Following consultation over the past year or so with the charitable sector and our donors, OCF has made the decision to revise our grant-making strategy and programmes. Our new grants programmes are now open, with the next closing date 17th July 2017.
There are now four distinct grants programmes, each differing by the scale and ambition of the work needing funding: Small and Vital; Delivering Impact; Step Change; and Ambition. See the overview
What exactly has changed?
- We now ask applicants to give us an amount of information proportionate the amount of money they are asking for, making it quicker and easier for small groups to access modest funds, but asking for more detailed budgets and business plans for larger amounts of funding.
- We have reduced the maximum income limit on our Small and Vital grants programme so that applications from grassroots groups are prioritised.
- Our Delivering Impact programme now covers core costs and offers between £1,500 and £10,000 (as opposed to a maximum of £5,000 previously).
- Our Delivering Impact programme will have different priority outcomes according to which round you are applying to, making it much clearer what sort of applications we are looking for.
- The Ambition programme is a brand-new and significant source of support aimed at charities looking to make a large impact on a particular issue, and we will provide both funding and non-financial help.
- If you can provide a convincing business plan for our Ambition programme, we are offering to share your grant requests with other funders to help you access more money in a streamlined way.
Why have we made these changes?
- Our recent Oxfordshire Uncovered research has revealed some unacceptable social problems specific to our county, which we would like to address more proactively.
- We also want to make it easier for our donors to support our work and provide a much clearer route to understand how their donations could be spent, as well as having a way of delivering the more ambitious funding and support that some funders aspire to.
- We have listened to feedback coming from our grant applicants about the effort involved in applying to multiple funders, all of which have lengthy and varying application processes, and about the need to fund core costs rather than constantly come up with new ‘projects’.
All groups are strongly recommended to read our new grants pages and reassess whether they might be able to apply. Applications from strong, established groups carrying out ongoing essential work are encouraged.