In 2020, we launched Common Call as a Pilot in response to the significant hardship Black led charities and social enterprises were facing due to COVID. We're beyond the Pilot now. 

About the Pilot Fund - Common Call in 2020

Common Call is a grant fund powered by Do it Now Now. Do it Now Now is an open innovation organisation driven by the desire to bring social empowerment to Black communities across the globe. We bring charities, social entrepreneurs, startup teams, social innovators, investors, and philanthropists together to address social challenges, solve problems and support the development of under-represented groups and Black communities specifically.

The Common Call COVID Fund is specifically aimed at supporting Black-led social enterprises and charities so that they are able to survive and even thrive in the COVID period. Find out more. 

Our aims

We want to help grantees:
  • Get better informed about their options (moving to new methods of delivery) post-COVID19.
  • Develop new enterprising activities and earned income strategies.
  • Test the viability of specific propositions.
  • Develop clear implementable action plans for such activity.

Eligibility

We are providing grants between £1K and £3K to UK based organisations led by people that identify as Black or Mixed with Black. We are specifically looking for organisations that are creating impact in deprived communities and providing services to people that have been adversely affected by the COVID crisis in terms of physical health, mental health and/or financially. Your beneficiaries should primarily be people that identify as Black or Mixed with Black. 

Who we fund

It is important that the people in charge of your organisation can demonstrate lived experience of the issue you are providing a solution to. We are very interested in people that have a unique point of view on the problem they are solving and are tackling the issue from an innovative and impactful perspective. All applications must have an individual lead contact who is closely involved in the work.

​We are really interested in supporting organisations that have not received funding for their work in the past, however it is important to note that we are not prioritising these organisations over funded organisations. Each application will be measured independently based on an impact measurement framework we have developed. It is all about the impact you're making not about your social media following or press mentions.

What we fund

This is an unrestricted fund to support your work. There is no time limit on the grant and it does not have to be set towards a particular project. That means you can spend it on anything you think will help you best deliver impact to your community. In the second stage of the application process, you will have to provide a detailed breakdown to explain your intentions for the money we grant you. 

Watch the Information Session

At 3pm on Saturday 15th August, 2020 we hosted an information session to give any potential grantees the opportunity to join in an active conversation with Bayo Adelaja, Fund Manager.  Bayo covered the Stage 1 and Stage 2 applications in great detail.

​Potential grantees had the opportunity to submit questions on all things relevant to Common Call and the support we will be providing through the fund. 

The Pilot Fund Thesis

Common Call is poised to redress the deprivation of resources, skills and tools that inequality of resource allocation metes upon the Black community in the UK and in other parts of the world. Through the provision of training in leadership, activism and entrepreneurship, we empower Black people to engage actively and beneficially in the communities in which they live.

​To understand the impact of COVID-19 on our community, we carried out a few in-depth interviews with founders. Based on those interviews, we understand that the key challenges they are currently facing in the COVID-19 crisis are:
  1. Transitioning to new models of delivery: much of the social impact work done to support the Black community is built on face to face interaction. As a culture that is built primarily on communal gatherings and frequent lively conversation, founders have found it difficult to engage in their work to the same level of impact. There are also the related costs. From laptops and webcams to needed software subscriptions and more that add up each month.
  2. Reduced fundraising ability and loss of core/unrestricted income: founders in the social impact space must be very cautious in terms of resource allocation and strategic planning. With so few funds providing unrestricted funding and even fewer funds supporting any Black-led social enterprises, it is incumbent upon the leadership of these impact-driven organisations to plan effectively and far in advance. The inability to carry out revenue-based work with corporations, the inability to continue with fee-paying events that are a large percentage of revenue, has greatly affected the cash flow of many organisations.
  3. Reduced staff capacity: Many have had to scale back their operations and activities significantly during the crisis but need to ready themselves for an intense period of delivery as restrictions are being eased. For example one of the organisations we spoke with provides tutoring for disadvantaged GCSE students, they have seen an increased level of need after a prolonged period of home schooling and they need to recruit and train more tutors to meet that demand.
  4. Lack of access to government support: None of the founders we spoke with were able to claim any governmental support as an organisation and are yet to gain access to any funding for their work from the COVID-19 grant schemes that have since been released.
With an unstable team, a lack of awareness about what the future holds and very little track record with funders existing, it is difficult for Black-led social enterprises to access the support that is potentially available to them. That is why this is such an important opportunity and we are the right gatekeepers to facilitate and deploy this funding. We already have a keen understanding of the challenges and needs of Black social entrepreneurs because we work intimately with them throughout the year. We have the expertise to support their growth and development as well as to engage them in effective fund management and impact measurement.

Black-led organisations are often unable to access the amount of funding that is needed to carry out great pieces of work that will create a transformative impact on underserved communities around the country because they have limited track record of finance or fund management. We have the opportunity with this Fund, to provide a package of funding and support into highly promising yet underserved organisations. Through this fund, we can support them and give them a better chance to continue their services and navigate this crisis.

We expect our beneficiaries will be primarily working in:
  • Arts and Culture
  • Employment, Education and Training
  • Mental Health and Wellbeing, or
  • Citizenship and Community
The majority of the organisations we support rely on grant funding, personal savings and in some cases pay-day loans to help them bridge the financial gap to deliver on their charitable objectives and social aims. They typically describe their beneficiaries as “people of ethnic minority background”, “young people”, “living in poverty”. On average, more than 200 people a year with in-person and online initiatives. 

We know the unique challenges faced by Black entrepreneurs in the UK, and we have a history of providing access to tools, resources, and training to ensure the future sustainability of their enterprises.

The Application Process

Stage 1: fill in the application form to tell us more about what you do and the impact you have had so far. If we find that your organisation is in the top half of all applications we receive, you will be moved to stage 2.

Those that don't make it to stage 2 will be provided with access to a support module to help you strengthen your organisation further. Black and Good's Side Hustle support. Our goal is to ensure that every organisation that applies for the fund is able to receive some support from us. 
Applications are now closed.
Stage 2: you will be contacted by one of our grant assessors who will have a conversation with you about your work.  The conversation will be recorded via Zoom and will seek a lot more detailed information about your organisation and the way you intend to spend the money we would grant you. For non-charities, we will have to do an extra due diligence step to ensure that the work can still be defined as meeting a "charitable purpose". We'll walk you through the entire thing, so don't worry about it, this is just a heads up.

Stage 3: we will inform you of the outcome of the conversation with one of our Grant Assessors. This conversation will have determined whether or not your application gets sent to our Panel. The Panel is a group of leaders across the Black community that will hold Common Call accountable to the mission to support Black communities specifically. 

Stage 4: the Panel will receive all the applications that have been assessed and approved by the Grant Assessors. If you are not selected to receive a grant, you will receive personalised feedback from us. If you are selected to receive a grant, you will be sent a grant agreement and you will take part in an induction call. You will then be onboarded into the Black and Good Community. 

Stage 5: organisations who receive grants from us will take part in calls with our team every other month. These catch-up/support calls are to ensure that we stay in contact with you and that we can help you navigate the next steps of your organisation's journey. We are determined that each of the funded organisations will be financially sustainable within 18 months of receiving a grant from us. We will be there every step of the way. ​