by Author Zoe Kilb

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Energiser Fund - How we made decisions

Overall success rates

In total we received 93 proposals, totalling nearly £10.5million against a budget of £1.2million. Overall, we were impressed with the quality of applications we received, and the number of organisations committed to offering high quality creative activities to 2-4-yr-olds.

The majority of proposals met the criteria and presented exciting programmes well aligned with the Energiser Fund aim and principles. This made our decision-making job very tough. But there were areas where some applications were stronger than others, and we wanted to share some reflections with you.

Beyond Music

The Energiser Fund will support a range of creative activities and is our first fund investing in more than music. Whilst we anticipate that some music-making activities will be supported by the fund, we were unable to prioritise music-only-focused projects.

We also wanted to be sure that organisations were fully committed to creativity. This was particularly pertinent to music-focussed organisations, where we wanted to be convinced that new artforms/creative activities, were embedded in the programme and not just an ‘add-on’ to your current music offer. The stronger proposals demonstrated clearly why an expansion into other art forms or areas of creativity made strategic sense for their organisation.

We wanted to bring through programmes working across a range of art forms. We received a high number of projects that partnered music with another art-form and projects from theatres/theatre companies – which meant competition was particularly high for those including music or theatre.

Organisations that were ambitious about the creative offer for children really stood out, for example those exploring technology or art-forms that aren’t usually on offer to Early Years children. As this demonstrated a real commitment and understanding of the creativity and capabilities of young children.

Co-design

Co-design is central to all Youth Music’s work and funding. This fund was set up to explore co-design and participation with young children. The strongest applications were able to:

  • Demonstrate an existing commitment to co-design with practical examples of how they did this through current or past work.
  • Clearly articulate what co-design would look like on this programme, ideally with specifics about the mechanisms and activities through which this would happen.

Track Record

We wanted to partner with experienced organisations. This meant we expected to see a clear track record of:

  • Working with 2-4-yr-olds.
  • Co-design.
  • Delivery of creative activities.
  • Working with EY children facing barriers.

If work in any of those areas was new to you – then you were not meeting the fund’s criteria.

We received a high number of applications from organisations who have been specialising in these areas for many years now, so it was hard to prioritise those who were relatively new to the sector or this way of working.

We also prioritised those where work with EY children is central to the organisation’s existing work. For some applicants this felt like relatively new work and/or it was not clearly evidenced as an organisational priority.

Our principles

In the guidance we outlined our Energiser Fund principles. Whilst we didn’t expect applicants to be experts in all these areas and/or talk about all the principles, the stronger applications gave us specific examples of how some of the principles were embedded (for example, by talking about a previous piece of work or a policy or process within their organisation). And clearly gave concrete responses (e.g. by telling us what they wanted to learn, what had been challenging). Some applicants just listed principles without any specific examples.

Early Years children facing barriers

All Youth Music’s funding is targeted at supporting those facing barriers. And we wanted to see this clearly articulated in your application. The strongest applications did the following:

  • Clearly articulated the target groups for their work.
  • Described their recruitment strategies.
  • Demonstrated how the programme had been designed to accommodate their needs and remove barriers. (e.g. access and pastoral support)

Where applicants were proposing to work with groups with specific needs (e.g. Disabled children) - we wanted to see you had things in place to support these groups– either programme design, pastoral support, recruitment strategies, access or resources. If working with this target group was new to you, we wanted to understand how you would develop the appropriate expertise either though staff training or by bringing expert partners on board.

Engagement with the Learning Community

Engagement with the Learning Community is an essential part of having an Energiser Fund grant. This meant we were looking for evidence you had built the Learning Community into your programme timeline and budget, and that you were open to learning and reflecting. For many applicants it was unclear if they had considered the commitment that would be involved with the Learning Community and considered this in their programme design. 

Partnerships

We wanted to see that you were partnering with organisations that add value to your work. Some partnership letters were just broad commitments of support for an organisation or project and didn’t help us understand what a partner organisation’s role would be doing on your project. 

Existing Youth Music grant holders

We anticipate a higher proportion of grants being awarded to organisations that were new to us. Whilst we have brought through some existing funded partners, competition was tougher if you already held a grant with us.

Diverse-led organisations

We know that diversity in terms of leadership and workforce is a challenge across the entire early years sector, and we saw this reflected in the applications we received. For example, we saw very few global-majority led organisations or Disabled-led organisations applying. Therefore, we tried to prioritise applicants with diverse-led leadership teams and those that were taking active steps to address these issues for example through workforce recruitment strategies, or partnership working.

 A balance of organisations

As we only have 10 grants to award, we won’t be able to fund all the applications we receive, even though most of them will meet our criteria. We want to ensure we bring together a range of organisations from across the country and working across a range of creative areas. We also try to be equitable in our decision making. This means targeting our investment towards the people or places that need it the most. Some of the factors we consider are:

  • Children and families reached (e.g. barriers, ethnicity).
  • Location.
  • Type of programme (e.g. setting, creative approaches, art forms).
  • Organisation type (e.g. turnover, leadership, set-up).
  • Risk levels (e.g. financial, safeguarding).