GLA Voter ID Awareness Campaign Grants

Applications for GLA Voter ID Awareness Campaign Grants are now closed.

About the programme

The Greater London Authority (GLA) is running phase two of the Voter ID Awareness Campaign Grants as part of its Civic and Democratic Participation Programme.

The programme is linked to the GLA’s wider Voter ID public awareness campaign to raise awareness in London of the equality implications of the Voting System Changes brought in by the Election Act (2022), namely the impact on under-registered and under-represented Londoners of the introduction of photo Voter ID and the changes to the voting rights of some EU Londoners.

The programme is funding civil society equity-led groups to deliver targeted awareness-raising and related informational activity in trusted community settings for those most likely to be impacted by these changes. By equity-led, we mean at least 50% of an organisation’s management (trustees and senior management) and staff identify with one or more of the identities listed below and have experience of the civic and democratic barriers they are trying to address.

GLA analysis has highlighted the following groups to be most impacted:

Young Londoners (18–25-year-olds)
Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic and migrant Londoners, including EU Londoners
Deaf and disabled Londoners
Older Londoners (60+ years)
LGBTQ+ Londoners, with a focus on trans and non-binary Londoners
Low-income Londoners
Social and private renting Londoners

What type of project will be supported?

The activity could include but is not limited to, local community events, targeted online activities, or workshops/ 1-to-1 sessions to help Londoners apply for an accepted photo Voter ID or free Voter Authority Certificate.

The grant-funded activity must take place between August 2023 and February 2024.

All project activity and communication produced through this programme must remain strictly impartial at all times in terms of messaging, engagement and delivery. To be successful in applying for this grant programme, you must be able to demonstrate impartiality. This means demonstrating impartiality across your track record, social media activity, and the political neutrality of your senior leadership and trustees/management committee.

Aims of the programme

The grant programme aims to:

Deliver impartial awareness raising and informational activity on the voting system changes in trusted community settings at the local level and pan-London.
Raise awareness among Londoners from under-registered and under-represented communities, disproportionally impacted by the pandemic and cost-of-living crisis, and ensure they do not lose their vote by supporting them to register to vote, apply for an approved photo Voter ID and the free Voter Authority Certificate.
Grow the number, capacity, and resilience of civil society organisations’ operations in the democracy sector by addressing the chilling effects of charity and electoral law and ensuring civil and democratic participation is embedded in their ongoing/future activity and as a longer-term legacy of the programmeEnsure all eligible Londoners have a suitable form of photo identification to vote in the May 2024 elections, be it in person, by post or proxy and for those who cannot afford or cannot apply for a photo Voter ID, to make sure they apply for a free Voter Authority Certificate.

Who can apply?

Organisations will need to be a non-for-profit organisation (see the full list in prospectus below)
Organisations must be permanently based in London
Organisations must have an impeccable non-party political reputation
Organisations must be equity-led (see details above and in the prospectus below)
There is a maximum of one project per applicant organisation

What funding is available?

We have a grant pot of £556,900 to support civil society organisations deliver this work. Organisations can apply for grants between £25,000 – £50,000. The grants will be paid 50% on signing the contract, 25% after submission of the first interim report (in mid-October 2023), and 25% on sharing the final evaluation report (by the end of March 2024).

Resources

Please review these resources to find out more information about the grant programme and support you with your application.

Prospectus

Easy Read Prospectus

Grants Evaluation Framework

BSL Prospectus Video

Prospectus in London’s community languages
Arabic	Portuguese
Bengali	Romanian
French	Spanish
Gujarati	Turkish
Polish	Urdu

How to apply

Applications for GLA Voter ID Awareness Campaign Grants are now Closed.

As the grants come from public money, we need to carry out due diligence checks. These are tests to check that you are who you say you are and that you have got all the relevant policies and insurance in place when you start your project. We will ask you to provide a series of documents with your application. Please read section 8 of the prospectus for more information.

Application Support

Groundwork is managing the administration of the grant programme and is on hand to support all applicants and grantees. Funding is available, up to £27,000, to provide accessibility support during the application process and beyond. This support will be provided on a case-by-case basis so we can offer tailored support.

If you have any questions or have additional needs and require support, please contact us via email VoterIDGrants@groundwork.org.uk or call 020 7239 1390.

Contact

If you need help or support accessing the application portal, completing the application form or need to access the application in a different format, please get in touch via email VoterIDGrants@groundwork.org.uk or phone 020 7239 1390, and a member of the team will be happy to help you.

If you would like to stay up to date with the GLA Voter ID Awareness Campaign Grants as well as our other grant schemes, then sign up to our Groundwork Grants Updates mailing list here.

Groundwork is administering a number of grant schemes on behalf of the Greater London Authority (GLA) to help London become an even greater city in which to live and work.