by Author Zoe Kilb

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Feedback on Catalyser Fund Round 3 Expressions of Interest

In Catalyser Round 3 we recieved 185 Expression of Interests (EOIs) exceeding £26.5 million against £3.65 million to award.

The majority of EOIs met the criteria and presented fundable proposals. This made our decision-making hard. We have summarised the most common reasons for rejection below.
 

Competition for funding

Most EOIs were rejected due to competition and available budget. Many missed out as we aimed for a diverse and balanced portfolio. Demand was high across all regions, but we received a particularly high number of applications from London and the North West. This made these regions much more competitive. Similarly, most proposals focussed on our Children and Young People Facing Barriers funding theme and there was less competition for proposals delivering under our Early Years, Disabled Young People or Youth Justice funding themes.

We were only able to bring 50 (out of 185) applications through to Stage 2, which still remains a competitive process - we are anticipating only a 50% success rate at Stage 2. 

Catalyser Fund fit

The Catalyser Fund is designed to support experienced organisations to sustain or scale-up work or to catalyse change in the sector. If you were proposing work that was about trying something new, or work that is relatively new to your organisation, then you were not a good match for the Catalyser Fund. 

Children and young people facing barriers

Youth Music’s funding supports children and young people facing barriers. Applications were more likely to be successful if they clearly showed that:

  • Their work was targeted at those facing barriers.
  • They could reach and connect with those facing barriers.
  • Their activities were designed to support those facing barriers – considering their pastoral and support needs.

Youth Voice and Co-design

Youth Voice and co-design is central to Youth Music funding. Priority was given to applicants that clearly demonstrated how children and young people had co-designed the programme or outlined clear plans for how co-design would take place.

The strongest applicants told us about their codesign process, but also what they had learnt from this process, so we could see a clear throughline from co-design to proposed activities. Our Share The Mic Resource Hub has lots of resources and ideas for those that want to further develop their Youth Voice practice. 
 

Proposals

The strongest proposals were clear about what they were asking Youth Music to fund. Though we understand there is limited wordcount and you can’t tell us all the details, the stronger applicants had plans in place for what they would actually do (even if they were just an outline at this stage). Some applicants told us about their intended goals but didn’t explain how they would achieve them. For example, if you want to diversify your workforce – then tell us how you plan to do this - will you be running a new Music Leader mentoring scheme or developing an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion action plan or something else?

Partnership Working

Partnership working is a Catalyser Fund criterion and the EOI form asks you to tell us about your partners. Some applicants did not name any partners and other applicants made general statements about partnership working (e.g., ‘we have a lot of local partners’ or ‘we work with local schools’). Whilst this was positive to read, we couldn’t determine how fully developed these partnerships were, and therefore what added value they would bring.

What next?

For Catalyser Fund Round 3 - applicants who have been invited to submit a full application have around six weeks to submit and will hear the outcome in late October 2023. The next stage remains competitive – we envisage the success rate will only be around 50%.

Trailblazer and Catalyser on pause

We are now pausing the Trailblazer Fund and Catalyser Fund to make some small but signficant improvements, focussed on greater accessibility and more youth voice. 

  • The next Trailblazer deadline will be January 2024, with awards made in April. 
  • The next Catalyser deadline will be May 2024, with awards made in October.

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