Discovery Fund

We want to work with you to tackle marginalisation and under representation

The wider tech sector broadly fails to engage a cross section that is representative of society and the community tech sector must not emulate this. We want to support groups that are typically underrepresented in the wider tech sector, and therefore are particularly interested to hear from community businesses that are tackling marginalisation and recognise that the best of this work is often led by members / groups within these marginalised communities. 

Marginalised groups include, but are not limited to: racialised ethnicities, LGBTQIA+, disabled people, young (under 35) and older (more than 60) people, long-term unemployed, educationally or economically disadvantaged, people with experience of homelessness, women and girls, ex-offenders, and refugees and migrants. 

Throughout the assessment process we will be monitoring the progress of applications from organisations majority-led by any of these groups. At each stage we will analyse our assessment data to look for and correct any patterns of unintended exclusion.

If you require any further information about this funding programme, or need help applying, you can contact communitytech@powertochange.org.uk

This is responsive, flexible funding which means you have control over how you spend your funding and can use it to cover any eligible costs that help you meet the fund objectives. We will ask to see evidence of what you’ve spent at the end of the grant, but not a detailed plan of how the money will be spent in advance.

How the discovery funding could be used (£10,000)  

• Research – reading, interviews, mapping, workshops etc as a way to ask questions, discover knowledge, refine ideas, scope out potential 
• Identifying and building partnerships to develop community tech  
• Spending time consulting with different experts 
• Undertaking learning journey’s  
• Prototyping, testing and experimenting 
• Undertaking the Community Explore design process

How the open working funding could be used (£2,000)

• Documenting your work in the Commons 
• Paying for staff time to attend an open working course
• Paying for staff time to write weeknotes or blogs
• Time and travel costs to engage with the community tech community of practice
• Involvement in Discovery Fund evaluation activity

This programme is open to incorporated organisations in England that meet, or can demonstrate they are working towards, these community business criteria:

• Locally rooted – your organisation was formed to meet the needs of your local area and its community – and this is at the heart of what you do
• Accountable to the local community – you consult local people about your plans and they have the power to influence your decision-making
• Trading for the benefit of the local community – you want to increase your income from trading, and reinvest your profits to benefit your local community
• Making a broad community impact – what you do engages a wide range of different groups of people from your local area, or from within a community of shared experience

You can read more about community business  and our definition here

While it is important to characterise and define ‘community business’ in order to draw support and funding for the sector, we recognise that this can be a barrier to smaller organisations applying, as well as those from under represented groups who are ‘on their way’ to becoming a community business, and those communities of shared experience who are of a place but don’t define themselves in that way. If these descriptions fit your organisation please chat to us about how the eligibility criteria could work for your organisation. To discuss anything about eligibility criteria please email  communitytech@powertochange.org.uk and we’d be happy to discuss further.

Your community business must be in England and incorporated. It could be one of the following:

• Registered charity
• Community interest company (CIC)
• Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO)
• Community benefit society
• Co-operative society (if it has a not-for-profit clause and registered with the Financial Conduct Authority)
• Voluntary or community organisation
• Statutory body (including town, parish and community councils)
• Company limited by guarantee (if it has a not-for-profit clause or is a registered charity)

The Discovery Fund opens at midday on 1 June and closes at midday on 21 July 2023. Assessment will take place between 24 July and 7 September 2023, and we will communicate all results by Tuesday 12th September.

An initial eligibility check on whether applicants meets the community business criteria (outlined in ‘Are you eligible’?) will be completed by Power to Change.

The five scoring questions from each eligible application will then be assessed by pairs of external tech experts, who will not see the rest of the application.

The top highest scoring applications will be recommended for funding to a Grants Committee, which will make the final decision.

Between each stage of application process, rejected applications will be analysed to look for patterns of exclusion. Should any of our eligibility or marking criteria be shown to be disproportionately impacting a specific marginalised group, we will alter this and reassess before moving on to the next stage.

During any part of the process we may want to find out more about your discovery idea and organisation. If so, we will contact you to find out the best method to get in touch.

Although the Discovery funding is flexible and we don’t need to see a detailed project plan and budget, as a charitable foundation, we can only fund activity that furthers charitable purposes, which we have listed below. This does not mean that your organisation must be a charity, as we will fund a variety of legal structures. In the application we will ask you to state the option that best describes your charitable purpose from the list below:  

• The advancement of education, training or retraining  
• The advancement of health or the saving of lives  
• The advancement of citizenship or community development  
• The advancement of arts, culture, heritage or science  
• The advancement of environmental protection or improvement, and the promotion of sustainable development  
• The relief of those in need by reason of, youth, age, ill-health, disability, financial hardship or other disadvantage.  
• The prevention or relief of poverty  
• The relief on unemployment  
• The promotion of urban and rural regeneration  
• The promotion of social inclusion   

Board or committee members:  

You need to have at least two people on your board or committee who are unrelated. By unrelated we mean people who are not:  

• Related by blood to each other  
• Married to each other  
• In a civil partnership with each other  
• In a long-term relationship with each other  
• Living together at the same address.   

We cannot accept applications from:  

• Individuals  
• Sole traders  
• Organisations focussed on making profits and sharing these profits privately – including companies limited by shares, organisations without the right asset locks, or organisations that can pay profits to directors or shareholders  
• Organisations based outside the UK  
• Applications made by one organisation on behalf of another  
• Schools.