As the managing agent of the Third Sector Capacity Fund, Rocket Science is contracted by One North East to provide support both for applicant organisations and funded projects. There are resources available for applicants to view and download from the Third Sector Capacity Fund website, including summaries of previously funded projects, a comprehensive FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section and signposts to further information on funding for the sector.

Expression of Interest (EOI) stage

There are three elements to the support on offer at the EOI stage.  Firstly potential applicants can submit any questions they may have via email to Rocket Science (info@thirdsector.org.uk).

Questions must relate either to the application process or to aspects of the Third Sector Capacity Fund Prospectus and specifications.  (We cannot provide support or advice on an individual basis in relation to specific project ideas or proposals). In the interests of transparency and fairness, responses to all of the questions we receive are made available in the FAQ section of the Third Sector Capacity Fund website (www.thirdsectorfund.org.uk) so that they can be viewed by all potential applicants.

Secondly, Rocket Science will also host an applicant workshop to provide an overview and guidance about the application process for prospective applicants. Organisations in attendance will have the chance to ask questions to the managing agent in person. It is also intended that the applicant workshop provides an opportunity for those attending to network and meet other third sector organisations within the region, and potentially identify collaborations or partnership bids.

Finally, all applicants which submit an Expression of Interest will be given a score and written assessment of their application, whether successful or not.

Full Application stage

The highest scoring applications from the EOI stage will be invited to submit a full application. As at the EOI stage, applicants which proceed to this stage will be invited to submit any questions or queries they have to Rocket Science via email no later than a week before the submission deadline. Rocket Science will again make all the responses available on the Third Sector Capacity Fund website, in the FAQ section, so that all applicants have access to the same information.

All applicants submitting a full application will be given detailed written feedback about their bid, whether the application was successful or not.  Unsuccessful applicants will be able to request a further telephone consultation if their application only narrowly failed to secure funding and is invited to consider reworking the proposal for resubmission in the next round.

Support for successful projects

Successful applicants will be allocated an account manager, who they will have ongoing telephone contact with, as required. There will also be four scheduled appointments each year, during the lifetime of each project, including a group inception meeting (in the first year), a monitoring visit, an audit/verification visit and group networking and learning event(s). Attendance at these events is compulsory and one of the conditions of the grant.

Capacity Assessment Tool

To support organisations wishing to apply to the Third Sector Capacity Fund, Rocket Science has developed an Excel based ‘Capacity Assessment Tool’ to allow applicants to assess their particular strengths, weaknesses and capacity to deliver projects.

There are two main parts to the tool:

• Organisational health check – This is a series of questions designed to help organisations think about their strengths and weaknesses, which can be used to pinpoint areas for development and to benchmark progress over time.

• Project management – This section allows organisations to assess the delivery of projects against some key features of successful project management, such as monitoring, evaluation and sustainability.

The tool generates two reports summarising an organisation’s overall health and their capacity to deliver projects.  Please feel free to make use of the tool, irrespective of whether or not you are applying to the Fund.

The Capacity Assessment Tool can be downloaded from here

Outputs and Outcomes

A guidance document around outputs which includes summaries of terms, definitions and exclusions can be downloaded from here

A presentation around outputs and outcomes that is delivered by One North East’s Head of Performance Management to newly funded projects can be downloaded from here