Application Process
If you have an idea that may benefit your community, and your organisation falls into one of the categories outlined in the who we support section, you could be eligible for funding and support from the Key Fund. At any stage in this process please feel free to telephone Key Fund if you have any questions.
Step-by-step guide for applicants
Initial Step
Before making an application, if you are unsure about anything, please contact us on 0845 140 1400 to discuss the suitability of your project for funding. Then complete and return to us the Initial Enquiry Form.
Step 1 – Receipt of Initial Enquiry Form from you
Once we have received your Initial Enquiry Form we will make a first assessment of eligibility and contact you to discuss the next step.
If eligibility and other criteria are met we will ask you to complete an Application Pack. The Application Pack will be sent to you from the Key Fund by post or email. Your application may be declined at this step if your proposal is not eligible for support.
Step 2 – Apply
Please complete and return the application form to us together with the documentation listed on the form. Your return must include financial information and in this respect assistance should be sought from a local Business Support Agency if necessary (please contact our development team for more information about your local agency if required).
Step 3 –Development Period
A Client Officer(s) will be allocated to your application and will undertake an initial review. Usually this review will identify some documentation and/or additional information that will be required to strengthen your application. In this event, contact will be made by telephone in order that you can provide the necessary information by phone, fax, email or post. If this initial review is satisfactory then the Client Officer will arrange to visit you in order to get to know your Social Enterprise better and to further develop your application.
In some circumstances the Client Officer will recommend that you seek guidance from a Business Support Agency (if you have not already done so) to help you further develop your application.
Once the Client Officer is satisfied with the information provided they will complete an Assessment Report, in which they will develop a concise summary of your proposal.
Your application may be declined at this stage if the assessment shows that your proposal is not sufficiently developed or ineligible. Alternatively, you may be asked for further information.
If the Client Officer is sufficiently satisfied with the bid, it will be passed on to an internal assessor for an independent view.
Step 4 – Internal Assessment Period
The Assessment Report and application will then be assessed by an Internal Assessor working for the Key Fund, who takes an independent view of your proposal. The assessor will consider how robust your proposal is, the level of risk that it presents to the Key Fund, how it fits in with the funds priorities and whether the enterprise is 'investment ready'.
This stage is usually undertaken during the first week of the calendar month. Following this internal assessment your Client Officer may make further contact with you to ask for additional information to assist you in making your application more robust. You will be advised of the outcome of the Internal Assessment.
Your application may be declined at this step. If your assessment is approved at this stage then it will be submitted to the next available Key Fund Investment Panel.
Step 5 – Panel Decision
A copy of the Assessment Report and your application will then be forwarded, usually at the start of week 3 of the calendar month, to the members of the Key Fund Panel. The Key Fund Panel takes a view on the overall 'investment readiness' of all proposals and is made up of a group of independent social enterprise practitioners and investment experts from across the region.
Your application will be discussed at the Panel meeting (held at the month end) and either will be approved, sometimes subject to conditions, deferred or declined.
Please note that the Key Fund Panel meets on the last Friday of most months but not every month. Usually it does not meet in August or December.
You will be contacted during the week following Panel by your Client Officer regarding the outcome of the panel and this will be followed up with written confirmation usually within one week. If successful, documentation will be forwarded to you for your completion. You must sign and return all documents to us as soon as possible.
Step 6 – Monitoring and Evaluation
As part of the terms and conditions of receiving an award from us, all successful applications will be subject to monthly monitoring. You will be asked to provide documentary evidence of spend, match funding and achievement of outputs as well as submission of monthly management accounts and annual audited accounts. A dedicated team of Monitoring Officers is available to support you in complying with the monitoring requirements.
Additionally, The Key Fund continually evaluates the quality of the service it provides. This not only ensures that we remain able to meet and respond to the needs of our customers, it also enables us to report back to our funders on the impact of our intervention and helps us to assess and develop the service and products we offer. We have adopted a 2 stage evaluation process. The first stage seeks feedback on the quality of service you have received from us and involves completing a short Evaluation Form, which will be sent to you with your first set of monitoring papers. After you have completed the monitoring process, a Monitoring Officer will contact you by telephone to discuss how your enterprise has progressed since we funded you.
From time to time we may also request additional information from you in order to respond to requests from our funders and/or to compile statistical reports to Government Offices.
