Now closed
Please note this scheme is now closed.
The Medium Grant Scheme fund aimed to support local organisations in creating new jobs, learning, training, and educational programmes through arts, culture, innovation, public realm, and creative placemaking in Hackney, Newham, Waltham Forest, and Tower Hamlets.
The Medium Grant Scheme accepted applications ranging from £1,000 up to £15,000.
The scheme formed part of the Westfield East Bank Creative Futures Fund, an ambitious five-year programme that aimed to invest £10 million into the local communities of Newham, Tower Hamlets, Hackney, and Waltham Forest.
Funding Themes
The scheme funded projects that focused on one or more of the following themes:
Employment opportunities
Projects provided employment opportunities for local people, including access to paid work experience, internships, apprenticeships, or job placements.
Learning opportunities
Projects offered ladders of opportunity through learning and training for local people, including lifelong learning from early education through to post-retirement, as well as bespoke career and higher education support, training, and secondments.
Young people
Projects followed a young person-led approach, giving local young people access to skills development opportunities, careers workshops, related learning, and one-to-one coaching or mentoring.
Business and entrepreneur support
Projects provided local people with opportunities for business or entrepreneurial support, including freelance, start-up, development, and training programmes.
Outcomes
To aid understanding of the outcomes expected through the grants, we developed a user-centred process.
Outcomes were defined as the project’s short, medium, or long-term goals that would lead to meaningful impact for communities in the local boroughs. Applicants were asked to identify the number of outcomes their project would achieve, depending on the grant scheme they applied for.
We provided a list of 13 short, medium, and long-term outcomes to choose from:
| Short Term Outcomes | Medium/Long Term Outcomes |
|---|---|
| Participants gained technical, sector-specific, or creative skills | Increased employability of participants |
| Participants gained essential skills | Increased capacity for innovation and entrepreneurship |
| Participants grew their networks and awareness of local opportunities | Increased diversity in the creative/entrepreneurial sector in the boroughs |
| Participants gained confidence in their potential and self-initiative | More diverse audiences engaged with the cultural sector and benefited from community assets/services |
| Participants were better equipped to process difficult emotions | Participants acted as agents of change within the local community |
| Participants were equipped to act as agents of change in their boroughs | Organisations and schools integrated creative approaches within their projects |
| Organisations and schools were exposed to creative approaches to wellbeing | — |
For more information, please refer to our Guidance Notes.
In Year 4, we also offered Using the Outcome/Impact Framework workshops from 24 May to 14 September, run by The Social Investment Consultancy (TSIC). Booking links were available on our Capacity Building Programme webpage.
Local Engagement
In applications, we asked for details on the need for the project, how it was identified, and how local people or those with lived experience were involved in planning and development. Organisations were expected to demonstrate strong community links and networks to deliver activities and collaboratively achieve proposed outcomes.
Projects that addressed the following were considered more favourably:
Community engagement and consultation
Sustainability of projects (development of new ideas, leveraging additional funding)
Organisational growth (areas of learning, best practice, overall development)
Participants’ longer-term opportunities (follow-up support, paid work, further training, or education)
Case Studies
Our latest film featured Year 2 grantees Eastside, Loop Labs, and True Cadence.
The film was produced and directed by Chris Baker, with editing by Will Cole and colour grading by Harvey Gibson.
Open to
Please note this grant scheme is now closedFunding
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Duration
Outcomes
Categories
Activities
The Medium Grant Scheme focused on projects around the four themes of employment opportunities, learning opportunities, young people, and business and entrepreneurial support within the four boroughs of Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets, and Waltham Forest. Proposals from schools, non-profit groups, and organisations were all welcome.
The Fund aimed to create inclusive and sustainable opportunities — it backed a range of activities and innovative ideas that drove the proposed outcomes. The Foundation for Future London was a strong advocate for the ability of creativity to enable levelling up opportunities and to contribute meaningfully to the London economy. Therefore, it funded project activity that had origins in:
Arts, Culture, Heritage
Skills & Jobs
Business & Start Up
Community
Creative Ideas
Digital
Collaboration
Diversity & Inclusion
Intergenerational
Health, Wellbeing & Environment
Education
Creative, Inclusive Public Realm and/or Placemaking
Covid-19 Recovery
In addition, the following focus areas were expected:
For Medium Grants:
Stronger youth focus — future change makers
Capacity building
Direct training/workshops
Bursaries/travel expenses
Equality, diversity, and inclusion were at the forefront of the Foundation’s grant giving. Applications from all communities were actively encouraged, including Black, Asian, and ethnically diverse people, disabled and learning disabled individuals, unemployed and/or low-waged people, those without qualifications, vulnerably housed people, Gypsies and Travellers, LGBTQ+ individuals, children and young people, older people, and people with mental health or long-term health issues.
The Foundation aimed to ensure funding opportunities reached a wide audience and supported locally rooted charities and community-focused initiatives. Applications from individuals and organisations led by local people whose projects engaged and served East London’s diverse communities were also encouraged.
To understand the support areas and beneficiaries the Foundation’s funding sought to target, applicants were referred to the list of groups in the Guidance Notes.
Medium Grant Scheme projects were required to demonstrate a minimum of three short-, medium-, or long-term outcomes from the Foundation’s list of 13 goals, all of which aimed to deliver meaningful impact for communities in the local boroughs. The full list was available in the Guidance Notes.
Audiences
Timeline
The online application portal opened on Monday 24 July and closed on Friday 22 September 2023.
Grants were awarded in the week commencing 27 November 2023.
Projects commenced in January 2024 and were completed in January 2025.
Capacity Building Programme Workshops
To support applicants to the Medium Grant Scheme, Capacity Building Programme events were run in partnership with award-winning social entrepreneur Lisa Stepanovic.
Review Process
All applications were carefully reviewed and evaluated against the four key core foundation themes, as well as short-, medium-, and long-term goals, expected impact, user and beneficiary groups, and budgetary spend.
Shortlisting was carried out internally via our online system by three team members. Final awarding was decided by the Foundation’s Grant Assessment Panel. Feedback was provided to all applicants initially through the Capacity Building Programme workshops, followed by potential one-to-one requests, with the level of feedback dependent on the size of the grant applied for.
Additional Considerations
A strong youth focus was considered for Future Change Makers.
Consideration was given for the provision of direct training, workshops, bursaries, or travel expenses.
Schools applying were required to demonstrate that the funding requested would not be for core school day or curriculum activities.
Applicants requesting the maximum level of funding were required to provide evidence of why the full amount was needed and how it would be used.
Access Support & Flexigrant Technical Support
For access support or technical assistance with the Flexigrant online application system, applicants were asked to email: grants@future.london