Wellbeing Fund - open application process: evaluation

1. Introduction and background

On 18 March 2020, in response to the emerging Covid-19 pandemic, the Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Local Government announced a £350 million package of Communities Funding support, of which £125 million was committed to the third sector. This rapid response reflected ministers' concerns about the seriousness of the pandemic, and their recognition of the need for additional support to enable the third sector to move quickly to support Scotland's communities during the crisis.

The Communities Fund consisted of four funding streams, including a £50 million Wellbeing Fund to support third sector activities. The Wellbeing Fund included the following four funding strands:

1. An Immediate Priorities Fund which provided investment through national partners to support Scotland-wide or multi-area work. Ministers agreed recipients of this funding by early April. As of 8 June 2020 around £12 million had been awarded to 110 projects and 93 partners;

2. Additional funding of £2 million was allocated to third sector interfaces (TSIs) to enable them to adapt their ways of working during lockdown and to increase activity designed to support the third sector response;

3. An Open Application Process for third sector organisations seeking funding to enable them to respond to urgent emerging needs within vulnerable communities;

4. A Small Grants Fund responsible for issuing rapid small grants to local charities and social enterprises, which opened before the Open Application Process.

This report presents the findings of a Scottish Government evaluation of the Wellbeing Fund Open Application Process, using data gathered through the application and monitoring processes for these funds, as well as interviews with key stakeholders.

1.1 Wellbeing Fund Open Applications Process

The Wellbeing Fund Open Application Process was set up to distribute grants of between £5,000 and £100,000 to third sector organisations to deliver projects of up to 12 weeks' duration which would respond to immediate needs arising from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The fund was set up as a partnership between the Scottish Government and national third sector organisations: the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO), Corra Foundation, Inspiring Scotland and The Hunter Foundation. Scotland's 32 third sector interfaces (TSIs) worked closely with these organisations, with roles both in advertising the scheme to third sector organisations and assessing applications.

The aim of this broad partnership was to enable the fund to be developed quickly, incorporating high levels of due diligence, and ensuring as broad a reach as possible across Scotland.

1.2 Application process

The Open Application Process was coordinated by SCVO and supported by a team of assessors from the funding organisations and the TSIs. The assessment process was designed to be rigorous and rapid, with each application assessed by both TSIs and funders in a two-stage process. The intention of this process was that TSIs would be able to use their local knowledge to assess the fit of the proposed project and applicant organisation in relation to the needs of the local area, while SCVO and funding partners would provide the skills and resources to conduct the financial assessment and due diligence. Some TSIs also supported the assessment process with financial and other due diligence checks.

The Open Application Process took place in two rounds between April and June 2020. Organisations typically requested funding for a wide range of responses to the pandemic, including:

• Support to adapt and deliver existing programmes using online and remote approaches, allowing organisations to continue to reach communities/groups that might otherwise have become inaccessible due to the lockdown.
• Support to scale up or to develop new programmes in order to meet acute emerging needs among vulnerable groups – for example, ensuring access to food, medication and other types of support for groups most affected by Covid-19 and lockdown.

Organisations with strong applications which met the criteria but were unsuccessful in the first round were given feedback on their applications and encouraged to reapply in the second round, which was also open to organisations which had not previously applied to the fund. All unsuccessful applicant organisations were given feedback to support them to submit a second application, or to apply for alternative funds elsewhere.

1.3 Funding criteria

The fund was open to applications from any third sector organisation working in Scotland. The application criteria for the Wellbeing Fund Open Application Process required applications to:

• Demonstrate that the proposed project would meet new and acute needs which had developed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic;
• Demonstrate that their project would target a vulnerable group or community;
• Propose a short-term project lasting three months or less;
• Propose a project costing between £5,000-£100,000;
• Apply for no more than 20% of the organisation's annual turnover, based on the previous year's accounts;
• Demonstrate that they had an asset lock^[1] in place, as well as a sufficiently stable financial position to deliver the project.

Applicants were encouraged to demonstrate that they were engaged in local coordination with other organisations delivering similar or related projects, in order to reduce duplication of efforts and to target funding towards needs as effectively as possible.