Guidance for applicants

If you’re reading this guidance, then congratulations – you’ve been invited to apply for Stage Two of Propel Long-term Grants programme.

Propel is offering up to seven years of continuous, flexible funding, supporting organisations to continue their exploration and work towards systems change. The guidance below aims to offer you all the support an information to complete your application. For further clarity on specific terms used throughout this guidance, you may want to open our glossary of terms alongside this document.

Who are Long-term grants for?

Propel Long-term grants are only available to organisations with an existing Propel grant. Now at the second stage of application, only organisations who were successful at Expression of Interest (EOI) stage are able to apply.

By committing to making grants of up to seven years, Propel partners are investing in those organisations best placed to drive systemic change in, and for their communities. Whilst funding at this scale means funding fewer organisations for longer, a two-stage process aims to ensure the success rate at stage two is around 80%.

As outlined at EOI stage, Propel will continue to prioritise equity with at least 75% of long-term funding going to organisations led by and for the communities that they serve, and those with clearly articulated goals around systems change.

What are Long-term grants for?

Propel Long-term grants are to support the running costs of your organisation and the delivery of your programmes. They’re available to help you understand the changes you want to make and take clear steps towards advancing systems change with and for your community.

You’ve already used your Propel funding to explore, or develop work around a systemic issue affecting your community. You might have piloted some work, developed partnerships, upskilled, or expanded your workforce and engaged more meaningfully with your community, and these grants are to enable you to continue that work in the long-term.

Long-term grants will focus on sustaining your organisation to continue working systemically, engage and support your communities, build partnerships, and deepen your organisational capacity. Propel does not have a one-size-fits-all all approach to systems change, and we’ve learned a lot about these different approaches through Propel partners over the last two years. Our systems change resource bank is available on the Propel website.

A reminder of what you can spend a Long-term Grant on

Propel understands that to engage in long-term systems change work, your organisation needs some long-term stability. These grants can be used to help fund the running costs of your organisation and the delivery of your programmes. This may cover some of the following things:

Core costs such as

Staff salaries, training and expenses.
Organisational capacity building, for example, recruitment or backfilling of posts.
Staff wellbeing (this will look different for each organisation, and we encourage you to consult with your staff to shape this).
Office space and general day-to-day running costs.
Communications and digital development.
Full cost recovery.

Programme costs such as

Engaging with the people that your work benefits. This can include payments to service users or people with lived experience who participate in the design and evaluation of your work.
Direct delivery with your community which clearly enables you to work towards your systems change goals.
Building relationships, partnerships and collaborations. If you’re applying as a partnership, ensure you’ve included the costs of coordinating, evaluating and learning from that partnership.
Time to engage with others in the Propel Long-Term network. We’ll be developing a long-term learning plan with successful applicants, but you can expect to attend around three days per year of learning.
Ensuring the legacy of your work. Consider what resources you might need to support the end of your project.
Delivery equipment. This could include laptops for your programme team or any other resources needed to deliver your programme of work. Consider where they are supporting the delivery of your eligible activities. We don’t have a set maximum, but it should be clear that the costs are reasonable and support you in the delivery that is relevant to your change goals.

Propel Long-term grants can’t fund…

Individuals. By this, we mean funding sole traders or individuals leading movements or change.
Activities taking place outside of London or for the benefit of non-Londoners. Propel is entirely focused on supporting London’s communities.
Activities that make profits for private gain.
Significant capital costs (e.g. purchase or refurbishment of a building or other assets) are generally not eligible. However, you might want to budget a small proportion of your grant for some equipment costs.,
Delivery that is focused on support of individuals where there is no clear connection to systems change goals.

How to apply for Stage Two

You’ve already submitted an EOI and have a long relationship with Propel, so we’ll do our best to avoid asking you to repeat yourselves. It’s important to note here that your Propel journeys so far have differed in length and style, and therefore, we recognise that your applications and the information you’re able to include, will be different. This will, of course, be taken into account.

The process and deadlines

As mentioned during the EOI stage, Propel funded organisations of different lengths, with different start and finish dates. Some of you finish in December 2025, others may run through until autumn 2026 and beyond. This is why we’ve created three separate cohorts on the portal, grouping you depending on your grant end date. The deadline to apply in Stage Two will vary accordingly:

Cohort 1: 5th September 2025
Cohort 2: January 2026 (applications will open in November 2025)
Cohort 3: May 2026 (applications will open in April 2026)

Remember that you will also need to update your organisational information if anything has changed since you submitted your EOI. For instance, if you’ve had any changes in governance, or updated your financial records.

Additional information

At this stage, our goal is to build as clear and complete a picture as possible of your organisation’s vision and plans. To do that, we may need to engage further with key members of your team. You might expect follow-up communication via email or phone, and a potential visit to your organisation. These interactions will help us clarify or expand our understanding of your work, as well as explore areas such as governance, financial management, safeguarding, and other core practices.

Where possible, we ask that relevant senior staff, programme leads, and those with financial oversight be available during this process to help ensure this part of the process is meaningful, thorough, and reflective of your organisation’s strengths and ways of working.

Stage Two application questions

Propel is interested in understanding the systemic change you want to make, how you plan to make it, and the impact it will have on the people most affected. We’ve broken down questions into sections below. You will have an opportunity to expand on answers to these questions in conversation with the assessor of your application.

Your key information
1.	How many years of funding are you applying for? You can apply for funding for up to 7 years. As this is a long-term grant offer, we strongly encourage applications that reflect sustained work over multiple years; shorter-term programmes will be considered only in exceptional cases where a shorter duration is clearly justified.
2.	How much are you applying for? This amount will only be different from your EOI if we have specifically communicated this to you at your invitation to Stage Two. Otherwise, this should not exceed the amount you put on your EOI.

Your plan
3.	What do you plan to do? We’d like to see an outline of your plans for the duration of your grant, but don’t worry, you don’t have to know everything. – For years 1-2, we’d like to see a work plan and a rough quarterly timeline. – For years 3, 4 & 5, a higher-level outline of likely activity and milestones. We understand that things might evolve as you move forward. – For years 6 & 7, some milestones that you’d hope to be reaching, along with your plans to ensure the legacy of your programme. We understand that plans will change over this time, and there’ll be plenty of opportunities to share changes to your programme over its duration.
Systems change goal	Timeline	What will you do?	Journey towards your goal
Using a few words, describe your systems change goal.	Year 1 – 2	We’d like to see a work plan, and a rough quarterly timeline of the activities you will have.	Where will you be?	Let us know what your objectives are for the programme in this first period.
	Years 3/4/5	We’d like to see a higher-level outline of where you are headed.	What do you expect to see at this stage?	Share some milestones that you’d hope to be reaching during this stage at the end of each year.
	Years 6/7	Mention your plans and commitments for this work in the long-term and how you will prepare the programme during this last stage.

Making change happen
4.	How will you know that you’ve contributed to the systemic change you’re hoping to make? Think about how you’ll know if your programme is making a lasting difference to the community you work with. We’re interested in your approach to learning, reflecting, monitoring and adapting as things evolve. You can also tell us how you currently understand and share your impact, and whether this funding might help you develop or strengthen the ways you track and communicate change, both internally and externally.
5.	What challenges might you face over the course of your long-term grant? We appreciate that changing a way of working or a system may mean you need to alter your approach during the grant. What measures will you put in place to address these challenges and respond to any that might emerge?

Your people and partners
6.	How will your plans be driven by the needs of your community? We want to understand how you’ll ensure that the communities you serve are at the heart of your work. This includes how you involve them in decision-making, planning, and the overall direction of the programme. Please share how you will ensure that the communities’ voices, needs, and experiences shape the work you do, and at what stages you’ll actively centre their involvement.
7.	Who will you need to support you on your journey towards systemic change? Systems change is a team effort, and we’d like to understand who you’ll work with to make your programme happen. Please name any partners, making clear who you are currently working with and those you are going to reach out to as you further develop your work. Can you outline how you’ll work together? Through long-term funding, you’ll also continue to be part of a network of London-based Propel organisations working towards systems change. Consider how you could benefit from engaging in a wider network, and what skills, knowledge, and experience your organisation could bring, too.
8.	How do you plan to use long-term funding to support, strengthen and nurture your staff (including volunteers)? Propel recognises the staffing challenges across the sector and encourages applicants to consult with staff to best understand their needs with regards to training, wellbeing and support. Your core grant encourages you to be flexible and creative here, considering the practices, policies, and nice-to-haves that will foster a happier and safer workforce.

Your Budget
Please provide a breakdown of your funding request in the template we are providing. Please note that whilst Propel aims to make the application process as simple as possible, funders may request more financial information or clarification. You can add as many headings as you need. You can download the budget template below.

Download the budget template here

Non Financial Support for applicants

We hope this guidance answers the majority of your questions about applying for a Propel Long-Term Grant at this final stage. The following support is also available to you as you prepare your Stage Two application.

We will be holding a webinar on Wednesday 16th July at 11am for applicants. You can register here.
FAQs will be updated regularly, and are available on the Propel website.
On the Propel website, you can download draft application forms in word format.
Please note word counts are only a guide. You will not be penalised for writing more or less. We’ve suggested a maximum number of words for each answer (you can go over this number, or your answers can be much shorter!).
Based on the review from your EOI, you’ll also receive individual feedback from the London Funders team (who coordinates the Propel collaboration) This is to help you strengthen this second stage of your application, with particular attention to areas that may not have been fully clear or developed at the first stage.
Our learning partner IVAR will host a workshop on 24th July at 9.30am to help you think more deeply about your systems change journey. You will receive an invitation to register according to the cohort you are in.

Download the application form in Word format here