Step 2: Application Questions & Guidance
Read the following application questions and guidance notes, print them off and draft your answers.
Please note that Futurebuilders can only accept applications that have been completed and submitted online on this website.
Although our application form is straightforward, there are 40 questions to be answered; so please give yourself enough time to work through each one.
Give us your feedback: How can we improve this application process? Email your suggestions today.
Q1. Name of Organisation
In most cases this will be the name of the organisation as it appears on your governing document, but at this stage you may use the name by which it is most commonly known if you prefer.
However, if you are successful in securing a Futurebuilders investment we will confirm the correct name of your organisation for legal purposes.
About Your Proposal
Q2. Which of the five public service areas does your proposal mainly fall within?
Futurebuilders can only support proposals that address one or more of the following public service areas:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
The examples given are not exhaustive and are intended to give a flavour of schemes that Futurebuilders may support. You can find examples, with some case studies, of schemes we have invested in by looking at our Investee Map.
Q3. Please summarise your proposal in no more than 255 characters, including spaces
We will ask for more detailed information about your proposal in a later question. At this stage we are simply asking for a brief outline. Be as precise as you can be. What public service do you provide / plan to provide? What do you want the money for?
For example:
We need refurbishment costs and working capital to set up a new scheme to provide ex-offenders with transitional jobs within 1 week of release, with the aim of securing permanent employment after 6 months.
Or:
To provide working capital and skills training to enable us to expand our childcare and family support services. This would allow us to negotiate better contracts with the local authority, thereby improving our future sustainability.
Q4. What is the public service you plan to deliver? In what way is this an improvement on what is already available? (maximum 2500 characters, including spaces)
We expect at least 51% of the cash-flow for this scheme, when it is up and running, to come from a public sector source or sources (for example, a Social Services Department, Children’s Trust, Learning and Skills Council, primary care trust or other public body). Futurebuilders only invests in schemes that involve the delivery of public services (in other words services that are or will be wholly or partly funded through contracts or fees coming, directly or indirectly, from the public purse).
Please tell us what service you plan to deliver and describe how it will improve or extend what is currently available. For example, will it be a completely new service? Will it deliver an existing service to a significantly higher standard? Will it enable more people to access an existing service?
Q5. Please tell us who the main beneficiaries of your scheme will be, and how they will benefit. (Maximum 700 characters, including spaces)
Please include relevant information about the ethnicity, age, special needs and other characteristics of your intended service users. Use numbers (actual or estimated) wherever possible. Tell us how you expect them to benefit. (Remember you do not have to describe the service here; you will have already done that in your answer to Q4.)
For example:
The scheme will benefit young offenders and those at risk of offending. Past experience has shown that music and performing arts workshops are effective in helping this group develop the skills, confidence and greater sense of purpose needed to re-engage with education or employment and move away from offending behaviour. We expect to work with 120 young people (under the age of 18) in the first year of the scheme. The majority of service users in this area are white British. (483 characters)
The main beneficiaries will be African Caribbean families in this area, where unemployment is high and educational attainment is low. We aim to work with 2,000 people in the first year, rising to 4,000 in year 5. Our service will remove or reduce many of the commonest barriers to education and training, including childcare needs, skills shortages and lack of engagement with more formal routes to training and employment. We expect to see a growing number of service users progress to employment. (500 characters)
Q6. Which public sector agencies (e.g. a local authority or primary care trust) will purchase your service? Is the public sector income likely to be from a contract, fees or service level agreement? (maximum 800 characters, including spaces)
Please tell us the name/s of the public agency or agencies you think will purchase your service. Please also tell us if you have:
a. Talked to your prospective purchaser(s) about your plans
b. Started negotiations with your prospective purchaser(s)
c. Any existing income or contractual agreement with your prospective purchasers(s)
NB: If you can give us the name and contact details of a representative of a purchasing organisation – and can confirm that this person is aware of your application, willing to be contacted by Futurebuilders and prepared to state that you are likely to obtain a contract to deliver your proposed scheme – this will help us to progress your application quickly.
Income for the scheme could be through a contract, fees or service level agreement from a public agency. Fees could also come from individual users provided they are funded from the public purse for a specific purpose, for example housing benefit, childcare tax credit or independent living fund. Please tell us what form you expect the public sector income from your scheme to take.
Q7. What is your total scheme cost?
- If you are an existing organisation planning to expand an existing service or develop a new one your total scheme cost will reflect the overall cost of expansion, including any organisational costs that are needed to make it happen.
- If your scheme includes purchase, construction, expansion or refurbishment of premises, include these in your scheme cost calculation – including solicitors’ and architects’ fees, building costs etc.
- If you plan to set up a new organisation your total cost will include the full costs of setting up and running the organisation as well as the costs of the specific scheme.
Q8. How much investment do you want from Futurebuilders?
Please tell us the total investment you are requesting from Futurebuilders (remember that the minimum full investment is £50,000, of which at least £30,000 would be a loan).
If your application is successful, the final level of investment will be subject to negotiation.
Q9. What do you want to spend a Futurebuilders investment on? (maximum 1200 characters, including spaces)
Please tell us what you want to do with a Futurebuilders investment.
Provide a brief description of each item you want us to invest in (e.g. Staffing, training, IT equipment, buildings, related overheads).
If your proposal includes a property element please describe the stage your plans have got to.
Q10. How do you plan to repay a loan from Futurebuilders? (maximum 1500 characters, including spaces)
Futurebuilders aims to provide the right investment mix to suit your needs and can offer a range of possible investment packages, including loans, grants and capacity building. We expect loan finance to be the largest element of every full investment we make.
Please show that you have considered the length of a loan and the amount you can afford to repay, and that you have a proposal to repay it.
If we decide to invest in you we will negotiate the final amount, loan/grant balance and repayment details with you. However, it helps us at this stage to have an idea of what you have budgeted for.
If your application is long-listed for full Stage 2 assessment we will normally ask you to provide a business plan, including a cash flow analysis, within a month of hearing that we have long-listed the application. Please see our Business plan guidance for information about what we will expect to see in your business plan.
Q11. Will your proposal address rural issues?
This information allows us to see how your proposal fits our Investment Plan, which states our intention that at least 25 investments (10% of the total) will be made in schemes directly concerned with rural issues.
Q12. If you answered yes to Question 11, please tell us briefly how you plan to address issues arising from the rural location of your project (maximum 1000 characters including spaces)
Please tell us what you will be doing to overcome issues associated with your rural location. If your scheme will help service users to overcome difficulties caused by isolation, lack of access to services or other rural issues, please explain briefly how you plan to achieve this.
If you answered no to Question 11, please answer N/A to this question.
Q13. Tell us which geographical areas(s) your proposal will benefit
We would prefer it if you could describe these in terms of the local authority areas and/or England region that your proposed service will benefit. If you expect the service to be national or regional in scope, please say so.
Q14. Are any other funders involved in your proposal? If so, please tell us who they are, what their involvement is and how definite their funding is (maximum 750 characters, including spaces).
Please give details of other funders (in addition to the potential purchasers you have identified in Question 6) that are, or may be, supporting your proposal. Please tell us if their funding is attached to specific parts of your scheme, and if is it conditional on the achievement of particular targets.
Q15. What further work do you think your organisation might need to help it become ready for a Futurebuilders investment?
Futurebuilders’ investments sometimes include support to help organisations develop particular skills or to improve their overall capacity. If you think your organisation might need help to develop specific skills or capabilities in order to deliver the scheme you want us to support, please let us know what they are.
For example, you may think your organisation needs help to improve its business planning or financial planning; to negotiate and win contracts; look at new markets for services; improve its HR or management systems; or something else that you have identified.
If you do not feel this question applies to you, please answer N/A in the box provided.
More about You and Your Organisation
Q16. What does your organisation currently do? (no more than 500 characters, including spaces)
We want to know what your organisation does now. This may be wider than the work you are asking Futurebuilders to support.
For example:
We provide residential and day care for older people in the North East of England, working with older people from a range of ethnic backgrounds across the region. Our day care provision includes fitness classes and tea dances, benefits advice, transport, healthy eating guidance, cookery classes and reminiscence groups. (320 characters)
We provide tailor made services to meet the needs of people with multiple impairments in Oldham. These include culturally sensitive day and residential care, respite services for carers and home-based support. (209 characters)
Q17. Does your governing document allow you to take on a loan?
We expect loan finance to be a major part of all Futurebuilders full investments.
We aim to provide the right investment mix to suit your needs, and can offer a range of packages that would normally include a combination of loan, grant and capacity building investment.
Futurebuilders will work closely with you to determine the most appropriate support package for your organisation and to protect both Futurebuilders and your organisation (including trustees, committee members or directors) from financial risk.
You must make sure, however, that the terms of your constitution allow your organisation to take on a loan and that your members are willing to accept a loan if we offer it. 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.
If you are not able or prepared to enter into a loan agreement then Futurebuilders cannot support you.
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 rewards of transactions in a manner acceptable to their faith.
Q18. Please provide the address of your website if you have one.
If you do not have a website please enter ‘no website’ in the space provided.
Q19. What sort of governing document does your organisation have?
We need this information to understand what sort of organisation you are and to check your eligibility for a Futurebuilders investment.
All applicant organisations must be constituted bodies that are charities, voluntary or community organisations, industrial and provident societies, social enterprises or community interest companies (i.e. not individuals). They therefore must:
- Be clearly constituted for public benefit (i.e. if they are self-help groups, co-operatives or mutuals there must also be a wider public or community benefit)
- Be unable to dispose of their assets for private gain, except as permitted for community interest companies
- Have some non-executive (unpaid) members on their board / management committee
Q20. Do you have charitable status?
You do not have to be a registered charity to receive support from Futurebuilders. However, if you are we need to know.
Q21. Charity number
Please tell us your charity number if you have one or your Inland Revenue number if you are exempt. If you are not a charity, please enter ‘not applicable’.
Q22. If you are a branch of a wider organisation please tell us its name and confirm that you are an independent branch.
We need this information to ensure that you are eligible for a Futurebuilders investment.
If you are a branch of a wider organisation you must be a wholly independent branch. We can only accept applications from independent branches or, where a local organisation is dependent upon a wider organisation, from its head office. 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)
If you are a freestanding or independent organisation, please enter ‘not applicable’.
Q23. Please complete this table to show us the key figures in your annual accounts
Please complete this table showing figures from your annual accounts. Where you do not yet have finalised accounts please provide as much information as you can (using your management accounts) and leave boxes in the final column blank where necessary.
‘Total Funds’ is the total value of your organisation at the financial year end. If you have a balance sheet for the year end this figure is the same as net assets, and will also be the same as the total of your restricted and unrestricted fund balances or reserves at the year end. If you don’t have a balance sheet, this will be the ‘bottom line’ of your income and expenditure account or receipts and payments account, and will be called total funds, total reserves, or accumulated balance or equivalent.
If you need to show a deficit in the bottom row, please use a minus sign. e.g. – 9750 means you have a deficit of £9750.
We ask for this information to give us an idea of your organisation’s size and how it might fit our Investment Plan. The information also gives us an idea of your organisation’s capacity.
We do not want to see proof of your assets at this stage, but if we long-list your application then we will need to see your annual accounts, and other relevant supporting information, within one month of asking you to submit them.
Q24. Has your organisation borrowed money before?
We ask for information about your borrowing history so that we can build up a picture of our applicants’ and investees’ previous experience of borrowing.
Q25. If you have borrowed money in the last five years, please give brief details of the lender/s, dates, term/s, purpose and current status of any loan/s (maximum 500 characters, including spaces)
Most of the organisations we have invested in to date are first time borrowers. We ask for this information so that we can build up a picture of our applicants’ and investees’ previous experience of borrowing and contribute to developing a shared understanding of the sector’s needs and capacities. Any information we share will refer to general trends rather than specific examples and would of course be strictly anonymous.
Q26. How many staff have you got?
- Full time
- Part time (below 20 hours a week)
This information gives us an indication of your organisation’s capacity.
Q27. Is your governing body led by black and/or ethnic minority (BME) members?
For your organisation to be considered BME led, more than half of your governing body should comprise people from BME communities.
We ask for this information so that we can monitor our own performance in ensuring that Futurebuilders meets the needs of a diverse range of communities. We also need to see how your organisation fits in with our Investment Plan, which states our intention that at least 25 investments (10% of the total) will be made in the black and ethnic minority sector.
Q28. Is your governing body led by disabled people?
For your organisation to be considered disability-led, more than half of your governing body should comprise disabled people. We define disability, in accordance with the Disability Discrimination Act, as a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on a person’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.
We ask for this information so that we can monitor our own performance in ensuring that Futurebuilders meets the needs of a diverse range of communities.
Q29. Is your organisation local, regional or national in its coverage?
We ask for this information to see how your organisation fits in with our Investment Plan.
We need to know whether your organisation is:
- Local: your work covers a part of one England region
- Regional: your work covers one or two of the nine England regions
- National: your work covers three or more England regions or up to the whole of the UK
Remember to tell us about your organisation as a whole, not just the scheme you are asking Futurebuilders to support.
Q30. In what year was your organisation established?
We want to know when your organisation was set up. This will be the date when your governing document was adopted and signed. If you are not sure, please give us an approximate date.
Q31. Address of organisation (including postcode)
Please give us your organisation’s Head Office or registered address.
Q32. Contact for this application
We need the name of the person from your organisation you want us to communicate with. This should normally be a senior staff member or committee member/director of your organisation. They should have a detailed knowledge of your proposal and be available to answer any questions we may have about the proposal.
The contact person does not have to be the person who would sign any legal agreement with us. We will confirm that name with you if your application is successful.
Q33. Position in Organisation
This should normally be a senior staff member or committee member/director of your organisation.
Q34. Address for correspondence about this application
This should be the address that you want us to use for all written correspondence about your application.
It does not have to be the address you gave us in question 31, but even if it is the same we would like you to write it in full here.
Q35. Email address
Wherever possible we will communicate with you through email. Please make sure the email address you give us is correct so that we can contact you quickly to let you know the initial outcome of your application.
Q36. Telephone number
This should be the telephone number of the contact person identified in question 32. It does not need to be your organisation’s main telephone number.
Q37. Alternative telephone number
Please give us a mobile or alternative number for your main contact person, in case we have difficulty reaching you at the first number given. Again, if does not have to be your organisation’s main telephone number.
Q38. If you have any specific communication needs please tell us what they are.
We will communicate with you wherever possible using the method(s) you tell us about.
Q39. Are you willing to authorise Futurebuilders to contact other funders or purchasers to discuss your application and to pass your details to organisations that may be interested in supporting you?
Futurebuilders would like to be able to consult other funders or purchasers about your application, as part of our assessment process. Under the terms of the Data Protection Act we understand we need your consent to do this. If you do not wish to give your consent this will not affect the assessment of your application, but if you are long-listed we may wish to discuss with you your reasons for withholding consent.
If we think your project would interest another funder (including our partners Charity Bank and Unity Trust Bank), we would like to pass on your details. Your permission at this stage will shorten the time it may take to identify and alert possible alternative or additional funders.
Q40. What was your main source of information about Futurebuilders? Please select one only:
- Information through own network
- Futurebuilders’ website
- Discussion with Futurebuilders staff at funding fair or other event
- Futurebuilders telephone enquiry line
- Futurebuilders email enquiry line
- NCVO Sustainable Funding Project Meeting
- Article(s) in voluntary sector press
- Other (please specify below)
We try to make sure potential applicants to Futurebuilders have as much information as they need before applying to us. Please tell us your most useful source of information.