Expand Grants
All the essential information you need if you have a Propel grant.
What is Expand?
Propel is offering all Explore funded organisations the option to apply for a further two years of funding to continue your exploration (if needed) and to begin putting your plans into practice. This could include piloting and testing new approaches, and reflecting on progress.
Expand grants have been developed in consultation with Explore funded orgs and Propel Partners, and are designed to help organisations expand on your existing work at a pace that works for you, with a view to preparing for a longer term grant.
What can an Expand grant cover?
Funding can support you to continue covering the costs of exploring the systemic issue you’re aiming to understand with your team, partners and members of civil society. Over the course of your grant, you may also begin to start piloting some of your findings and trial delivery. You can apply for as much or as little as you need; funders are keen to understand what you need to continue your work, so you must discuss this with your Grant Manager first.
Some of these costs may include:
– Research and data dives (including the staffing and planning costs to do so).
– Engaging with the people that your work benefits through consultation, focus groups etc.
– Ensuring that the activities you offer are accessible to all. This can include vouchers to service users or people with lived experience who participate in the design and evaluation of your work.
– Trialling new and different methods of delivery (through pilots or otherwise).
– Building or expanding relationships, partnerships and collaborations and convening to develop ideas.
– Organisational capacity building to prepare for the next stage of work, including recruitment and onboarding, or training and upskilling staff.
– Sharing best practice with other organisations through training, workshops or meetings.
– Investment in evidencing impact and understanding and evaluating your findings.
What’s the process?
There will be no application form for an Expand Grant. Instead, you will need to submit a workplan, and a budget to your funder.
Your Grant manager will contact you at around the halfway point of your current Explore grant to arrange a call or visit. Questions will be sent in advance, but please note that this is a conversation rather than a monitoring report, or a test! During this meeting, you can discuss next steps for your project, if you’ll apply for Expand, and how much for.
When you’re ready to apply you’ll need to do the following via the Propel portal.
- Submit a work plan setting out what you intend to do over the next two years. You can submit this in any format. See Appendix A for additional guidance on how to develop a workplan.
- Submit a budget for the grant request. You can submit this in any format. Please provide an appropriate amount of detail – if you provide only one item and cost, with no breakdown, your application is less likely to be funded, or further information may be requested of you which may cause a delay in your grant decision. The higher the total cost, the more detail you should provide.
- Update your organisational information on the Propel portal. If you have a new set of signed accounts since your Explore application, you will need to upload this, unless it is readily publicly available.