OVO Foundation calling Ideas and Proposals on Sustainable Futures

Deadline: 23 March 2020

The OVO Foundation is launching a new strategy in 2020 with sustainability at its heart. Its vision is for all children and young people to have equitable access to a sustainable future.

This means OVO Foundation will focus more on funding projects that address issues relating to energy and climate change as they affect children and young people. They know that achieving this vision will be driven and supported by people at a local community level taking action to address global issues that affect everyone, demonstrating the potential of small actions to drive big change.

The Foundation is looking for projects that create sustainable communities with and for children and young people while also helping them to gain knowledge and take action.

Outcomes

The OVO Foundation has a new vision which is underpinned by two long-term outcomes:

All children and young people live in a sustainable community;
All children and young people have the skills and knowledge to take action on sustainability issues, and contribute to building sustainable communities.

Areas

Sustainable Communities
- Climate & atmosphere, Energy efficiency & access, Sustainable housing & building
Knowledge of Sustainability issues
- Education, Skills, opportunity

Evidence of Impact

Early Stage ideas that demonstrate potential for impact;
Small- scale projects that show positive change;
Established interventions with robust evidence of causality.

Funding Information

OVO Foundation is committing total funding pot of approximately £1,000,000 and will look to fund up to three projects for three years.
They anticipate providing lower levels of funding to early stage ideas, and up to £350,000 for more established projects over three years.

What will not fund?

Projects and organisations that don’t meet key selection criteria (at a minimum);
The promotion of religious or political causes, general appeals or circulars, individual sponsorship, events or conferences;
A project’s core costs alone;
Projects that take place outside of the UK;
Individuals, bursaries or student fees;
Short-term or one-off projects.

What will OVO Foundation bring to the partnership?

Total funding of up to £350k over a three-year period, depending on the stage of the project.
Support the development and/or expansion of the project.
An understanding of research and challenges relating to children, young people and sustainable communities.
A strong interest in supporting promising projects and helping them to demonstrate their concept is relevant and applicable elsewhere.
Support in disseminating learning from the project and connecting with others.

Eligibility Criteria

OVO Foundation will only consider applications for projects that are developed and managed by a legally identified not-for-profit.

Selection Criteria

Align with OVO Foundation’s purpose and vision by:
- Seeking to improve both the physical environment surrounding children and young people and increase their knowledge, skills and/or opportunities in relation to sustainability issues.
- Pursuing an ambition to ensure all children and young people have equitable access to a sustainable future.
Target the groups that OVO Foundation is passionate about benefiting, which means you:
- Work with children and young people (up to 25)
- Work in UK geographic area(s) and/or settings which have high levels of need amongst children and young people, as measured by, for example, data on social mobility, child poverty, or pupils in receipt of free school meals.
- Support children and young people from less advantaged backgrounds or lower income communities.
Be relevant, meaningful and clear on impact and clearly articulate how the project will be measured including:
- Demonstrate that there is a clear and compelling need.
- Articulate how impact will be measured, focusing on outcomes as well as outputs.
- Have data that, at a minimum, shows some positive change amongst those already receiving or using your intervention. They will take a flexible approach to this question where ideas or proposals are at an early stage.
Be confident in delivering, or having potential to deliver, high-impact projects at the lowest possible cost which means projects:
- Demonstrate value for money in terms of providing a high return on investment (i.e. they seek projects that show high impact in relation to the funding amount), as well as be delivered in a cost-effective way.
Share Foundation’s ambition in wanting to scale which means:
- Demonstrate potential to be scalable to other settings and geographic areas.
- Have considered sustainability of the project beyond their investment.
- Have a project budget up to £350k (for more established projects) over three-years.