# £4.95 million fund opens to help sector improve digital capabilities

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2020/08/19/4-95m-fund-opens-to-help-sector-improve-digital-capabilities/
- Published: 2020-08-19T08:07:41+01:00
- Author: Melanie May

**Charities and other civil society organisations are invited to apply to a new 
£4.95m fund aimed at helping to improve the sector’s digital capabilities.**

 

The fund is a partnership between [The National Lottery Community Fund](https://www.tnlcommunityfund.org.uk/)
and the [Centre for The Acceleration of Social Technology](https://www.wearecast.org.uk/)(
CAST), supported by the [Catalyst](https://www.thecatalyst.org.uk/) network, and
offers charities funding and expert support worth up to £60,000 each to spend on
projects.

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The [_Catalyst and The National Lottery Community Fund COVID-19 Digital Response_](https://www.thecatalyst.org.uk/covid-digital-fund)
is open to any social organisation that is part of a formal or informal network 
of ten or more other charities, and is committed to proactively sharing learnings
within their networks.

 

The partnership prioritises those that have been disproportionately impacted as 
a result of Covid-19 and applicants must also be working with one of nine key groups
facing disproportionate challenges as a result of the crisis: older people; those
pushed into crisis; people in medical or end of life care; people who experience
health inequalities, loneliness and social isolation or poor mental health; children
and young people; disabled people and families hit hardest.

 

Applicants must be able to show that they have a network of other charities that
will be able to share their work, and benefit from it. The scheme’s partners are
particularly interested in receiving applications from user-led organisations and
those representing ethnic minority communities, LGBT+, disabled and other marginalised
communities.

 

Funding will be a mixture of direct grants and payment for support from digital 
agencies. Two funding avenues will be simultaneously available for application: 
a four-week ‘Discovery’ phase, in which a small amount of funding will pay for charities
to work together in cohorts with a support partner to understand and research the
problem they are trying to address, and a ten-week ‘Development’ phase, in which
charities will work with a designated support partner to develop a digital solution.

 

Not all charities that go through the Discovery phase will move onto the Development
phase of the project, and charities that can show they have already been through
a Discovery process can bypass this stage and move directly to Development.

 

Applications are open now at [the Catalyst site](https://www.thecatalyst.org.uk/covid-digital-fund).
Those for the Discovery phase will close on 7 September, and those for the Development
phase on 20 September. The National Lottery Community Fund has committed £4.95 million
to the partnership, with £1.75 million made available in direct grants, and the 
remaining £3.2 million allocated to fund the expert support.

 

Commenting on the scheme, CAST’s Director Dan Sutch said:

 

> “Covid-19, and social distancing in particular, has demonstrated the importance
> of digital in ensuring social organisations can continue to serve the needs of
> their communities. And we’ve also seen clear evidence that organisations that 
> are better equipped to use digital, data and design have been able to respond 
> more quickly to the new needs and environment in which we’re operating.
> “This scheme will enable charities to access funding to dedicate their time and
> focus to developing their digital practice, and vitally, access the support of
> digital partners from across the Catalyst network who are experts, not only in
> digital, data and design, but in supporting charities. Thanks to National Lottery
> players, we have an opportunity to intentionally design how we can best take advantage
> of digital, data and design to most effectively serve communities across England.”

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