Challenge Fund 2018 Music

Transcription

1 1

2 Challenge Fund 2018 Music This funding opportunity is open only to applications for projects working with people in one of the following locations: North Wales The North West of England (north of Greater Manchester) The North East of England, or Yorkshire and Humberside. We are particularly interested in applications from projects working with people in rural or coastal locations. Information Pack Contents 1. Introduction 2 2. About Spirit of About the Spirit of Achievement Panel 3 4. About the Spirit of Achievement Challenge Fund 3 5. The 2018 Music Challenge Fund grant opportunity 4 6. Purpose 4 7. Project Scope 5 8. Outcomes 6 9. Monitoring and evaluating Timeline Process Your questions answered 10 2

3 1. Introduction Grants of between 100,000 and 200,000 are available for up to four 3-year projects in specific geographical locations of England and Wales (please see page 2). We are seeking applications for projects that engage disabled and non-disabled participants together as equals in music activities with the aim of improving their mental health and wellbeing, challenging and changing attitudes and perceptions towards disabled people and impairment and reducing loneliness. We will award grants to partnerships between music and public health or voluntary sector health organisations to achieve these outcomes. We expect applicants to co-design their projects with both disabled 1 and non-disabled representatives of intended participants. 2. About Spirit of 2012 Overview Spirit of 2012 (Spirit) is a funding charity, established with a 47m endowment from the Big Lottery Fund. We fund projects that help people to be creative, active and connected across the UK. As our strapline Investing in happiness suggests, we invest to create good outcomes for people and communities. Mission Statement The Big Lottery Fund endowed Spirit to help create sustainable social legacies, inspired by major events across the UK, especially for young people, disabled people and disadvantaged groups. We fund both established expert organisations and small or newly formed ones to realise their potential to improve people s lives. Individual and social outcomes for participants, volunteers and improved delivery practice and insight for partners interest us more than numerical targets, inputs and outputs. A wellestablished and dynamic Spirit family learning hub helps spread and embed valuable insights and best practice across the sectors we fund. To learn more about Spirit of 2012 click to our website. Impact and Outcomes Spirit s Theory of Change is the basis for all our investment decisions and all the projects we fund must contribute to the achievement of our impact statement and outcomes framework. Measuring and reporting on progress towards these outcomes are crucial aspects of our grants, and we expect Spirit grantees to share our commitment to learning, and to use specific monitoring tools. You will find more about this in our Monitoring and Evaluation guide. If this is not how your organisation prefers to work, then we are not the funder for you. Spirit of 2012 Impact Statement We believe that enabling people to participate in a wide range of inclusive activities, and engaging together in their communities: Improves the health and wellbeing of individuals, communities and society as a whole; Improves perceptions (including self-perceptions) and attitudes towards disability and impairment; 1 See definition on page 10 3

4 Leads to greater social cohesion and understanding. Values Statement We are not a faceless funder; we stay close to our projects. We invest in happiness by empowering people to get active, creative and connected so they feel better. We always strive to be: Fair: committed to transparency and equal chances; Focused: our effort to nudge the world closer to our vision; Forthright: straightforward, open and upfront; Friendly: kind, always treating others with respect. 3. About the Spirit of Achievement Panel In designing this grant opportunity the Spirit executive team has worked closely with the Spirit of Achievement Panel (SOAP), a UK wide group of sector experts who advise the Spirit Board to help shape decision-making and the scope and desired outcomes of new projects. They champion equality and diversity and urge us to challenge limiting perceptions of disabled people and impairment. 4. About the Spirit of Achievement Challenge Fund Through three previous Challenge Fund rounds, in 2015, 2016 and 2018, Spirit has awarded nine grants in England and Northern Ireland. The Challenge Funds are designed to challenge project delivery organisations to do more and to do it differently, be it in a new partnership, with a new beneficiary group, or with a greater depth of engagement. Ultimately, we want these grants to do more than simply fund an activity by achieving something more for people in terms of their wellbeing and social connectedness. We want our grantees to use the opportunity of working with us in this way, and the learning they gain from doing so, to inform their own future practice and project design, and in turn to inform future practice across their sectors. Application is via a two-stage process: Stage 1 requires you to complete a short Expression of Interest form where you tell us briefly about yourselves, your application partnership, your intended beneficiaries and delivery location(s), and outline your project vision and concept Stage 2 requires you to give us more detail about your project plan, your monitoring and evaluation plans, your budget, your ability to identify and manage risks and other aspects 5. The 2018 Music Challenge Fund grant opportunity Purpose A growing body of evidence, such as Sing Your Heart Out research paper, and All Party Parliamentary Group on Arts, Health and Wellbeing report (2017) shows that taking part in a music-based activity with a social element improves mental and physical health and wellbeing and connects people together, reducing loneliness. However, participation demographics often do not reflect those of the communities where activities are delivered. Disabled people continue to be 4

5 underrepresented, and the same goes for those with long-term physical and mental health conditions. We want to fund projects designed to overcome barriers to participation for people in these groups. We are interested in how participation in music can be demonstrated to support and enhance the lives of people with physical or mental health conditions and needs, and in how music sector and public health and/or health focussed voluntary sector organisations can work in partnership to achieve improved mental health, wellbeing and social connectedness outcomes for people. We know that barriers to participation - social, cultural, economic or logistical or a combination of these - are complex and that a single grant can t overcome all of them. However, the best applications will focus on reducing/removing specific identified barriers for a clearly identified target group. Our Board will award up to a maximum of four grants for innovative music projects. We expect to see that target participants, including disabled people, have co-designed your proposals. Project scope Applicant(s) must propose a music participation project partnership involving a music delivery organisation and a clinical commissioning group, other public health body and/or health-focussed voluntary sector organisation. Any of these partners may be the applicant. The partnership should co-design their proposed project with potential participants, including disabled people, with the aim of improving wellbeing, challenging limiting perceptions and attitudes towards disabled people and impairment, and decreasing loneliness. Success factors Your application must convince us that your proposal can deliver: 1. Improved wellbeing of participants through active music-making in contexts where participants can mix and get to know one another in a social setting; 2. Frequent, regular and sustained opportunities 2 for people to join in making music, including singing and/or instrumental and/or digital music in all forms and genres, as active participants, leaders and supporters (e.g. as volunteers); 3. Ability to reach, engage and retain geographically and/or socially isolated participants, and (at Stage 2) that you have engaged with the local community to identify those people/groups; 4. Fun and inclusive musical activities that disabled and non-disabled people can and do participate in, as equals together; 5. Robust monitoring and evaluation within a clear impact measurement plan (using the framework Spirit will provide at Stage 2) and commitment to sharing your learning; 6. Accessible routes to continued participation for individuals during and beyond the end of the project. 2 By frequent, regular and sustained we mean at least fortnightly over a period of at least six months 5

6 Successful Stage 1 applicants will make a concise but convincing case for the project s potential impact on people s mental health and wellbeing, drawing on your own, or wider, research and evidence sources. At Stage 2 we will require an evidence-based plan detailing how your project will work. You must convince us that there is a demand for the project from your target participant group (not just with reference to generalised statistics) and tell us how you plan to reach, engage and retain people who are isolated and/ or lonely and lacking in self-confidence. We are particularly interested in how you will test new approaches that contribute to the understanding of how best to address barriers to participation among people with low wellbeing, who are most likely to suffer from health inequalities. You should be keen to build on evidence-based approaches (from your own previous work, from that of your proposed project partner(s) and/or from external research). Our most successful grantees share Spirit s passion for rigorous M&E to contribute to a growing body of knowledge about what works to improve wellbeing (What Works Centre for Wellbeing). Outcomes Applicants whom we invite to Stage 2 must complete a Spirit Monitoring and Evaluation Framework showing how you will identify and measure progress towards outcomes including the core compulsory outcomes listed below. There are other outcomes for you to choose from, and we may add one or two additional compulsory ones specific to the purpose of this Challenge Fund. We encourage you also to include other outcomes of your own. If your application succeeds you will use this form to report to us on the grant. The compulsory Spirit outcomes are: 1. Increased sense of wellbeing, against Office of National Statistics (ONS) wellbeing measure 3. The ONS wellbeing indicator questions are shown below: Overall, how satisfied are you with your life nowadays? Overall, to what extent do you feel the things you do in your life are worthwhile? Overall, how happy did you feel yesterday? Overall, how anxious did you feel yesterday? (over 16s only) (On a scale, where 0 is not satisfied and 10 is completely satisfied) (On a scale, where 0 is not at all worthwhile and 10 is completely worthwhile) (On a scale, where 0 is not at all happy and 10 is completely happy) (On a scale, where 0 is not anxious and 10 is completely anxious) 2. Beneficiaries perceptions of what they can achieve is challenged and changed; 3. Beneficiaries (including staff and volunteers where appropriate) perception of what others can achieve is challenged and changed; 4. Beneficiaries are empowered with enhanced confidence, ability and skills, and can articulate what they have gained from taking part; 5. Beneficiaries are less lonely and go out more, with or without assistance. 3 It is an expectation that you will ask the ONS4 wellbeing questions to your participants at the start and end of their interaction with your project. Only applicants who are committed to doing this should consider applying for this grant. 6

7 Monitoring and Evaluation (M & E) At Stage 2 you should allocate up to 10% of the Spirit-funded element of your budget to M&E with an emphasis on building the capability and competency of the project delivery team in this area. You may also spend some of this to contract with an external evaluator. We offer Spirit grantees the opportunity to work with our evaluation support contractor, the Behavioural Insights Team. They, along with the Spirit grant manager, support successful applicants to further develop the evaluation framework, and ways to measure against agreed indicators, so that you can maximise the learning from your data. We expect successful grantees to contribute to the wider body of evidence around the health and wellbeing benefits of music participation by: evaluating the effectiveness of your approach to engaging and retaining participants and identifying and assessing how people have benefited by participating in your project We also ask grantees to take an active role in the Spirit family, by joining and contributing to annual learning events, working with Spirit independent evaluators and sharing what works (and what you d do differently) via your relationship with our grant managers, reporting and by using our online learning portal. Within the first six months of us signing your grant agreement letter, we require you to gather and submit baseline data to us. We will only release the second grant instalment once we have signed off your baseline. During the final quarter of the project we expect you to gather end-line data. 7

8 6. The outline application timeline and process Timeline Open for applications 1 June Stage 1 opens inviting Expressions of Interest Deadline for Stage 1 expression of interest forms 9 July (9am) Return EOIs By to: helen.spedding@spiritof2012.org.uk Stage 2 applications open 31 July 2018 We will invite a few shortlisted applicants to Stage 2. We will assign each a Spirit mentor to support them through the process. We will notify unsuccessful applicants the same week Deadline for Stage 2 application forms 27 September (5pm) By to: helen.spedding@spiritof2012.org.uk Assessment of Stage 2 application forms Spirit executive team assessment using criteria outlined in Stage 2 application form Recommendations and final decision October 2018 Sprit of Achievement Panel consultation and recommendations to Spirit Board Grant awards By 31 October all applicants notified 8

9 Process Please refer to this information pack to develop your application. If you decide to proceed, you must submit your Stage One application by 9am on 9 July You will hear whether your Stage One (Expression of Interest) application has been successful by or on 31 July 2018 when we will invite a small number of applicants to progress to Stage 2. We will notify Stage Two applicants of the result of their applications by 31 October If you would like to discuss your project ideas and potential fit with the Fund please contact Helen Spedding (helen.spedding@spiritof2012.org.uk). 7. Your questions answered What is the purpose of this grant? To develop and/or pilot a project partnership between music and clinical commissioning groups or other public bodies that is designed to improve mental health and wellbeing, challenge limiting perceptions and attitudes, and increase social connectedness Who can apply for this grant? Organisations, including registered charities, community interest companies (CIC), public health and not-for-profit organisations may apply. We are open to applications from national organisations but will expect them to have specific and detailed local knowledge. We can fund profit-making organisations as long as this grant does not contribute to profit-making activity. We cannot fund curriculum time in a school, or any activity that promotes party politics or religion, or any projects that include the cost of caring for/maintaining animals. We are looking for partnerships between music and health sector organisations, and will ask you to evidence the status of your partnership if you get through to Stage 2. Who do we want to benefit from this grant? It is up to the applicant to tell us about the people they will target and how opening up participation to this group will improve their mental health and wellbeing, based on existing evidence. We are looking for projects that are designed to overcome specific barriers to participation, including the causes of loneliness and social isolation. What age range do you want to benefit from this grant? You may work with any age group of young people and/or adults from age 11 upwards and should clearly identify the age range you will work with and convince us that activities are age appropriate for them. If your intended beneficiaries include children and/or vulnerable adults you should bear in mind the need to have robust safeguarding and protection policies and measures in place for which you will be accountable. We will ask for details of these at Stage 2. 9

10 What size will the grant award be? It will be between 100,000 and 200,000. Please be realistic when costing and use benchmarks when possible; we expect to see a detailed budget with rationale for costs at Stage 2. From experience, the maximum amount does not always result in the strongest project. When will the grant start? We will award the grant by the end of October 2018 and will expect activities to commence no later than April What do you mean by frequent, regular and sustained? By frequent, regular and sustained we mean that individuals should be able to participate at least fortnightly over at least six months. This grant opportunity aims to increase the mental health and wellbeing of participants and evidence from previous projects tell us that the likelihood of success is greater if participants engage in sustained and regular contact. We want Spirit funding to contribute to people s confidence and social connectedness through their sustained, frequent and regular engagement as participants and/ or as volunteers. Are you expecting to see a minimum number of beneficiaries? Please be as clear as you can at Stage 1 about the number of people you intend to benefit from your project. We don t specify a minimum, but do bear in mind that value for money will be a factor when we assess the applications. We understand working with some people and in some locations may result in higher costs. We also want to be assured that participants will include disabled people from Day 1. We will expect more precise information and explanation at Stage 2. What s the difference between beneficiaries and participants? Successful projects must engage a core participant group, or sequence of groups, in frequent, regular and sustained music-making activity. Projects will also often reach wider groups, including event audiences, and one-off workshop or showcase event participants, or virtual audiences via digital media or other activities. The core participants and these wider groups are both subsets of beneficiaries, which we classify using levels 1-4 to describe the depth and intensity of their engagement with projects. We will ask Stage 2 applicants to specify these groups separately in the monitoring framework. We are most interested in the level 3 and 4 beneficiaries regular participants and volunteers. We want to understand who they are and the depth and quality of their engagement with your project. We will ask successful applicants to provide a summary of the (anonymised) demographic information you have about core participants including baseline levels of wellbeing and any disability or impairment (including mental health factors) they are experiencing. What do you want to know about volunteers? One of our charitable objects is to improve the effectiveness of the voluntary sector and we are interested in the contribution of volunteers and volunteering to our projects, including as a progression pathway for participants. We are also interested in learning about the beneficial impact of volunteering for volunteers themselves. At Stage 2 we will ask you to tell us if you aim to 10

11 involve and/or recruit, train and develop volunteers/activity leaders as part of your project. We will expect to see demographic information, indicator measurements and qualitative reports relating to relevant volunteers. What do you mean by disabled? We promote the social model of disability. This means that we are committed to funding inclusive projects that address the barriers, attitudes and perceptions (including self-perceptions), which prevent disabled people and those with a range of impairments physical and cognitive and mental health from having equal opportunities to participate. We expect all projects to implement the Activity Alliance Talk to Me principles as part of their inclusive provision. What do you mean by opportunities for social contact? More and more research indicates the powerful impact that social contact, or conversely loneliness, has on subjective wellbeing. Social contact opportunities may include building in time for social interaction before, during and/or after activity; to meet, talk, eat and drink as well as taking part in music making together. Where can we work? Your project delivery should happen in rural and coastal areas (or in hubs that people from these areas can access to take part in the project) of: North Wales The North West of England north of Greater Manchester or The North East of England Yorkshire and Humberside. Are you looking for projects that work in a single location or across several? We are open to either. Wherever your activities are based you should ensure that there is demonstrable local need for the project and that you have engaged local people in co-designing it. National bodies must show they have the necessary local understanding to work effectively in areas new to them. Bear in mind that promising to deliver in multiple locations will not necessarily be an advantage, and that spread should not come at the expense of depth of engagement. When and how do you expect us to set our budget? At Stage 1 we ask you to give us a ballpark budget for your project, i.e. circa 100,000 or circa 160,000 over three years. We will expect to see this set out in precise detail at Stage 2 and understand that your original projection may change (within reason) as you develop your plans. Our experience is that the best Challenge Fund projects are not those with the highest budgets and it will not make a great impression if you submit an up to the limit 1,999,999 application to us (yes, we do get those!). When planning your costings we ask you to be realistic, be economical and focus on how to achieve the best outcomes for the people you aim to support by balancing value for money and high quality delivery. What can we include in our application budget? 11

12 We expect Spirit to be the majority funder (over 50% of the budget during the three year timespan). We will want to see fully worked up budgets, including rationale for costs, and will provide a budget template, for you to detail the grant you request at Stage 2. Can the project budget include staff costs? We can fund posts, or part posts, directly involved in delivering your project, including proportions of senior management and communications costs. These should be proportionate to the activities delivered and size of grant. Can the project budget include capital costs? Spirit of 2012 cannot fund capital projects, but you may allocate up to 10% of your budget to the costs of necessary project equipment. Can the project budget include evaluation costs? You should allocate a minimum of 5% and up to 10% of project funding to M&E and in doing so should allocate some internal staff resource to capacity building in monitoring and evaluation and related training. You may if you like use funding to engage an external evaluator. Are you expecting applicants to bring match funding? Match funding is not a requirement so if you don t have any it s fine. Having said that, we welcome match funding that enables projects to benefit more people, and supports sustainability. We will ask you to tell us about the value your proposed match-funding adds to project outcomes. This may include in-kind (non-monetary) support by a partner, such as free or reduced cost facilities, equipment, specialist advice and support, etc. What do you mean by wellbeing? We are referring to subjective wellbeing. We measure this with four ONS questions which ask individuals to rate how satisfied they are with their life, how much they feel what they do in their life is worthwhile and their self-reported happiness and anxiety levels for the previous day. You may also decide to use other measures in addition, for example the Warwick-Edinburgh scale. How many applications can we submit? We can accept only one application from each organisation. What happens at submission stage? Stage 1 applications must reach us by 9am on Monday 9 July. Two Spirit Executive team members will assess each application. The team will cross-moderate the scores and shortlist applicants for invitation to Stage 2. Applicants will learn the outcome on 31 July We will allocate an executive team mentor to each Stage 2 applicant. The mentor will visit applicants, meet proposed beneficiaries and act as a critical friend during the Stage 2 application process. 12

13 What happens after that? Two officers will assess each Stage 2 application as above. The team will report to the Spirit of Achievement Panel who will review the assessed Stage 2 applications and the advice of the Spirit Executive team and make a funding recommendation to the Spirit Board. The Board will make the final award decisions and we will notify Stage 2 applicants of the result by the end of October. If you have any remaining questions not covered in the information pack please helen.spedding@spiritof2012.org.uk 13