Eligibility

Q.    Who can apply?

A.    We welcome applications from learning and skills providers that are funded by the Skills Funding Agency. This includes National Careers Service (NCS) Prime Contractors, National Apprenticeship providers and offender learning.

Q.    Can we apply more than once?

A.      No. Applications may be made either by individual providers or a group of providers working in partnership but in order to maximise the benefits across the sector, your organisation cannot be the lead provider for more than one bid. You can however, also be part of a partnership bid in which you are not the lead organisation.

Q.    Can a sector membership body or consultant apply?

A.      No. Not unless they are also a Skills Funding Agency funded provider. Consultancies and other bodies involved in supporting learning and skills providers; student representative bodies; schools and school sixth forms are not eligible to apply. Ineligible organisations may, however, be members of a partnership application.

Q.     Can organisations outside England apply?

A.      No. Grants are only available within England.

Q.    As a national provider, can we bid for a project that covers the whole of England?

A.       Yes, national organisations are welcome to apply. The maximum funding for any single project remains £25,000, so before you apply please consider how you could achieve and demonstrate evidence of national impact with this level of funding.

For full details of which organisations are eligible please refer to the Equality and Diversity Innovation Fund prospectus section on ‘eligibility’.

Applications

Q.    Are there specific subjects for projects that you will fund?

A.     Yes. They are clearly listed in the ‘Project themes’ section of the fund prospectus. If your bid addresses any of the identified themes it will be important to say how it does this in your application. Or, if you are not addressing one of the identified themes, you should explain the assessment of need (for example the evidence from local data) that has informed your bid.

Q.    Do you expect us to engage a specific number of learners for a specific amount of project funding?

A.       No. There is no set ‘amount per learner’. We expect to find that bids will be very different in terms of what they are trying to achieve and their beneficiaries. We also anticipate that the starting points of different types of organisations may well be different.

All bids will be judged both in relation to the extent that they contribute to the aims of the Equality and Diversity Innovation Fund as well as whether the proposal is innovative, informed by an assessment of need and has a well-thought out method. There needs to be a clear line of sight between your project aims and your intended impact for learners. How you plan to measure the intended impact and benefits of the project will also be an important deciding factor, as will your proposals for sustaining activity beyond the lifetime of the project and whether your project represents good value for money.

Q.    We want to involve learners in developing our bid. What rules are there about this?

A.       There are no specific rules. We would actively encourage all applicants to involve learners, not only as beneficiaries but also in the planning and development of your project. To help you we will publish an Easy Read summary of the Fund prospectus, which will be available to download from www.niace.org.uk/edif. This summary does not replace the full Prospectus, it is simply designed to make the information more accessible to people with learning difficulties.

Filling in the application form

Q.    Is it possible to see the questions and word limits on the form so I can draft my bid offline?

A.      Yes of course. No problem. You will find a Word template (which can be used with most OpenSource software) at: www.niace.org.uk/edif. The template includes prompts and examples to help you think about what information to include, word limits and spaces for you to draft your answers.

Q.    What if I run into a technical problem when I am completing the online form?

A.      Don't worry.  Make sure you have a Word (or hard copy) back-up of your information and just get in touch by email: edif@niace.org.uk. We will be able to help.

Q.    We don’t have a “Chief Executive” so what do we put where it asks for their details?

A.       In this case, you will need to decide who the most appropriate person in your organisation is. The reason we ask for contact details and authorisation by the Principal/Chief Executive is so that in the event of any failure to deliver and/or audit, or legal issues we have the contact details for the person who is responsible.

Process

Q.     I am going to be away on holiday until the start of term in September, isn’t this a ridiculous time of year to announce this fund?

A.      There is inevitably a balance between allowing sufficient time to draft an application and sufficient time to conduct the project.

Feedback from the Skills Funding Agency’s equality and diversity partnership fund with the Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS) in previous years told us that not all learning provision is organised around the academic calendar and where it is, providers told us that they need to know if they have been successful as close as a possible to the start of the new academic year in September.

We realise that:

• there is an inverse law at work that says the busiest people in an organisation end up being the people submitting funding applications;
• you have both a work and personal life that makes demands on your time;
• juggling competing demands means flexible-working times, days and locations. Sometimes you have to get away at a set time; put your family first; don’t want to give up your weekend. Or perhaps evenings and weekends suit you best if you prefer to work quietly on things that need your full concentration or can only access a computer outside of work or the only time you can get uninterrupted access to a computer is of an evening after you’ve put the children to bed, or on a Saturday morning or a Sunday evening…

In an effort to help, we will:

• make reasonable adjustments for any disabled staff making the online application for their organisation;
• open the online application system on a weekend (9am on Saturday 10 August 2013);
• close the online application portal late (11pm) on a Monday night (Monday 16 September 2013);
• check and if necessary respond to emails to edif@niace.org.uk during the  weekends between these dates.

Q.     Why can’t I just apply now?

A.      We have issued the prospectus before opening the fund to applications in order to give you some thinking and planning time to:

• check that you are eligible to apply;
• examine your evidence of need data and undertake any additional needs assessment;
• review the policy context described in the prospectus and any other relevant literature/recent research to ensure that there is a good fit between what you want to do and what we are able to fund;
• find out what issues other people who have previously applied to the fund have addressed already on the Excellence Gateway and the case studies from projects that finished this July (2013) which are now appearing on the NIACE www.equalitiestoolkit.com website;
• discuss your ideas with others and engage/get buy-in from senior managers and key stakeholders;
• begin to develop any partnerships that will be necessary to the success of your project;
• email us at edif@niace.org.uk to check out anything in the prospectus that is not clear.

Q.     What time do I have to get my application in by on 16 September?

A.    11pm.

Q.    What if I have a technical problem at the last minute?

A.       There can be few of us who have not tried to submit a funding application just before the deadline only to find that the grant maker’s website is struggling under the strain of all of the other people doing exactly the same. We will take technical precautions to prevent this happening and we will respond to emails to edif@niace.org.uk until applications close at 11pm on 16 September 2013.  Our experience of previous funds tells us however, that no matter what we do there is always a last minute surge of applications on the closing date and the only way to avoid that is for providers to please try to submit their applications before the closing date.

Q.    What if I have a crisis at work (or home) that has to take priority?

A.       Of course, it’s not only computers that run into problems and there are some human precautions that we would recommend. For example, before you make your online application:

• please read the prospectus carefully;
• check what other providers have done in previous years for ideas, examples and in case someone has already done something very similar. Case studies and resources from three years of Skills Funding Agency Equality and Diversity grants are on the Excellence Gateway and you’ll find case studies from the projects that finished in July 2013 appearing on the NIACE www.equalitiestoolkit.com website between August and October 2013;
• contact us as soon as possible at edif@niace.org.uk if you think you may have any special access requirements when completing the online application, so that we can find a solution with you well before the deadline;
• gather together all the data and other information that you need from your colleagues, learners and partners before you actually start to submit your online application;
• if you cannot complete your online application before the last day (16 September 2013), at least register on the website in advance at https://www.niace.org.uk/user/register. Register from the computer that you will use to make your application, to check there are no firewalls in the way;
• try to make a start on your online application form before the closing date it will help you to become familiar with how the online form works this increase your confidence that you can complete your form in time;
• use the templates at www.niace.org.uk/edif to draft your responses and keep within the word limits;
• make sure you have your completed EDIF budget Excel workbook saved and with you when you sit down to do your application. You will need to complete and upload it as part of the application process;
• enlist the support of a colleague or buddy who also has a copy of everything needed to make the application and is willing to act as your emergency back-up/support in case something personal or technical goes awry on the day;

Decisions

Q.    When will we know if we have been successful?

A.       You will be notified by email on Tuesday 1 October 2013.

Q.     When would our project start?

A.      If your application is successful you can begin immediately. However, as long as you finish by the end date, you can start later if you wish.

Q.    When would our project finish? 

A.       Your project development, delivery and expenditure need to be completed by Monday 24 June 2014. After that, dissemination of your project should continue in Autumn 2014 and we will contact you for longitudinal monitoring of project outcomes and impact in spring 2015.

Projects can of course finish before June 2014. The online tool for final reports will be available from 9 May 2014 until Wednesday 18 June 2014.

You should include your proposed start and finish dates in your project plan and calendar. Please note that if you finish your project activity before June 2014, you will still be required to participate in the national dissemination events in June and July 2014.

Reporting requirements

Q.    Is there a lot of reporting to do?

A.       Reporting will be informal and formal. All projects will be invited to share regular informal progress updates with each other once a month via a closed online group at www.equalitiestoolkit.com, plus: 

For grants of £5,000 or less you will simply need to submit a final report. The online reporting tool for this will be available for completion from 9 May 2014 to 18 June 2014.

For grants of more than £5,000 (up to a maximum of £25,000) you will need to submit an interim report on or before March 2013 and a final report on or before 18 June 2014. Both reports need to be completed online. The interim report tool will be available online from 24 February 2014 to 17 March 2014; the final report tool will be available from 9 May 2014 to 18 June 2014.

Q.    Are there meetings and things we have to attend?

A.      Yes. They are clearly listed in the ‘summary schedule of key dates and requirements’ section of the fund prospectus. Some of them are mandatory requirements of funding so please check (before you submit your bid) that you/your project manager or deputy will be able to attend them.

Support

Q.    What happens if we are successful? Do we get any help with our project?

A.     Successful applicants will be offered a range of support during the course of their project, starting with the inception meeting on 10 October 2013. All successful applicants are required to attend the inception meeting. This session will provide an introduction to the overall project and the support that is available as well as offering an opportunity for project leads to meet each other to share ideas and explore the potential for peer support and collaboration across funded projects.

Q.    What if we aren’t successful?

A.      We will inform you by email on Tuesday 1 October 2014. We regret that we will not be able to provide detailed feedback comments.