GrantRadar

The Prospectory

I've Got an Idea Fund

A micro fund from The Prospectory, set up in memory of technical innovator Peter Williams, giving £250 to £3,000 to UK-resident individuals, small groups or organisations who want to build and test a technically inventive, novel idea that could deliver a social or environmental benefit. It is a 'doing fund': it pays only for the costs of making and/or testing the idea, not people's time, contractors or marketing. Applications are made by email at any time while the pot lasts, with a decision usually within two weeks.

Apply on the funder’s site
You could get
£250 – £3,000
no fixed round
Deadline
Rolling
apply any time
Effort
Light
short form, little evidence needed

Who can apply

  • Individuals, small groups or organisations resident in the UK who have an idea based on a technological innovation that they want to try out to see if it will work, and who will build and test it themselves
  • Ideas must be technically inventive and novel, could deliver a social or environmental benefit, and should be intriguing with an element of fun

What it funds

  • The costs of making and/or testing a technically inventive and novel idea that could deliver a social or environmental benefit and is 'intriguing and has an element of fun'
  • The fund focuses on DIY ideas where the applicants build and experiment with the idea themselves rather than outsourcing development
  • Past awards include a gravity-fed handwashing station, a digital Braille reader with graphics, an energy-harvesting dancefloor and insulation boards made from crop waste

What it will not fund

  • Payment for people's time
  • Contractor fees
  • Marketing or promotion costs
  • Part funding of larger projects
  • Ideas where development is outsourced rather than built and tested by the applicants
  • Ideas for developing a new app using AI (these rarely involve a technical innovation and will be rejected)

How to apply

  1. Email alison@prospectory.co.uk telling them briefly about yourself, your interests and experience
  2. In the same email, describe your technically inventive idea, why it is novel and who or what it could help
  3. Explain how you plan to make it and/or test it out
  4. Say what funding you need and what that amount will cover, and give your contact details and how you found out about the fund
  5. The fund's technical and innovation advisors assess the application and may ask further questions

Once the fund's allocation has been used it closes until the funding pot has refilled.

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