise the Grants, as
detailed below. Emails played a vital role because of the very tight
timescale.
Hampshire
Community Action
Hampshire adopted a 3 point marketing campaign for Community Grants:
1. Including copy within ‘CAH News’, the magazine for voluntary &
community members, with a
circulation of approx 1100
2. Targeted emails to approximately 1,300 organisations.
3. Using the network of 14 CVS (Councils for Voluntary Service) for
dissemination to their members.
Kent
Dissemination via the
CVS network
Press releases and
local radio interviews
Leaflets included in
Rural News to over 300 parishes
Surrey
Dissemination via the
11 CVS’s and similar organisations
Emails and electronic
leaflet sent to 1,600 voluntary organisations across the county
Sussex
Copy with the October
newsletter
Leaflet sent
electronically to Sussex VCS Learning Consortium and key
organisations in East and West Sussex and Brighton and Hove
Display at Action in
Rural Sussex AGM and Conference
Leaflets distributed
at training courses and funding fairs
Thames Valley
CAWB e-shot news
bulletin – Berkshire-wide
PCDL networks
Partner newsletters
Dissemination via
websites and newsletters of RCC’s in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire
and other contact networks across the area
Key activities prior
to the first distribution round also included producing guidelines
for applicants and application forms, appointment of Grant Panels in
each of the five areas, agreeing the Panel Terms of reference,
ensuring the Panels were fully aware of all the criteria and
agreeing the Panel procedure and administration. The most important
objective was to ensure that Panels were consistent in the criteria
they used and their decision making. The tight timescale resulted in
applicants only have two weeks to complete their applications in and
there was concern that application numbers would be low.
FIRST ROUND
OUTCOMES
This concern quickly
proved completely unfounded. A total of 136 applications were
received for over half of the total project funding of £2.5M. Whilst
this was a very gratifying response and proved the effectiveness of
the promotion, it brought unexpected pressure on an untested
process. The money available for this round was doubled to £400,000
but Grant Panels had to be extremely selective as they could only
fund a proportion of the applications. It also made it more
difficult to use this round for learning purposes. The Panels
generally took a cautious approach and were careful to ensure that
all grants awarded were well within the guidelines. They awarded
grants to 37 applicants for a total of £355,000.
REFLECTION
Despite the very short
timetable, the project has achieved a very successful start. The
promotion campaign, establishment of working relations between the
partners and the Panel processes are particular success stories. The
project is now moving into its second phase with successful
applicants, i.e., contracting and then monitoring. A number of
useful lessons have been learnt from this first round which will be
built into the second round and will make the application process
easier for applicants and more efficient for the project managers.
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