Adventures Away From Home Fund

Applicants may apply as a single organisation with or without partners, or may alternatively submit a joint application (for example, as a consortium, joint venture, unincorporated association, partnership, or otherwise). This may, for example, apply to entities who feel that alone they do not have the capacity or capability to address the department’s requirements, or wish to bring in additional expertise to meet the department’s required skills and experience for this role. Applicants are responsible for determining the most appropriate approach to delivering their proposal.

Joint approach

The following additional information applies to applicants who put forward a joint approach.

A lead party must be identified that shall submit an application on behalf of all parties to the joint application.

The lead party shall be responsible for all communication with the department during the application and appointment process.

As part of their application, the applicant must submit a structure diagram identifying the roles and relationships between the parties including all relevant companies, their respective parent or ultimate holding companies. The structure should make clear who will be responsible for delivery of the grant and ensure that, as a minimum, the legal obligations and liabilities of the applicant are borne by an entity or entities which satisfy the financial requirements set out in this specification of requirements.

The applicant must submit written confirmation from each party that they authorise the lead party organisation to act on their behalf in relation to this grant competition.

Delivery partner requirements 

To be eligible to apply for the role of delivery partner for the Adventures Away from Home fund, you must:

1. Be a registered Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE). As a grant, you must be able to demonstrate that the project is not for profit.

2. Have a robust safeguarding policy.

3. Have knowledge and experience of working with outdoor learning organisations

4. Have sufficient staff capacity and capabilities to deliver this project in the timeframe set out.

5. Have appropriate financial management systems and processes to account for Adventures Away from Home grant expenditure accurately and transparently, such as fraud risk assessments, fraud, bribery, and corruption due diligence, and experience managing counter fraud processes.

6. Have experience working with young people and incorporating youth voice into the development of the projects and programmes.

7. Have experience in delivering evaluations, including collecting and sharing data from grant recipients.

8. Have experience of local partnership development (desirable).

Due Diligence checks

Your organisation (or joint delivery body) will also need to pass our due diligence checks:

1. The grant award does not exceed 50% of your annual income, as an example: if an organisation applied for a £500,000 grant, the collective turnover needs to be £1,000,000 or more in order that the grant is not more than 50% of the annual turnover/income. 

2. We receive and can review at least 2 references.

3. If you have been funded by another part of the government, we obtain feedback from that department. 

4. You are not already receiving funding for this project, meaning your project is funded twice.

5. Trustees are not related and there is no indication of fraud.

6. Where multiple organisations are located at the same postcode, there is no indication of fraud – if you do have the same postcode as other organisations you will be asked to provide an explanation. 

7. You are to provide an annual report and audited or certified accounts, covering the last 2 years, or similar documentation. Please note: in the event your last financial year end was more than 6 months ago, we may request further accounting information at a later date as part of the due diligence process.

8. You are to provide details of your organisation/joint delivery body’s approach to equality, diversity, and safeguarding.

Objectives of this fund to be achieved by March 2026 are to:

1. Provide bursaries for up to 27,600 young people  (aged 11-18, or up to 25 for young people with SEND) in England to participate in an Adventures Away from Home experiences.

2. Reach and engage up to 27,600 young people facing significant barriers to participation including but not limited to those with:

   • young people living in poverty 

   • young people with SEND

   • young carers 

   •  looked-after young people 

   • girls and young women

   • BAME (British, Asian and Minority Ethnic) young people

   • those with English as an additional language

   • those in the criminal justice system or secure estates

   • those with poor academic attainment/attendance and/or at risk of exclusion

3. Develop young people's socio-emotional and life skills, foster positive relationships with movement and physical activity and build increased confidence to engage with the outdoors within the timescale of the intervention.

4. Establish functioning and thriving partnerships working between outdoor learning organisations and local youth organisations within the timeframe of the intervention.

Competition opens for applications: Wednesday 25th June

Clarification workshop: 1-2pm Tuesday 1st July 

Clarification questions deadline: 23:59 Thursday 3rd July

Publication of clarification questions: Tuesday 8th July

Deadline of the application: 23:59 Tuesday 15th July

Application Assessment: Wednesday 16th July - Tuesday 22nd July 

Notification of grant awards: w/c 11th August

Please find application form: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/adventures-away-from-home-fund

DCMS will hold a clarification meeting at 1-2pm on Tuesday 1st July via Google Meet. If you would like to attend, please contact youthrevenue@dcms.gov.uk. 

Clarification questions may be sent to youthrevenue@dcms.gov.uk up until 23:59pm Thursday 3rd July, after which no more will be responded to.

All clarification questions will be anonymised and made public so that all potential applicants are able to access any additional information. 

As the application process is competitive, we are unable to provide support in completing the application. 

Visit https://www.gov.uk/guidance/adventures-away-from-home-fund for more information.