Paul Ramsay Foundation: Evaluation Open Grant Round (Australia)

Deadline: 23-Jul-24

The Paul Ramsay Foundation (PRF) is now seeking expressions of interest (EOI) from not-for-profit entities with a social impact mission or relevant charitable purposes who are implementing, or are intending to implement, social impact initiatives that can be evaluated through a hybrid evaluation design that includes ethical experimental evaluation as its main component.

The Paul Ramsay Foundation (PRF) is hoping to change that with today’s announcement by Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities, and Treasury, the Hon Dr Andrew Leigh MP, that PRF is funding a new $2.1 million national open grant round for evaluations of social impact programs that include an ethical experimental component.

PRF’s aim is to deepen the understanding and experience of evaluation techniques in Australia to better measure and create social impact. The evaluations will contribute to the evidence base that will help shape future investment in social impact programs. The grant will fund the evaluation; it cannot be used to fund the initiative itself.

Priorities

• Priority will be given to initiatives that relate to the following questions or issues:
  • Children and early years: 
    • Initiatives that involve both the primary caregiver and the child during the antenatal/post-birth period to reduce caregiver stress and improve skill development.
    • Initiatives that try to get children, particularly in regional and remote communities, into high quality Early Childhood Education and Care settings.
    • Initiatives that support cohorts with complex out-of-school challenges to stay connected to education.
    • Initiatives that improve education outcomes for young people with disabilities.
    • Do school meal initiatives have an impact on student engagement, attendance, and achievement?
  • Economic opportunity: 
    • What is the relative effectiveness for unemployed people across a range of outcomes between nontraditional pathways, such as social enterprise, versus mainstream employment pathways?
    • What is the effect on employment outcomes and incentives from income supports to unemployed people?
    • What are the employment outcomes for initiatives that are an alternative to the disability employment sector?
  • Young people and families: 
    • How effective are ‘diversion and post-release through care’ models for reducing young people/young parents contact with the justice system?
    • How effective are community-led youth-focused initiatives in reducing youth contact with the justice system?
    • What Domestic and Family Violence service models might work to support two members of a family (at any point across the prevention-crisis continuum) to strengthen family cohesion?

Funding Information

• Expressions of interest are now open for seven available grants, up to a maximum of $300,000 each, to fund evaluations of social impact programs that align with PRF’s purpose of a future where people and places have what they need to thrive.

Outcomes

• The grants are open to registered charities and non-profit organisations who are implementing, or intend to implement, programs that improve outcomes aligned to PRF’s outcomes which are:
  • Children and young people have positive life paths free from entrenched poverty and harm.
  • Places and communities are connected and imagining and leading their own futures.
  • Conditions support thriving.
  • First Nations people and communities are self-determining.

Eligibility Criteria

• Your organisation must meet all the requirements below to be eligible for funding.
  • Be an incorporated not-for-profit entity:
    • Registered as a charity with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC), with a relevant charitable purpose to those of PRF (advancing social or public welfare, advancing health or advancing education); or
    • With a social impact mission relevant to breaking cycles of disadvantage, set out in your governing document.
  • Be based in, and work with, a community or communities located in Australia.
  • If a majority of your initiative participants are First Nations people, your organisation must be First Nations-led (at least 51% of Board and/or ownership is First Nations, and at least 51% of management/ leadership team is First Nations).
• They especially encourage EOIs from smaller for-purpose organisations, or organisations working with First Nations communities.
• Organisations do not need to have their own evaluation team or have an existing relationship with experts in experimental evaluation; PRF can help connect applicants with evaluation experts they can partner with, and the funds can also be used to build their own capability.
• Initiative eligibility 
  • Your initiative must meet all these requirements to be eligible for funding:
    • Be able to describe measurable initiative outcomes.
    • Expect to show demonstrable effect sizes within 3 years of the evaluation starting.
    • Have secured funding for the initiative for its duration.
    • Have some existing evidence to show that the initiative has a likelihood of success.

For more information, visit PRF.