Eligibility Criteria for Organisations*:

• Organisations/groups must be a not for profit / Voluntary, Community or Social Enterprise (VCS) Organisation.  Types of eligible VCS organisations would include:
  • Charitable Incorporated Organisations (CIOs) registered with the Charities Commission,
  • Charitable Companies, registered with Companies house and the charity commission.
  • Community organisations who are Companies Limited by Guarantee (CLG) with no share capital and are registered with Companies House,
  • Community Interest Companies (CICs) which are not established or conducted for private gain: any surplus or assets are used exclusively for the benefit of the community,
  • Organisations may be required to submit a copy of their governing document, which shows a charitable / not for profit purpose.
• Organisations/groups must have been established for at least 1 year
• Organisations/groups must have a bank account in the organisation’s name, with two or more unrelated signatories
• Any reserves accrued by organisations are used to support your organisation (i.e., not for profit)
• Organisations have produced annual accounts (or you set up your organisation less than 15 months ago and haven’t produced annual accounts yet).
• Organisations must have a dissolution clause in place
• The organisation has at least two unconnected people on the board or committee.  By ‘unconnected’ we mean not related by blood, marriage, in a long-term relationship or people living together at the same address.
• Organisations/groups must have appropriate minimum standards in place to adhere to DofE licencing requirements.  This includes:
  • A safeguarding and/or child protection policy
  • A health and safety policy
  • Insurance documentation
  • Equal opportunities policy
  • An offsite visits policy (or similar).
  • To become a directly licenced centre (DLC), organisations must be incorporated
• The organisation is willing / able to contribute towards the reduced DofE licence fee (Year 1 will be fully covered by the grant, and 50% in year 2).
• Where possible, we will also need details of two contacts as part of your application, one of whom will be the legally responsible contact for any grant awarded; these must also be unconnected

Eligible geographic areas:

Funded organisations will need to operate within one or more of the following areas: 

• Greater Manchester, to include Manchester, Salford, Rochdale, Oldham, and Tameside 
• Liverpool City Region, to include Liverpool, Knowsley, Halton, and St Helens
• East Midlands, for year 1 the focus will be in Nottingham and Leicester City (In subsequent years, this will be broadened out to include Mansfield, Ashfield, Northeast Lincolnshire, East Lindsey, Peterborough, Fenland and Corby).
• Northern Ireland, the project will be country wide.
• West Central Scotland, to include Glasgow City, West Dunbartonshire, Inverclyde, North Ayrshire, Renfrewshire, North Lanarkshire, and South Lanarkshire.
• London and Greater London: Two posts will cover Greater London, with the geographical area split between them. Primary target areas will be: Barking and Dagenham, Hackney, Newham, Islington, Tower Hamlets, Haringey, Lewisham, Southwark, and Lambeth.  We will consider applications outside these areas in London on a case by case basis. 

Grants of up to £10,250 for partner organisations are available to help get set up and support their young people to take part.  The funding can be tailored to the organisation’s needs and can vary as the project progresses. Examples of what would be included in the funding package are:  

• A contribution to the DofE Licence Fee. 
• Funded participation places for young people to enrol on DofE. 
• Access to staff or volunteer training courses – to include DofE training and National Governing Body Qualifications.  
• The provision of an Expedition provider to run the expedition section for the organisation.
• Expedition/Sectional equipment as required.
• Support for delivery of the skills, volunteering, or physical aspects of the award – this could be training or equipment. 

Funding Package per organisation: 

The overall funding available for each centre is split across a three-year project period, with most of the funding for year one to establish the project. There is flexibility in how organisations can apply the funding.   

A DofE Operations Officer will work in conjunction with the partner organisation to ensure challenges are identified and appropriate support given, with the help of the Regional Team.  Should we identify a barrier to engagement that has not been accounted for, then we will consider reallocating costs as required. 

Example of funding across the 3 years (organisations can tailor this to their needs) 

Year 1: 

• DofE licence fee (100%) 
• Equipment for young people – Expedition equipment or equipment identified to access a sectional activity.
• DofE participation places
• Adult leader training costs – delivered by the DofE or Governing Body 

Year 2: 

• DofE participation places  
• Licence fee subsidised (50%)
• Adult training costs – delivered by DofE / NGB 

Year 3:

• DofE participation places  

Equipment and Training:

Equipment is likely to be key to setting up the DofE, whether for the expedition, or other aspects of the award. The funded equipment purchased is owned and retained by the organisation and should be loaned but not given permanently to participants. All items should be purchased within 12 months of receiving funding. Invoices/receipts will be requested at the end of the year. 

We will only fund reusable expedition equipment. Requesting to fund single-use items, such as gas canisters, will cause grant applications to be rejected. 

Training will also be key, and the DofE have courses available to help you get set up and for the expedition aspects of the award.  Your Operations Officer will be able to give you further information on these.  The funding can also be used for training to enable delivery of the volunteering, skills, or physical aspects of the award, for example through National Governing Bodies.

The Operations Officer and incoming DofE Manager at each partner organisation will need to create an Action Plan, which sets out how the Licensed Organisation or Centre will develop their provision over the first year, which will then be updated and re-submitted as part of the annual reporting requirements for the grant. This will need to be submitted to the Project Manager within eight weeks of receiving funding. 

We will ask you to work with us to complete an annual monitoring report, which will help us evaluate impact and so we can report back on the success of the project to our funders Julia and Hans Rausing. These reports help us to ensure that your project remains on track, that we adhere to Fundraising and Financial regulations and give us the opportunity to collect case studies to showcase your project.   

Our reports will ask you to share statistics, impact, financial spend, quotes, case studies and will include the following themes: 

• Opportunity: How the funding enabled the removal of barriers to the DofE and opportunities for more marginalised young people to take part. 
• Innovation: Tell us about how you were able to take new and novel approaches to entrenched problems. Please tell us about any challenges or learning to arise. 
• Resilience: How the project has supported the young people you work with to become more resilient in the face of multiple challenges. 
• Sustainability: tell us about how the funding will enable you to continue to offer the DofE to your young people. 

Our Operations Officers will help compile this annual report, and once complete it will trigger the payment of the subsequent year of grant that has been applied for. 

To find out more, contact us directly at [email protected]g.  Your local Operations Officer will be able to discuss the project and how we can support your organisation.