Applying for UK Aid Match: Everything you need to know

LONDON — The United Kingdom government has announced a new round of UK Aid Match funding, as part of which it will match public donations to charities working on the long-term effects of the coronavirus pandemic, girls’ education, malnutrition, and malaria. The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office announced Monday that it will match public donations up to £2 million ($2.6 million) for successful applicants. “The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted us all, and the focus of this new funding will help tackle the global challenges that have become even more acute,” said FCDO Minister Liz Sugg. “Charities from across the U.K. can now apply for match funding to help address the long-term impacts of COVID-19, end preventable deaths, and support girls to receive a vital education.” NGOs are invited to apply on a government portal, which opened Monday and closes Dec. 18. Programs should be focused on the least-developed countries or those affected by conflict. At least £100,000 will need to be raised by charities themselves from the U.K. public in order for the government’s matching pledge to kick in. “With a 46% success rate, it’s pretty encouraging and probably worth the time and investment in doing it.” --— Karen Stephenson, fund director, MannionDaniels The announcement comes at a time of great uncertainty for many NGOs grappling with the double burden of having more work and less money. But with previous applicants complaining of a resource intensive and complex process to access the funding, should your organization apply? Read on for Devex’s guide to applying for UK Aid Match. Why apply? UK Aid Match is different from other government funding for NGOs because it contains a strong public engagement component. Not only must charities make a strong programmatic case in their application, but they must also secure media partners who agree to communicate the appeals in their own way. In past appeals, global development charity Practical Action has worked with Bauer Media — owner of a number of media brands including Kiss FM and Absolute Radio — which promoted the appeal on its network of radio stations, while Islamic Relief worked with regional newspapers and HuffPost, according to staff involved in the process. There are two objectives to this, according to Karen Stephenson, fund director at MannionDaniels, which manages the fund for FCDO and works with the NGOs that apply throughout the process. These are “to drive public engagement [and] increase public awareness and perceptions of the values of aid, and see that implemented through an effective, well-designed project.” For Practical Action, UK Aid Match is not only the major fundraising appeal of the year, but also a “really positive experience,” according to Andrew Heath, external engagement manager at the charity. The challenge of the communications aspect — charities are required to find enticing story hooks for their work — helped “focus minds” and encouraged cooperation across teams that usually work separately. The experience “really galvanizes staff” and “helps us do stuff we wouldn't normally do or try,” Heath told Devex. The communication campaigns allowed the charity to reach new audiences, and participating in the scheme more broadly was a “brilliant learning experience” and allowed staff to build relationships with FCDO officials, according to Heath. The money’s not bad, either. “We think it uplifts [donations] by 25 to 50% probably,” Heath said. “We get a load of unrestricted fundraising from that and the restricted match as well. It’s a huge uplift from what we'd do without it.” This experience isn’t unique. “We’ve got huge amounts of money [from it],” said Judith Escribano, head of communications and creative content at Islamic Relief UK, which has also worked on UK Aid Match applications with Age International. And Stephenson said the fund has a “very high” success rate — 46% of applicants are approved. What’s the catch? This huge potential does come at a cost. “It’s onerous, it’s a lot of work, which is not surprising because it’s a lot of money,” Escribano said. Heath agreed. “It’s a very consuming process, it’s almost like a specialism in itself. … It’s very, very helpful to have been through it successfully once or twice because it enables you to build up that experience of what they are looking for,” he said. The intensive application and reporting requirements could be especially detrimental to smaller charities, that may only raise £100,000 from the scheme, Escribano said. She added: “If FCDO were to request less onerous reporting from the smaller agencies or those with smaller grants, I imagine that would be very helpful.” Stephenson said while there are some “fundamental bits of information that we need,” feedback from previous funding rounds had led to a “streamlined” concept note. Other conditions, like getting commitment letters from media partners when submitting concept notes, has been changed to an easier-to-obtain expression of interest. Escribano also highlighted concerns with how much media exposure was provided by the government, and said it appeared some charities receive much more exposure than others. But this was counterbalanced by the “kudos” and “legitimacy” of being seen as trusted partners of the U.K. government. Advice for applicants FCDO is, naturally, looking for engaging story hooks for communication campaigns, and solid, evidence-based project proposals that are “very clear about what the intended change will be,” according to Stephenson. This should be “realistic and achievable” — just like the audience targets for the campaigns. “We’re not scoring based on numbers [for projected communications reach] going into proposals,” Stephenson said. She also encouraged organizations to think about innovative communications strategies, rather than just using traditional media, speak with previous applicants, and read all the advice available online. But NGOs should also be mindful that they are working with the government — and remember it might take longer than expected to get approval for communications. “They [FCDO] want to approve everything, they approve every single tweet, every single Facebook post, every single Instagram story — everything,” Escribano said. This can make it harder to create reactive content, she added. Escribano also advised not panicking if a media partner drops out, as the former Department for International Development, which previously ran the scheme, had been flexible on new partners in the past. Anything else to consider? The amount of money involved, the uncertainty of winning it and the lengthy timespan — applications going in now won’t launch as appeals until October next year and will not be functioning projects until April 2022 — makes organizational planning, particularly around budgets, “very difficult,” according to Heath. The timeline also means Practical Action is “in a constant cycle of delivering and applying,” he added. This timing is based on feedback received from NGOs, Stephenson said. Both a concept note and then a full proposal are required. As enough time is needed to write and review applications “it’s getting a fine balance between both,” she added, highlighting that a one stage process would be a bigger initial application and greater risk for NGOs. While Stephenson maintained the process was “not that intimidating and more straightforward than they [charities] realize,” she advised looking at the “cost and time implication of creating this bid both on the comms and the project side, but equally keep in mind that with a 46% success rate, it’s pretty encouraging and probably worth the time and investment in doing it.”