Catalyst and The National Lottery Community Fund COVID-19 Digital Response

Emergency funding of up to £60k available to nonprofits in England that are committed to proactively sharing learnings with other organisations in their networks.

Catalyst and The National Lottery Community Fund COVID-19 Digital Response is a partnership between The National Lottery Community Fund and Centre for The Acceleration of Social Technology (CAST), with support from the Catalyst network Thanks to National Lottery players, The National Lottery Community Fund has committed nearly £5 million to the partnership.

This fund is aimed at organisations whose work has been affected by COVID-19 and who need emergency funding to continue to deliver essential services. It will support them to develop the digital, data and design capabilities that allow them to address urgent issues and serve the most vulnerable.

This funding is a combination of direct grants and payment for support from digital agencies.

Funding overview:
Funding size: £5,000 to £60,000
Application open: 19th August 2020, 9am
Application deadline:
7th September 2020, 5pm (Discovery Programme)
20th September 2020, 5pm (Development Programme)

The Discovery Programme
This programme is an excellent learning and development opportunity for nonprofits looking to progress their digital ambitions.

Four weeks of funding and support, as part of a cohort of 8-10 organisations with a similar level of digital maturity, to understand and research the problem you are trying to address.

You will work with a digital partner to identify the needs and behaviours of your community, and how digital, data and design can best support them.

You will receive a £5,000 grant to cover the cost of one member of your team full time, or a number of people who, between them, are working on the programme for 20 days. This is to ensure you get the most out of the programme, and are able to complete all the key activities. It should also allow a couple of additional days’ time at the end of the programme to help put into practice some of the next steps identified in Week Four.

During this programme you will capture your learning in a report or, if appropriate, develop a brief for further digital/design/data support.

If you find you’re able to solve your problem using existing digital tools or resources, you’ll learn how to use and embed these into your organisation.

The Development Programme
Organisations that can show they have already been through a Discovery process will be eligible to move directly to Development.

10 weeks of funding and support to build on the learnings from discovery and develop a solution to your validated problem area.

The programme runs for 10 weeks: 1 week to get ready, 8 weeks working time, 1 week to wrap up.

You are invited to apply for up to £60,000, which will be a mix of grant funding and support from a digital agency/expert.

For more information or to apply click here.

Source: Catalyst