1. Small Charities Challenge Fund (SCCF) Guidance Webinar
MannionDaniels | Bath | March 2018

2. UK Aid Direct Consortium Partners:

4. What is UK Aid Direct?
UK Aid Direct is the UK government’s funding mechanism to support small and medium sized civil society organisations to work towards achieving the Global Goals
It has been running since 2010 and was previously the Global Poverty Action Fund
It is multi-sectoral in nature and reflects DFID priorities
5 grant types currently: Community Partnership, Impact, Jo Cox Memorial Strengthening, Jo Cox Memorial Network and Small Charities Challenge Fund (SCCF)

5. What is the Small Charities Challenge Fund (SCCF)?
SCCF has been set up to target small, British grassroots organisations not currently eligible under the regular funding rounds of UK Aid Direct
Organisations must have an average annual income of <£250k
Multi-sectoral in nature and reflects DFID priorities
Grants of up to £50k will be available for projects lasting up to 2 years

6. What is the Small Charities Challenge Fund (SCCF)?
Open funding round and applications will be reviewed every 6 months
Second cut-off date is 29 March 2018
Successful applicants are expected to be announced in the summer
Limited payment in advance: grant holders will receive an initial payment covering six months of their forecasted spend, plus 10% for 2 year projects and 20% for 1 year projects.
Financial reports and claims are to be made every 6 months

7. Application process:
All applications must be completed and submitted online
The 2nd review of applications will take place after 29 March 2018
Allocation is £4m over a 2-year period
Financial management assessment (FMA) and due diligence (dd) will be carried out to ensure eligibility criteria is fully met

8. Review process: All proposals will be assessed by experts
The experts selected have significant experience in working with DFID, on supporting projects, and on assessing proposals
They will be provided with guidance on scoring and reviewing proposals to ensure a consistent approach
There will be a QA process to ensure fair assessment of each application
Reviews to be carried out by the fund manager
DFID moderation of reviews and successful applicants chosen

9. Findings from last SCCF funding round
Experience:
Project design and capability to deliver are key especially if a new organisation
Identifying need:
Understanding of local context, meaningful consultations with beneficiary groups, and co-ordination with relevant local government departments or other organisations.
Why (and by whom) a beneficiary group had been selected
Logic
lack of logical linkage between the “need identified” and the “intervention proposed”

10. Findings from last SCCF funding round
Evidence
The inclusion of evidence at each stage of the proposal
Scale and realism:
Unrealistic and inflated number of estimated beneficiaries
Value for money
Demonstrate the rationale and define the long term developmental impact

11. Findings from recent research and previous UK Aid Direct funding rounds:
Project design
Sustainability
Context sensitive
Building capacity

12. Project design section:
Download the ‘top tips for applicants’ document in ‘Guidance’ on website
Download the general project design presentation
Read about DFID’s strategic objectives and focus and then consider which of these strategic objectives your project contributes to
Note that projects may contribute to more than one
Look at what the fund is trying to achieve – read the fund level theory of change
Think about how your project will contribute to the objectives of the fund
Consider which UK Aid Direct approaches best fits with your approach

13. Project design section:
Think about and detail who you consulted with during the design of your project; beneficiaries, government, other NGOs
Consider and demonstrate why your project is needed
Consider and show what it is you want to achieve with the project and how you will do it
Show how are you working with others; e.g. is government involved?
How many people will benefit from the project? Those benefiting directly and those benefitting indirectly. Measure unique individuals. How have you identified them?
Ensure a logical linkage - clear understanding of how the intervention addresses the problem and how it will deliver impact.
Show how you can address gender and disability issues

14. Leave no one behind – recommended reading:
Policy papers from DFID
Stepping up a gear for girls and women: updates to DFID’s Strategic Vision for Girls and Women, to 2020 and beyond
Read here (opens in a new window).
Disability Framework – One Year On: Leaving No One Behind
Leaving no one behind: Our promise (updated 10 January 2017)
Read here (opens in a new window)

15. Results section:
Think about and demonstrate what a successful outcome of the project would look like. What would the change you are expecting to happen look like?
Consider and show how you will monitor your results to show whether you have been successful. How will you monitor how your project is doing? How will you collect information and data?
Reflect on how the project will continue once UK Aid Direct funding ends? Are you building capacity? Can the local community take over elements?

16. Results framework:
Read the specific guidance on how to develop a results framework and use the results framework template
Each stage of the results framework should form a logical flow and link to each other
What you do at each stage helps lead to the success of the next stage
Outline the outcomes of the project – what you expect to change
Choose 2 indicators – ways of measuring the change
Develop output indicators – what you need to do to contribute to the outcome
Outline activities – what activities the project will do to meet the output indicators

17. Value for money (VFM) – things to consider:
Consider VFM across your project when designing it
Are you reaching the right target group? Are you reaching the right number of beneficiaries to make it worthwhile?
Are you using the best way of reaching them? Are there examples of how this has been successful before?
Are you considering how to keep your costs down? What are your main ‘cost drivers’?
Are you being as effective as you can be? What is the cost per beneficiary? Are there any economies of scale you can take?
What would this grant enable you to do that you can’t currently do?

18. Risks: You won’t be penalised for putting all risks down Be realistic!
Think about the risks the project faces: security, financial, environmental or political risks
Explain what they are, what impact they would have on your project and what you will do to either prevent them from happening or dealing with them if they do happen

19. Overview of timings Stage Anticipated time Application window 26 weeks
Application Review and Moderation
10 weeks
DFID Approval
3 weeks
Due Diligence
7 weeks
Grant Set Up

20. Small Charities Challenge Fund (SCCF) Guidance Webinar
MannionDaniels | Bath | March 2018