Step 1: Eligibility Checklist
Like most funders, Futurebuilders can only invest in organisations and schemes that meet our eligibility criteria.
Before you start to plan your application, please read these criteria carefully to satisfy yourself that you (and the public service delivery you are planning) are eligible for funding from Futurebuilders.
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You will be asked to confirm your eligibility before gaining access to our online application form
1. Are you a properly constituted voluntary or community organisation or social enterprise?
Applicants must be constituted bodies that are charities, voluntary organisations, social enterprises, industrial or provident societies or community interest companies (i.e. not individuals) and therefore must:
- Be clearly constituted for public or community benefit. If yours is a self-help group, cooperative or mutual there must be a wider public or community benefit beyond the immediate benefit to the members
- Not be able to dispose of assets for private gain (except as permitted for community interest companies).
- Have some non-executive (unpaid) members on their boards or management committees. These members could be paid employees but must be unpaid for their role on the committee.
- Have a formally adopted constitution. Before investing in an organisation, Futurebuilders will want to be satisfied that good governance structures are in place.
2. Are you an independently constituted organisation? Or, if you are a branch of a wider organisation, are you independent of your head office?
Futurebuilders can only consider applications for investment from independently constituted organisations. If your organisation is not independently constituted, then your parent or umbrella organisation must submit your application – but don’t forget that they can only submit one application to us at any one time.
We consider an organisation to be independent if it has:
- Its own management committee
- A bank account under its own direct control
- Its own annual accounts, approved by its management committee
- Control over its income and expenditure
- Its own charity or company number (in the case of registered charities or companies)
3. Is this your organisation’s only current application to Futurebuilders?
Futurebuilders will usually only accept one application at a time from any organisation.
An organisation in receipt of a development grant is expected to continue with its application as soon as the grant has achieved the aim for which it was awarded.
4. Will your scheme involve the delivery of public services in one or more of the Futurebuilders public service areas?
Futurebuilders can support:
- Existing public service delivery organisations that want to do more
- Organisations planning to take their first steps into public service delivery
- New and existing service providers that want to deliver public services in a different way
The five public service delivery areas are:
1. Community Cohesion: This can include services promoting race equality; refugee integration and inclusion; and services that help bring communities, including different generations, together to solve problems and strengthen links. It is also likely to involve a particular approach to one of the other four services (see below), focusing on reaching out to and involving different sections of a community.
2. Crime: This can include services that reduce crime and the fear of crime; improve levels of public confidence in the Criminal Justice System; protect the public; reduce re-offending; and reduce the harm caused by drugs.
3. Education and Learning: This can include services that support primary and secondary education; promote pupil inclusion; raise attainment; improve the skills of young people and adults; and tackle the adult skills deficit.
4. Health and Social Care: This can include services that aim to reduce health inequalities; improve access to health services; develop support for people with long-term conditions; improve the quality of life and independence of older people; support people with mental health needs; and tackle issues such as drug and substance abuse or teenage pregnancy.
5. Support for Children and Young People: This can include services that improve the personal, social and emotional development of young children; reduce the proportion of mothers who smoke during pregnancy; reduce the proportion of young children living in households where no-one is working; and deliver more and better childcare.
For further details please see the Public services Futurebuilders invest in page and read the relevant 'Public Service Delivery Context Paper'.
5. Will a Futurebuilders investment enable you to develop services that a public agency (e.g. a local authority or primary care trust) is realistically likely to purchase from you under contract or through fees?
Futurebuilders will only support service delivery that is, or could be, mainly funded from the public purse.
To decide whether an application is eligible we apply the following question: ‘Do the cash flow projections for the proposal show a realistic likelihood that at least 51% of the required income flowing from the proposal, once up and running, will come, directly or indirectly, from statutory bodies?’
We will expect you to have discussed funding arrangements with the public sector purchaser(s) who you plan to be purchasing your service.
6. Will these services mainly benefit people living in England?
Futurebuilders can only support organisations delivering services that mainly benefit people living in England. If you were hoping to obtain a Futurebuilders investment for a service that would mainly benefit people living in Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales, then you are not eligible for support from us.
However, if your service delivery is targeted mainly at people inside England but occasionally benefits people living in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland then you are eligible for support. We will ask for further information during the assessment process.
7. Do you want an investment of £50,000 or more?
Futurebuilders cannot make a full investment of less than £50,000. If you are looking for less than £50,000 you may find it helpful to speak to your Council for Voluntary Service or Local Development Agency.
There is no upper limit to a Futurebuilders investment. We may offer development grants of around £10,000 to some shortlisted applicants who have applied to us for £50,000 or more. However, development grants will be awarded at our discretion and cannot be applied for.
8. Is your organisation (including your trustees, committee members or directors) willing and able to take on a loan as part of a Futurebuilders investment? If you do not currently have the power to take on a loan, are you willing to change your constitution?
Loan finance is a key element in the Futurebuilders investment menu and will be a substantial part of every investment we make. If you are not able or prepared to take on a loan then we cannot invest in you.
You must make sure that the terms and conditions of your constitution allow your organisation to take on a loan and that your members are willing to accept a loan if we offer one. If your constitution does not currently allow you to take on a loan we need to know that you are willing to change your constitution should we offer you an investment.
Most investments will also include a capital and/or revenue grant and may also contain some funding to build your organisation’s capacity through practical support. See our Investment Plan for a more detailed description.
Futurebuilders is willing to make loans and advances in a manner that is consistent with all faiths, including Islam. We will work with potential investees to ensure that we share both the risks and the rewards of transactions, in a manner acceptable to their faith.
9. Is your organisation happy to share lessons from your scheme with Futurebuilders and others?
Futurebuilders is committed to sharing best practice and promoting examples of public service delivery that work well and meet community need. As part of this process we will evaluate the schemes we invest in and may use your organisation as an example to other service delivery agents and partners. This will include sharing mistakes as well as achievements. If you are not prepared to share your experience of a Futurebuilders investment then we cannot support you.
10. To comply with the Data Protection Act, do we have your permission to use personal data supplied by you in the processing and review of your application?
This includes storing the information you provide, electronically and in hard copy where appropriate. Futurebuilders also requires your further assurance that personal data about any other individual is supplied with his/her consent.
Submitting an online application confirms your acceptance of both these requirements.
Our application form will also seek authority to pass on relevant applications to Charity Bank and Unity Trust Bank.