FAQs - Application process

All appeals to be funded under the pilot must be approved by 30 June 2012. To allow time for assessment, applications must be received no later than Friday 11 May 2012. DFID will review applications as they are received and provide a response within one month. When the £30m available for the scheme is committed, no further new applications will be accepted.

An organisation can submit only one application at a time. Additional applications may be submitted once a decision to approve or reject the previous application has been made.

Yes – each organisation can have a maximum of three UK Aid Match grants at any one time.

Applications can be made for any amount above a minimum of £100,000. DFID will assess how realistic estimates of fund raising are by considering the performance of previous appeals. Prior to the appeal, DFID will agree to provide a provisional amount of grant funding based on expected levels of fund raising. Once the appeal is completed, the grant amount will be amended to match exactly the amount of funds raised from public donations.

If an appeal expects to raise more than £5 million, DFID will discuss with the receiving organisation the level of the UK Aid Match grant which DFID can provide.

We do not have a pre-set number of grants that we are seeking to fund. The final number of grants that we support will depend on the quality of the bids received and the funds available.

DFID will manage the scheme.

Applicants are required to submit a completed application form with supporting documentation. There are separate application forms for applying for project funding and unrestricted funding. The supporting documents are:

• For project funding, a fully completed budget template , or

• For unrestricted funding, a logical framework setting out the objectives of the organisation and additional impact the organisation expects to achieve through UK Aid Match Funding

• A copy of, or link to, the constitution of the organisation that will receive the match funding

• The recipient organisation’s most recent annual audited accounts

• If the fund raising is for a project, a maximum 1 A4 page CV of the lead person carrying out the project

• Evidence of the appeal media partnership (e.g. a letter).

If successful in passing the initial assessment applicants will then be required to submit two further documents: a logical framework (unless already submitted, for unrestricted funding) and a communications plan. The logical framework template and guidance on completion is available here

• Logical framework [XLS - 28 KB]opens in a new window
• Logframe guidance note [PDF - 237 KB]opens in a new window

Your application will be assessed and scored by DFID staff against the following criteria.

i) Minimum eligibility criteria, scored as pass or fail

• Correct documentation, as listed in the question above

• Target countries  meet the criteria set out above

• Proposed activities do not contravene the list of proscribed activities

• Proposed activities run for 36 months or less

• The recipient organisation is: UK based; a Not For Profit; established for at least 2 years; not on the list of proscribed organisation types; not conducting one of the proscribed activities.

• The appeal: is estimated to raise more than £100,000; will secure donations from the UK public; has an agreed communications partnership

• The proposed level of support will mean that the organisation receives no more than 40% of its annual income from DFID 

Providing the minimum eligibility criteria are met, the application will then be assessed against the following criteria (scored on a 4 point scale)

• Appeal reach and capacity - includes number of opportunities to view, scale of funds to be raised , strength of communications partnership, track record of running appeals

• Project/organisation objectives  - includes consistency with DFID values/priorities, scale of planned results, clear linking of activities to outcomes, convincing beneficiary analysis, sustainability

• Financial viability and value for money 

• Project management capacity, including monitoring and evaluation

• Financial management capacity

• Transparency and accountability

• (for unrestricted funding only) Partnership behaviour

The application should come with letters that support the claims made in the application as necessary. Communications partnerships can be provisional at the time of application (a letter will suffice to confirm a provisional agreement), but before DFID agrees to a UK Aid Match commitment, there must be formal  confirmation of partners and their roles in the appeal, with written commitments from both the media partner and the recipient organisation.

No.  If public donations are match funded, then neither these funds, nor the additional funds provided by DFID can be used as resources to count towards the level of funding required for support from DFID under GPAF.  The total amount of funding raised from DFID, from all sources, must not exceed 40% of the recipient organisation’s total income.

Yes. We will not consider applications submitted in any other format.

No. All applications must be in English.

Sections 1-8 of the application form should be no longer than ten A4 pages, using Arial 12 pt font. The first page guidance note is not included in the page limit.

No. All applications must be in Arial Font 12 and keep within the page limits.

No. All applications must be sent electronically as a word (*.doc) document to UKAidMatch@dfid.gov.uk.

No. All applications must be typed and sent electronically in the format provided by DFID.

We will only take account of the information which is explicitly contained within your application when making the initial assessment of eligibility. You must not assume that we have any prior knowledge of your organisation/consortium or its work. However, if your application meets the basic criteria for funding, we may take account of the management and performance of previous projects funded by DFID when making final decisions.

Please find information on DFID’s values and priorities on DFID’s website using the following links:

• DFID values
• DFID priorities

When your application is received by DFID you will receive an automated message to confirm receipt. We will then review your application and a response with feedback will be given within one month. We will try to assess applications more quickly if required. A unique reference number will be issued to you and you must use this reference number in all communications with DFID about your application.

DFID will contact you to resolve any issues for clarification. We may also undertake a review of your organisation’s financial management capacity, including a visit to your office.

• You will then be asked to submit two further documents: a logical framework (unless already provided) and a communications plan. A template for the log-frame is available below. You will need to fill in the first two columns of the log-frame, and include information on the baseline, mile-stones and target dates where possible. You will also need to fill in the last column of the log-frame (assumptions and risks.) Further guidance on how to complete the log-frame is available below.

• The communications plan will set out what the recipient, and communications partner organisation(s) will do to publicise the appeal, including how they will report back to the public on how the funds have been used and the results they have achieved. DFID will provide a checklist to help applicants complete the communications plan.

Once the logframe and communications plans have been approved and any outstanding issues resolved, a grant arrangement document will be issued. The amount in the grant arrangement will be based on your estimated level of fundraising, and will be amended once the appeal is completed to reflect the actual amount raised by the appeal.

In line with DFID’s UK Aid Transparency Guarantee, all information about the grant will be published on DFID’s website. DFID will expect a similar level of transparency about the grant and how it is used from the recipient organisation in their own public communications.

When running the appeal, publicity will carry the UKaid logo, a link to the DFID website and the wording ‘Your donations will be matched by the Government pound for pound’ (or a modified version of this, as agreed with DFID).

• Logical framework [XLS - 28 KB]opens in a new window
• Logframe guidance note [PDF - 237 KB]opens in a new window

No. All decisions are final. There is no appeals process.

DFID will provide brief feedback on all applications.

Yes. An initial estimate based on track record will be made to give a sense of the level of funding required. However, DFID will commit to match fund, pound for pound, the level of funding raised in an appeal, although funding arrangements for appeals that raise over £5m will be subject to discussion between DFID and the recipient.

There is no formal resubmission process. You should consider very carefully the feedback provided on why your application was not accepted before deciding whether to submit a new application for the same initiative.

Yes.  DFID will only provide funding in response to the appeal over a period of three months or less. At the agreed cut-off date, DFID and the recipient organisation will agree the actual amount of money raised in the appeal and provide a UK Aid Match grant for the same amount.

The financial reporting requirements will differ, depending on whether restricted or unrestricted funding is sought.

Restricted funding will be provided quarterly, either in advance or in arrears, on the basis of an agreed project budget, and the grant holder will be required to report quarterly on the expenditure of UK Aid Match funds.

Unrestricted funding will be provided quarterly in advance. Organisations do not provide reporting on the use of the unrestricted funding. Instead, the unrestricted funding is referred to in the organisation’s annual audited accounts.

In both cases the grant holder is required to submit annual audited accounts and regular narrative progress reports to DFID.