Following the Festivals of Ideas, we have challenged third sector innovators to act on the advice and intelligence they have received, connect and collaborate with the contacts they made and continue to develop their work. The next key milestone in the Innovation Exchange process is 31st July, which is the last day on which people can submit expressions for interest in our Next Practice programme, which includes access to the NESTA Innovation Exchange Fund.
The Next Practice programme is our chance to work with the very best of third sector innovation in relation to independent living and excluded young people. We aim to help third sector innovators to develop, evaluate and grow their work. We will do this by offering both generic in-kind support - coaching support and a small number of events - and bespoke support, designed around projects’ particular characteristics.
The Next Practice programme is open to third sector organisations working in England. Due to the way funding for the third sector is devolved, unfortunately this programme is not open to participants from other parts of the UK.
Applicants for the Next Practice programme will also be able to apply to receive a share of the NESTA Innovation Exchange Fund. This Fund is designed to provide additional support to the most significant projects with the greatest potential to grow to scale. Funding will support further work to develop and demonstrate an innovation and/or to rigorously evaluate it. Funding awards will be of up to £50k.
We are very grateful to NESTA for providing this funding. However, please note that this fund is being administered by Innovation Exchange and applicants should not seek to contact NESTA directly.
We have now published final details about the Next Practice programme and associated fund and are open to expressions of interest.
Click here for information about the Next Practice programme and associated Fund
Click here for the application form for the Next Practice programme, which will need to be submitted by email by 5pm on 31st July.
(Some people who use Firefox or Safari rather than Internet Explorer have had trouble down-loading this application form in Word format. Try clicking here instead. If you are still unable to access the file, please contact Raj Cheema and she will email itto you. You can view a pdf of the application form for information here, but you must submit the form electronically, filling in the Word file).
We hope that this information is as comprehensive as possible. Where people ask us questions whose answers may be of use to others, we will publish them in our FAQ document.
To give a sense of the kinds of projects under discussion at the recent Festivals of Ideas and to give a sense of the kinds of projects that might feature under the Next Practice programme, we have put together a set of opportunity areas for both independent living and excluded young people, based on work so far. Crucially, while these may inform expressions of interest, they are absolutely not intended to limit the kinds of project supported under this programme. The themes are merely indicative and they are explicitly intended to be pulled apart and second-guessed.
