RadHR
RadHR
Working together to create radical, anti-oppressive approaches to HR and operations.
Ideas and Pioneers Fund
English
Cymraeg
Ideas and Pioneers Fund
Amount: Up to £20,000
Deadline: The 2025 application deadline has now passed.
Duration: Up to 18 months
Photo credit: ADHD Babes Team
We support individuals and groups who want to explore ideas for social change.
Aim of the fund
We believe that the best ideas for how society needs to change often come from people who have been let down or harmed by current systems themselves. We want our funding to help realise these ideas and give people the time, space, and financial backing to experiment with different ways of making social change. We want to reach people whose ideas are still taking shape, as we know it can be difficult to find funding at this time.
We provide grants of up to £20,000 and a flexible support package. The fund focuses on supporting people with bold and brave ideas that have the potential to transform the way things are currently done. This could mean trying things that haven’t been done before or adapting existing approaches to change.
We’re not expecting a polished output or finished project at the end of your grant. We understand that trying something new can involve uncertainty. For us, success is about exploration, discovery and learning, whether or not your idea turns out the way you expected.
Who we want to support
Our fund focuses on both your idea for social change, as well as you as a person and your potential.
We will fund:
- individuals
- groups or collectives working together (you don’t need to be a registered organisation)
- organisations of any legal structure with a turnover of under £150,000
You can find examples of our recent grantees in our grants database here.
The support we provide
In addition to a grant of up to £20,000, to help explore your idea you will have access to a package of optional wraparound support, such as training and mentoring. There will also be opportunities to meet and learn from other grant holders who are also supported through the Fund.
About you
We want to fund individuals or groups aged 18–30* to explore their ideas for social change. We focus on people who:
- Have a connection to the idea they want to explore. We will prioritise funding to people who have personally experienced the issue they want to work on.
- Are ready to take action. You have a strong sense of your idea or vision and what you would do next if you were successful in receiving funding.
- Face barriers in accessing grant funding. We want our support to reach people who would benefit from it the most, including those who haven’t had the opportunity to use grant funding before.
*We prioritise funding to people aged 18–30, but we do consider applications from those aged 30 and over. We cannot accept applications from those under 18.
About your idea
We want to fund ideas that are:
- Challenging injustice. We want to support ideas that show a clear vision to help build a better society. Your idea will contribute to shifting power and challenging and transforming the root causes of systemic oppression. We recognise that what happens at the small scale reflects what happens at the large scale, so we are equally interested in ideas working at a local level as those working at a national level.
- Emerging. We want to fund ideas that are still forming and help your idea take shape. You will have a clear sense of the learning and experimenting you need to do to progress your idea.
- Long-term potential. You can see the long-term potential of your idea, and you’re motivated to make change beyond the lifetime of the funding.
About your approach
When we are looking at your application, we will consider not just what you are working on, but how you intend to work. We will be looking for indications that you are considering some or all of the following:
- Are you considering the various personal experiences of others who have a connection to the issue you are exploring?
- Are you hoping to work with others? You may not know who you’d like to work with yet, but you intend to explore this during the grant. This could look like collaboration or co-creation.
- Are you centering care for yourself and others in the work?
- Are you paying people fairly? We understand that this may look different in different contexts; for example, you may involve volunteers. However, we expect to see those with less access to resources compensated for their contributions.
What we will fund
We will only fund ideas that have a charitable purpose. Of those ideas, we will consider funding for any activity that will help you to learn about, test and explore an idea for social change.
This could include:
- research and consultation to develop your idea
- gathering evidence for a campaign
- bringing people or communities together to build power
- paying yourself or others to deliver these activities
- costs relating to your safeguarding practice
This list isn’t exhaustive, but it might help you think about what you could use the funding for.
What we will not fund
The Ideas and Pioneers Fund only supports work for the benefit of people living in the UK.
In addition to Paul Hamlyn Foundation’s general exclusions, we are not able to fund:
- a one-off or short-term project with limited potential for long-term impact
- proposals where the applicant has no connection to the issue they want to explore
- production of a standalone work of art (including podcasts, films, blogs, documentaries, plays or books)
- multiple proposals from the same applicant
- anyone who has previously received a grant through the Ideas and Pioneers Fund
- applications to the Ideas and Pioneers Fund that have been declined within the last 12 months
- we are unlikely to fund work where there is a fixed plan for rolling out or scaling up an idea and there is no substantial learning or experimenting still to be done
What to consider when applying
Our Ideas and Pioneers Fund team have shared some guidance on common reasons why applicants were unsuccessful in the previous round of funding.
POMOC. Photo credit: Francis Augusto
Want to know more about the Ideas and Pioneers Fund?
Our Ideas and Pioneers Team reflect on the programme, its focus and the support we offer.
Who we have funded
-
Case study
-
Case study
Resist + Renew
Resist + Renew
Resist + Renew is a collective of trainers and facilitators who support grassroots movements to affect radical social change. We work on many areas such as decision making, campaign planning and organisational structure.
Ideas and Pioneers Fund
In this section
Help with applications
Access support
We want the application process to be as accessible as possible. If this application process is inaccessible to you at any stage, please get in touch with us at accessibility@phf.org.uk as early as possible We can provide pre-application access support and a bursary of up to £750 to help you apply.
We use an online application form.
A sample application form can be downloaded as a Word document for you to review in advance.
Application process
We know an application process might be daunting, especially if you have not applied for funding before or if you are sharing an idea that you have a close connection to.
We appreciate the time and energy this can take and so only ask for as much information as we need to help us make fair decisions and to find out more about you and your idea.
-
A grant from us may affect your tax or benefits status, so you need to consider carefully your personal circumstances when choosing to apply to the Ideas and Pioneers Fund. You can find out more about ‘change in circumstances’ from Turn2Us.
If you have any questions about the criteria that you’d like to clarify before applying, please email ideas@phf.org.uk.
How to apply
Applying to Ideas and Pioneers is a two-step process.
1
2
Getting a decision
1
2
3