FAQs
About the Fund
Can I apply for a project outside of the United Kingdom
This fund is for UK based projects only and will not fund organisations and project activity outside of the United Kingdom .
For reasons of due diligence, and financial accountability we can only give the grant money to UK registered organisations, and spent in the UK. Those are the criteria of the grant fund as set out in the terms and conditions.
The funding must also be spent in the UK.
What type of e-waste will the fund cover?
Smartphones, tablets and laptops.
What types of organisation can apply for the fund?
Please see our eligibility criteria.
What won’t we fund?
Projects that focus solely on e-waste, without an element that focuses on connecting people who are digitally excluded
Core costs of an organisation - We are happy to fund salaries and overheads related to a discrete project or discrete project activity – but we are unable to contribute to an organisation’s core cost which would support their general work.
A new electrical product or research and development for a new electrical product - projects should focus on one of our listed focus areas such as collecting, recycling or extending the life of existing electrical products.
Projects that will rely or depend on any kind of collaboration or partnership with either Hubbub or Virgin Media O2. Your project should be able to run independently to our organisations.
Projects outside of the UK.
Will you fund a project that already exists or does it have to be a new project?
We are happy to fund projects that already exist but require a new source of funding to continue if the project is innovative and tackles the issue of digital exclusion and e-waste.
Virgin Media O2
Can you facilitate an intro to Virgin Media O2 to trial our project?
No, we will be unable to introduce organisations to Virgin Media O2.
Projects should not be focused on working with Virgin Media O2 as a business partner or collaborator.
Application Process
How does the application process work?
The first stage is to submit an expression of interest, including a 2-minute video telling us more about you and your project.
We may contact you to clarify and request further information.
We will select a shortlist from the pool of applicants and invite you to submit a full application.
We may, once again, contact you to clarify and request further information.
The Panel will choose the final Grantees based on how well they meet the criteria.
Funds will be paid out and projects start in March 2024
What is the timeline for the application and grantee selection
Expression of interest form opens: July 3rd 2023
Expression of interest deadline: Friday 20th October 2023
Invitation to submit a full application: Tuesday 21st November 2023
Full application deadline: Friday 15th December 2023
Announcement of successful applicants: March 2024
Funding released and projects start: March 2024
Final impact report and learnings shared: May 2025
Unless otherwise agreed, we expect projects to run for one year. We will consider supporting project with longer timelines if there is evidence that the project needs to run longer than a year.
Can we enter multiple applications?
No, only one application is accepted per applicant organisation. However you may be a lead applicant once and then partner on another bid as a supporting organisation.
You must have an agreement in place with any proposed partners before applying.
Successful projects could take place in any location or scenario across the UK.
Can a partnership of organisations apply to the fund?
Yes, we welcome partnership applications. There must be one lead partner, who is eligible, according to the eligibility criteria.
Partner organisations can then be listed as part of the expression of interest.
Do partner organisations have to meet the eligibility requirements?
No, partner organisations do not, but the lead applicant organisation must. During round 2 of applications we would encourage you to explain the reasoning for any partnerships, and the roles and responsibilities of each partner, in some cases it may be helpful to briefly touch on this in your expression of interest.
Can we have a call to understand more about the fund?
We aim to maintain a fair and transparent process and not to give advantage to any individual organisations via individual phone calls. In the first instance, please could you set out any questions you have by email. We can then aim to clarify any queries you may have.
Please do have a look at the eligibility criteria and terms and conditions on the website.
Can you provide feedback if my application is unsuccessful?
We will inform all applicants of the outcome of their expression of interest by application by 21st November 2023. Unfortunately, we will be unable to offer feedback at the expression of interest stage but we might be able to offer limited feedback at full application stage, depending on the number of applications we receive.
Budget and Costs
Does operational costs cover salaries? How do you define operational costs?
It is fine for the grant money to be spent on salaries if the person is working to deliver the agreed grant funded project.
Operational costs refer to business-as-usual costs, such as overheads or rent of premises and these are not eligible for funding. We are happy to include costs that are specifically to deliver the project, such as staff salaries or a new premises. The purpose of the funding should be used to support new projects and ideas that could not have happened without the project, so there may be exceptions for a new venture or start-up to cover some operational costs to allow the innovative idea to happen.
Should I budget including VAT?
This is a grant fund, so VAT is generally excluded, such as for your salary costs etc, so please exclude VAT in your budget. The exception however is for any external costs you incur which you will need to pay VAT on (e.g. paying for 3rd party goods and services), so in this instance please do include the full gross cost within your budget(including VAT).
Video
What do I need to include in the short video as part of my expression of interest?
As part of the expression of interest, we ask that you provide a video, no more than 2 minutes, that is just a simple straight to camera, selfie video bringing your idea to life. If you are shortlisted to the final application stage, this video will be used by the judges. However, if you wish to, you will have an opportunity, to submit a new video if you wish.
You should present your idea and share a sense of who you are and why you want to deliver the project.
You can include additional imagery or video content if you wish.
A video taken on a smart phone is absolutely fine - we don't need it to be glossy or produced. Videos which are well edited will not be judged more favourably than non-edited videos. This is simply to help us understand your idea as part of the application process and to support your written application.
We already have a promotional video, can we use this?
Ideally you would create a new summary video or edit this video to ensure it covers the project you are applying for specifically. If this is the case, you are welcome to use an existing video.
Please try to ensure that the video fits within the time limit of 2 minutes.
How do I upload a video?
As part of the expression of interest phase we’re asking you to upload a 2-minute video explaining the specific localised problem your project is tackling and how you will tackle it.
The video is to give us a chance to understand how you will solve the issue, not to test your understanding of the issue, so we suggest you spend most of the 2-minutes on your project.
You can take a video on any device with a camera and upload to any site that allows you to share a link to view – this can be a link to whatever site you prefer YouTube, Vimeo, Dropbox, Sharepoint, Google Drive etc. Please try to avoid sites like WeTransfer that have an expiry date to download/view.
Please make sure you keep the link to this video live and inform us of the password if this is required. You can test the link works by opening a ‘private’ or ‘incognito’ window. Alternatively you could ask a colleague/friend to check. We will get in touch with you if we cannot open your video.
Panel
Who will the panel be and how will you ensure no bias?
The panel will include experts in e-waste, digital inclusion, community engagement, a relevant non-government organisation, and a representative from Virgin Media O2.
We are committed to judging each project against the stated criteria and we are consciously seeking a diverse panel to reduce the likelihood of systemic bias and ensure a variety of backgrounds and perspectives.
Outcomes
What’s the intended outcome of the fund?
The fund is looking to fund innovative solutions to digital exclusion and the e-waste problem within the UK.
The fund will support between 6-8 projects over one year, starting in March 2024.
Specific project outcomes will depend upon the nature of the project. we expect these to be a range of solving problems, trialling innovative ideas, and supporting successful projects to scale.
The impact of the projects funded will be shared publicly alongside learnings to benefit our understanding of how to reduce digital exclusion and e-waste.