LGBTQ+ COVID-19 Fund

About the Fund

The LGBTQ+ COVID-19 Fund is funded by Comic Relief, and METRO is the lead intermediary partner distributing these funds to the sector.

The Fund will operate in every nation of the UK, and its delivery will be supported by delivery partners in each nation.

These delivery partners are:

The Fund is for LGBTQ+ community-led organisations and groups to support their vital role in supporting LGBTQ+ communities through the coronavirus pandemic and beyond. Five regional panels will assess and allocate the funds.

The five Panels will be for the following areas:

Are we eligible to apply?

Applications are open to groups and organisations with an annual turnover under £100,000.

Your group or organisation must also:

What types of projects will be funded?

The fund is intended to support grassroots, local groups and organisations who can support LGBTQ+ communities through the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis and beyond.

The programme will not fund:

How do we apply?

Small grants applications will close on 22nd September 2020.

Medium/Large grants applications will close on 30th September 2020.

You must submit your completed application by emailing it to [email protected] by 5pm on the relevant closing date.

There are two separate application forms:

Please ensure you submit using the correct application form.

For small grants applications (under £5,000), you may choose to submit a video application. If you choose to submit in this way, you will need to ensure that all questions in the application form are covered in your video. If there is another format you would like to use to present your proposal, please do get in contact with us.

How will funding be awarded?

METRO will do an initial sift of applications to sift out applications which have not been completed or are not eligible. The remaining applications will then be sent to the relevant regional Panel.

Alongside assessing for quality, we are also aiming to ensure that, as far as possible, the whole geography of the UK and the intersections of the LGBTQ+ community are represented in the funding. This will guide the panels’ assessment process.

For small grants (under £5,000)

For small grants:

  1. the relevant regional Panel will first assess your application form/video
  2. The Panel will then shortlist applications
  3. Shortlisted applications will be invited to a short, Dragons Den style interview.
  4. The panel will then recommend successful applicants to the Partnership Board, who will award the funding.

All applications will be assessed against the following criteria:

For small grants, you will be assessed on the first two criteria with your application form/video, and then the starred criteria at interview stage.

For medium/large grants (over £5,000)

If you are applying for a grant of over £5,000, you will cover all criteria in your written application. The Panels will award successful grants based solely on your written application.

All applications will be assessed against the following criteria:

What will happen at the interview stage?

Medium/Large applications will not be interviewed, they will be decided by application only.  

Shortlisted small grants applicants will be invited to a Dragons Den style interview with the relevant regional Panel.

The interview will be:

At the interview you will need to:

If you are not sure about any of these questions, we will be offering training on these areas. If you are a small group/organisation who has not thought about these things before, please get in contact with us so that we can support you.

Can we get help with our application?

Please do get in contact with us if you would like some support with your application. We are happy to support you, especially if you do not frequently engage with funding and grants processes. Either email [email protected] or call us at 020 8305 5000 and ask for the Community Domain.

Most local areas of the UK will also have a Community Voluntary Services who can support you. To see if your area has one, you can check on the following sites:

You can also contact your local partner for support:

What will we need to do if successful?

METRO Charity will send you a grant acceptance email, which includes a declaration that you accept the terms and conditions of the grant, and will also ask for your bank details so that we can pay you (if relevant). You will need to complete this and send back to [email protected].

We will have several scheduled phone calls with you during the delivery of your project, during which you will need to update METRO with details about how your project is running. We will provide further support at this stage where needed.

We will ask for some case studies from your work, half way through and at the end. This may not be applicable, depending on the size and scope of your project.

METRO will also be collating video evidence of projects supported by the fund. You may be asked to provide some video footage of aspects of your project delivery, if this is appropriate to the project you are running.

Once your project is finished you must submit a monitoring form that details how your project went, and the money you actually spent. METRO will provide a template for this report. You will need to return any unspent funds to METRO.

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