495 Applications Received - What Happens Next?!

An incredible response for our first funding round, which we are hugely proud, and slightly over-awed, by! Applications came in from all over the world - 79 different countries in total!

We know things have been a little quiet from us over the past few weeks, so we wanted to give you an update on what's been happening behind the scenes as we move through our first full grant round.

Last week we brought our Advisory Council together for a calibration session ahead of shortlisting. With such a broad and varied pool of applications, it was important that everyone assessing projects was working from the same understanding of what we're looking for, and scoring in a consistent way.

The session covered:

- What makes a strong application, and the kinds of things we look for in a project

- How to score against our six criteria, tailored separately for Regeneration and Participation applications

- Working through examples together to align scoring standards across the whole council

Preliminary assessment of all Impact tier applications is now complete, and these projects are moving into shortlisting under the Advisory Council's review.

Initial assessment of Momentum tier applications is currently underway, with shortlisting for that tier to follow in the coming weeks.

The Breadth of Projects we're Reviewing

It's been a genuine privilege to see the range and creativity in the applications we've received, including projects that:

- Train volunteer instructors to enable more disabled children to take part in snowsports

- Grow seedlings and replant forests following severe and damaging wildfires, alongside education to help prevent future incidents

- Collect second-hand cricket equipment to distribute to local and international clubs, helping low-income and marginalised youth get into the sport

- Trial and develop a missing section of an industry pollution benchmark, helping protect freshwater and marine environments

We'll continue working through Momentum tier assessment over the coming weeks, with shortlisting by the Advisory Council to follow for that tier shortly. Then comes initial assessments for the Seed and Micro Donation tiers.

We'll keep you updated as we move closer to funding decisions, which will start to take place during September

Thank you, as ever, for your interest and support.