Apply to TFN Herts

Thank you for applying to TFN Herts! This event will take place on Wednesday 22 May at The Pioneer Club (Heathlands Drive Harpenden Road, St. Albans, AL3 5AY).

Please read the guidelines below and contact Inês if you have any questions.

Deadline for applications is Sunday 31 March at 5pm.

Event format

TFN Herts is a live crowdfunding event for Hertfordshire-based charities. If selected, your charity will have 6 minutes to pitch and 6 minutes for Q&A. Once all three pitches end, we’ll start an auction-style session to raise £6,000 for each charity. Given the nature of our events you may raise more or less than this target.

You’ll need a presenter – ideally a director, founder or another member of staff; and a sponsor who is willing to give a support statement at the event and make the first £100 donation. They must know the charity and not stand to gain personally from funds raised (ie cannot be an employee).

Is my organisation eligible to apply?

TFN supports charities and social enterprises that aim to achieve social change. These are organisations that have the potential to enable enduring positive transformation for individuals, communities, society and/or the environment over the long term.

We’re particularly interested in initiatives that support an under-represented cause, are at an early stage of development, or are piloting a new solution.

In addition:

TFN does not support organisations which involve the promotion of any specific religion or political party
Applicant organisations do not have to be a registered charity but must be a registered not-for-profit with charitable aims
All applicants to this event must work primarily in Hertfordshire
Applicant organisations should have an annual income of under £300,000
Applicant organisations must have a sponsor

Organisations that have already pitched at TFN Herts may re-apply. If you would like to discuss your options before completing your application please contact Inês.

Application guidance

You can save your progress. Click on the button at the top, enter your email address, set a password, and you’ll be able to access it later.
Do not provide links to other reading or documents. We’ll request all documents you need to send, and you should be able to explain your project within the wordcount.
Please review your questions before submitting.

Selection Process

The selection process is led by a selection panel (made up of representatives from TFN and Herts) and has two parts:

1) Applications are read and scored by the panel to create a shortlist

2) Shortlisted applicants will do a 10-minute online interview on (w/c 1 April) to select the three pitching

TFN always receives more applications than slots available but will we endeavour to give feedback to all applicants.

I confirm I have read and understood the application guidelines.

What information will you be asked for?

You can download a text version of the application questions here, which you may use to begin gathering the necessary responses and documents.

We anticipate that the application will take your 2-3 hours to complete; much of it asks for generic information about your organisation which we hope can be repurposed from elsewhere.

Organisational details

Date of Event you are applying to

Organisation Name

Name of this proposal

A couple of words or sentences summarising the project you are seeking funding for

Sponsor's First Name

Sponsor's Surname

Charitable Status

What year was your organisation founded?

Articles of Association

TFN will only support organisations limited by shares if it is written into their governing documents that 100% of any profits are reinvested back into the organisation. We will not support organisations if they have the potential to pay dividends to non-charity shareholders now, or in the future. To confirm your status please attach your Articles of Association.

Please provide brief details on your current status (30 words max)

Please provide an outline of your organisation structure and how you meet TFN's criteria of being not for profit with charitable aims.

Registered Charity Number

Company Registration Number

Address Line 1

Town/City

Post Code

Presenter's First Name

The person who will pitch your work if selected

Presenter's Surname

Presenter's Job Title

Presenter's Contact Telephone

Presenter's Contact Email

Is the presenter the main contact for this application?

YesNo

Main contact's first name

Main contact's surname

Main contact's email address

Your Application

1. Please provide a succinct description of your organisation (30 words max)

2. Who does your organisation serve? (40 words max)

3. What issues does your organisation address? (100 words max)

4. How do you address those issues? (200 words max)

5. What sets you apart from other organisations in the same space? (250 words max)

6. What is your impact to date? (150 words max)

7. What is the purpose of the funding you are applying for?

If other, please provide more details (max 30 words)

8. How would you use the £6,000 to make a difference? (150 words max)

9. How would you monitor the impact of the funds? (150 words)

Please upload project or operational budget here

10. Sponsor’s statement (100 words max)

A brief statement from your sponsor outlining why they think your organisation is worth supporting, and details of any affiliation between the sponsor and the organisation.

Financial Information

11. What was your income in the last full financial year? (in GBP, amount only)

12. What is your projected income in the current financial year? (50 words max)

13. What is your reserves policy? (50 words max)

14. What were your free reserves (funds that your charity has which can be freely spent on any of its charitable purposes, ie unrestricted) in your last published accounts? (numbers only)

15. What’s your current level of free reserves? (numbers only)

16. What are your main sources of funding and how long are these secured for? (150 words max)

Accounts

Please upload your most recent accounts here. If you do not yet have a set of annual accounts, please attach your most recent management accounts.

Monitoring Information

Governance

17. How does the Board of trustees/Directors reflect the interests of the people you serve? (75 words max)

18. If you work with vulnerable people, do you have a safeguarding policy in place?

If no, please explain why not (50 words)

If you are not a registered UK charity, please provide names of your Directors or Board members (charities registered with the UK Charity Commission may leave blank).

Full name

Monitoring and Evaluation

19. Need your organisation addresses

20. Group your organisation supports

21. Do you consider your organisation to be primarily led by a minoritised or marginalised group (e.g. members of the LGBT+ community, people with disabilities, minority ethnic groups)?

This is purely for monitoring purposes and will not be shared or affect the outcome of your application.

If yes, please give details. (50 words max.)

Publicity

If selected to pitch at the event, we will use the below materials to promote the event and your involvement. Please add in as many items as you are able to at this stage.

Images

Please add as many of the below images as you can. Please make sure that images are high quality (around 5MB is great). The total upload limit on this form is 35MB, so if your accounts or budget are large files you may not be able to upload these images, in which case please email them to info@thefundingnetwork.org.uk.

If you do not have these images readily available, don't worry - we'll follow up with you for them if you are selected.

Image of your work in action

If you work with children or vulnerable people, please make sure consent is given to use this photo.

Your organisation's logo

Headshot of your presenter

Please note, this doesn’t need to be a professional photo. A clear forward-facing shot is fine.

Website and social media

Website

Instagram

X

Facebook

If selected, the images you provide and the text in this application may be made publicly available in publicity materials

I consent to the images provided and content of the application form being used in publicity materials