Funding support
Project Funding may be made available to existing or new
Children's University centres. The below form should give you the
opportunity to present us with all the information we will need to
understand your application in as straightforward a fashion as
possible. Please feel encouraged to let us know if anything is
unclear and to suggest any ways in which we might improve the
process. You can be assured that we will wish to support you
throughout your application and that our overriding concern is to
ensure that we sponsor projects that will bring the greatest
benefit to children.
As you will understand, it is essential that you feel able to
support our aims and these are set out for your information in the
CU Membership documentation on our website.
When it comes to providing project funding, our criteria are
more specific than those set out in the CU Membership document.
This is because the funding is devoted specifically to support
provision for the most disadvantaged children - by this we mean
children who are either in one of the government's 86 Neighbourhood
Renewal Unit areas in England or children who are otherwise
identified by clearly evidenced measures of deprivation.
Within the above definition, project funding can be made
available to sustain and/or develop provision in existing
Children's University centres or to provide start-up funding for
new provision in formerly active or new centres.
It is important, for the children who will benefit, that any
provision we support will have a strong chance of being sustainable
in the long term. Proposals are therefore assessed not just with
regard to the quality of provision that will be offered to children
but also with regard to the potential sustainability of a project
beyond the point at which project funding may cease. The
information you supply should therefore, please, address both of
these issues.
The process for Funding Applications is as follows:
- Please download the below application form. The checklist below
can be used to draft your interim and final reports.
- A meeting takes place between the Chief Executive of the
Children's University's and a representative of the provider, to
support the application process, involving discussion of the local
context and the CU agenda. Any existing provision is seen in
action, relevant documentation is reviewed, key partners are met
and the application process is clarified.
- Thereafter, there will be regular contact between the provider
and the Children's University. Where necessary, further visits take
place to review the application and assist in its further
development.
- The completed Funding Application is submitted before the
agreed deadline.
The Funding Application is scrutinised by the Children's
University officers within an educational, operational and
financial context against the membership criteria of the CU and
with regard to measures of deprivation.
- Any matters requiring resolution are raised at this point and,
if necessary, a revised Funding Application is requested.
- Final scrutiny by the Children's University takes place before
written recommendations are made to the Trustees who decide the
outcome of the Funding Application process. Prior to the Trustees'
meeting, providers may be asked to present additional documentation
or other evidence, and may be invited to the Trustees' meeting for
interview and/or presentation.
- Where Trustees are unable to provide grant funding or where
Trustees require an application to be resubmitted, the Children's
University meets with the provider to offer feedback and advice on
the next steps.
- Once approved, the CU Manager will be notified then an Award of
Grant letter will be drawn up and issued. On return of the signed
letter, funding will be paid quarterly by cheque to the stated
legal entity, via the CU Manager, in line with the expenditure
breakdown in section 4.1. Interim progress reports are required
before the third and fourth quarterly payments are issued. Reports
must include progress made against the targets in the approved
Funding Application and adherence to CU policies e.g. numbers of
children, hours, public Learning Destinations, CU
Validators as well as CU Chancellor details, confirmation
graduation ceremonies take place with CU Certification at Higher
Education Institutions (including caps and gowns), Passports To
Learning and Learning Destination posters and
stickers are issued. A final report is required within one month of
the project end date.
If you wish to apply for funding and become a Children's
University, please
1) Contact the Children's University Head Office,
2) Then complete and submit the application form:
The below checklist can be used to draft your interim and
final repoorts for ongoing CU funding support
applications:
