Open Call – for projects

Introduction

The Youth Endowment Fund’s Open Call funding round invites proposals from delivery organisations that work to reduce young people’s involvement in violence and are ready for rigorous evaluation.

Unlike previous rounds, which were open for applications for a limited amount of time and focused on specific themes like Positive Activities or Psychological Therapies, this Open Call is ongoing and for projects from across all our focus sectors.

As a What Works Centre, our aim is to build strong evidence for practices and approaches in areas where clear gaps exist.  We fund delivery of services only in order to evaluate them and identify what works to reduce young people’s involvement in violence.

Please note, funding is only available for projects delivered in England or Wales.

What we’ll invest in

Projects must align with one of our seven focus sectors

To help us make the biggest difference over the ten years of our endowment, we’ve selected a set of sectors where we’ll concentrate our funding and learning. We believe these sectors present some of the biggest opportunities to improve support for children and young people who are at risk of becoming involved in violence.

Applications are open to projects working in one of the following sectors:

1. Youth sector
2. Children’s services
3. Youth Justice
4. Policing
5. Neighbourhoods
6. Health
7. Education

Projects must support children at risk of violence

Projects must primarily support children and young people aged 10–18 who are either:

• At risk of crime or violence (‘secondary prevention’), or
• Already affected by violence, offending or exploitation (‘tertiary prevention’).

While children outside this age range can be included, they should not be the primary focus.

Please note, that we are not accepting projects aimed at universal provision for all children and young people (i.e. ‘primary prevention’).

Projects must be ready for an impact evaluation

We are looking for well-established projects that are operating at a reasonable scale or have clear plans to scale up. These projects should be suitable for a full impact evaluation.

The impact of projects will be measured against one of YEF’s primary outcomes:

• Reducing violent offending
• Reducing non-violent offending
• Reducing victimisation by crime
• Reducing behavioural difficulties
• Reducing drug and alcohol use
• Reducing sexually violent offending
• Reducing bullying perpetration
• Reducing influence of criminal peers

Your application must include existing evidence of the positive impact your programme or approach has on the children and young people you intend to reach.  Evidence can include, but is not limited to: academic literature, data on outcomes, evaluations published inside or outside the UK, existing feasibility/pilot studies.  Unfortunately, general press stories which do not link to evidence are not sufficient.  If you cannot reference any evidence your application will not be considered.

Projects must help us to build evidence for what works

We welcome proposals that will help fill evidence gaps and build a robust understanding of what works to prevent children becoming involved in violence .

Before applying, please review our portfolio of funded projects. If your proposal is similar to an existing project, you’ll need to clearly explain how your approach is different and why it will generate new evidence.

For example, we have funded several mentoring projects. To consider funding another, we would need to understand how it addresses a distinct and meaningful gap not covered by existing projects.

Other important information about this grant round

• YEF funding is only available for projects delivered in England or Wales.
• Projects must recruit a minimum number of children and young people for evaluation. The exact number will depend on the intervention type, but as a guide:
  • Secondary prevention projects should deliver the intervention to at least 400 participants and recruit 400 more for a control group (800 total)*.
  • Tertiary prevention projects should deliver the intervention to at least 200 participants and recruit 200 for a control group (400 total)*.
• We expect the maximum project delivery time required to reach the necessary number of children and young people for an impact evaluation to be 24 months.

*Please note, these figures were updated on 07/11/24

Application guidance

Please read our application guidance for more information about this funding round, our eligibility criteria and application process.

This guidance is for projects delivering support and services to children and young people. Separate guidance aimed at evaluators will be published shortly.

How to apply

Please read the application guidance carefully before starting your application. This grant round is an open call for proposals and has no fixed closing date.

The application form is split into two parts:

• Part One – A high-level summary of the proposed intervention and target cohort.

• Part Two – Further detail on the intervention and the delivery organisation.

We aim to assess all part one applications within ten working days.  If we believe your proposal has promise, we will send you a link to the part two application.

Please note, this application form is for projects delivering support to children and young people. A separate application page and form for evaluators will be published shortly.

Please note: this call for proposals will remain open for the foreseeable future, it does not have a closing date and there is no current cap on the number of applications which will be considered.  A well considered application is the best route to success, please don’t feel the need to rush, all applications will be assessed.

Questions

If you have any questions or are not sure that you’re eligible, you can contact us at grants@youthendowmentfund.org.uk