The Which? Fund
The Which? Fund offers grants to support research projects aiming to improve understanding of the specific consumer harms experienced by diverse and disadvantaged communities, and to develop evidence-based solutions to tackle these harms.
In this call for applications, the Which? Fund will offer grants to support work aiming to:
Improve understanding of consumer harms affecting diverse and disadvantaged communities, including novel harms in digital markets.
Identify evidence-led, pragmatic solutions to consumer harm.
Develop partnerships and encourage collaborative working to provide a more powerful voice for all UK consumers.
We want to support high quality, high impact research and analysis, that provides new insight into markets and finds opportunities to make life for consumers:
Simpler – by identifying where complexity is hindering consumers’ abilities to make informed decisions;
Fairer – by working out where firms may be taking unfair advantage of information asymmetries or other forms of market power (for example to charge consumers more than a fair price), or where consumers are denied redress when things go wrong; and
Safer – by spotting where criminality or poor standards put consumers in danger: physically, emotionally, or financially.
This research should build on what is already known, bringing new evidence and identifying innovative solutions. We want to achieve real change, so insight must be targeted to audiences with the power to make a difference, and communicated in a compelling way. We are keen to support organisations using innovative methodologies to uncover consumer harm.
Our 2023/24 funding programmes
Consumer harm is experienced in a very wide range of markets, and we are seeking applicants’ ideas on the most pressing problems facing diverse and disadvantaged communities. This year, we once again have two funding calls:
a) Projects exploring consumer harms experienced by diverse and disadvantaged communities. In some circumstances, certain groups of consumers – for example, women, people living with disabilities or health conditions, low-income households or members of diverse ethnic communities – might be exposed to more harm than other groups, or experience different harms. To maximise the synergies between this initiative and our own work – and thus the impact – applications should also align with one of Which?’s Impact themes, described below:
ENSURING FAR FINANCIAL SERVICES We want to make sure that consumers are able to find financial products that work for them, and get good value for money.
FIGHTING CONSUMER RIP-OFFS From overcharging and selling shoddy or unsafe products to providing unacceptable customer service and complaint resolution, we want to make sure businesses play fair and are held to account when they let consumers down.
ENABLING CONSUMERS TO MAKE SUSTAINABLE CHOICES We want to support consumers by making the shift towards sustainable consumption more affordable and easier for all, and ensuring that consumers who want to make changes get the support they need to do so.
ENSURING FAIR AND SAFE DIGITAL GOODS AND SERVICES We want to make sure that businesses and the government do what they can to enable consumers to participate safely and fairly in our increasingly digital world, with confidence that their information is being kept safe from misuse, scams or fraud.
b) Projects exploring consumer harms experienced by diverse and disadvantaged communities in digital markets, where information asymmetries, malign online choice architecture, automated decision-making, AI interfaces and dynamic pricing can place consumers at a distinct disadvantage, and some groups may face greater detriment than others. Consumers may face financial harm when they pay over the odds for goods and services, physical harm when they buy unsafe products online, or psychological harm when their data is used in ways they are not comfortable with. Examples could include online choice architecture designed to manipulate consumer behaviour which has a greater impact on some groups, algorithmic systems which create biased outcomes which disadvantage certain groups, inaccessible customer service chatbots or sensitive personal data being collected excessively or used inappropriately.
Who can apply
We will fund registered charities based in the UK, whose charitable objectives align with those of the Consumers’ Association. UK universities as exempt charities, are also eligible to apply. We will also consider applications for funding from not-for-profit Community Interest Companies (CICs) registered in the UK.
Charities and CICs must have key principles of good governance in place, detailed below, to be eligible for funding.
If your organisation is a UK registered charity, it must have:
a Board of at least five independent trustees or directors;
its own bank account; and,
at least one set of annual accounts published on the Charity Commission website, covering a 12-month operating period.
If your organisation is a Community Interest Company (CIC), it must have:
a not-for-profit clause in your company articles;
an asset-lock in place; and
At least three independent non-executive directors.
CICs may be incorporated as a private company limited by guarantee or a private company limited by shares under Schedule 2 of the Companies Act.
Partnerships between organisations can bring an exciting mix of skills and unlock new opportunities. We welcome applications that involve such partnerships. In these cases, a lead organisation which meets our eligibility criteria should be identified, and relationships and division of labour between the parties clearly set out in your application.
We will not support individuals, unregistered charities or for-profit organisations.
Organisations which do not meet the above criteria will not be shortlisted - please don’t waste your time applying as we are unable to make exceptions.
Eligible expenditure
What kind of projects we will fund
We will fund specific, strategic projects, with the potential to benefit large numbers of people by changing policy, regulation or practice.
We will not fund projects providing direct support to individuals, for example existing community projects.
The only case in which we will consider funding direct service provision is where this is being rigorously tested and evaluated, with a view to developing evidence of effectiveness which could lead to wider change and benefit larger numbers of people.
What costs we will cover
We are only able to fund costs which are directly attributable to work furthering the Consumer Associations’ charitable purposes.
For charities, we are happy to cover staff salaries and a reasonable amount of core costs/ overheads, in proportion to the size of the project. Staff costs should be completed for each member of staff employed on the project to be funded. Where staff costs are sought, the budget should show the number of days, daily rates and the annual salary from which this derives. Non-salary costs and overheads should be specified separately, and applicants should be fully transparent about how costs have been calculated. Capital costs for equipment will only be funded where specifically required to complete a project. We will not normally fund overseas travel. The Consumers Association reserves the right not to fund overhead costs where they cannot be reasonably justified or we are not satisfied with the applicant’s explanation.
For UK higher education institutions (HEIs) and not-for-profit Community Interest Companies, we will fund all direct costs related to the management and delivery of the project, but we will not pay indirect costs. This means we will cover the costs explicitly identifiable as arising from the project, charged on the basis of the amount spent, through auditable accounts, including the costs for the time staff spend directly on the project, and a share of the directly allocated costs required to complete a project, but not solely relating to it, based on estimated shared use. We will not fund indirect costs which cannot be directly allocated to the project and would be incurred irrespective of the project, for example estates costs and central services.
It is the responsibility of the organisation applying for funding to identify whether this would attract VAT, and to include it in the proposal if necessary.
NOTE: In stage 1 (outline) applications, only an estimated total of costs is required. A full breakdown of costing information will be sought in the Stage 2 (Full) application form.
How to apply
We appreciate the time and effort taken to complete a full application form for funding. Like many other funding bodies, we have elected to use a two-stage application process to enable applicants to submit the minimum information needed for us to assess whether a full application passes the Which? Fund’s eligibility criteria for funding.
Timings for the two stages are shown here:
Stage 1
Time to complete application
Time to complete short-listing
Stage 1 (Outline) application
13 weeks
Launch: Monday 19th June 2023
Deadline: 5 pm Monday 18th September 2023
Within approximately 6 weeks
Stage 2 (Full) application
8 weeks
Launch: Monday 23rd October 2023
Deadline: 5 pm Friday 15th December 2023
Within approximately 10 weeks
Timelines for Stage 2 may be subject to change, and applicants will be kept informed.
Obtaining a Stage 1 (Outline) application form
Organisations wishing to apply should email Raveene-Jonelle Dompreh at funding@which.co.uk to obtain a copy of the Stage 1 (Outline) application form. If you are short-listed to Stage 2, you will automatically be sent a full application form by email.
Completing the Stage 1 (Outline) application form
Guidance notes are provided in the application form in italics, and may be deleted from your finalised proposal before submission. Additional information to help you complete the Stage 1 (Outline) application form is included in section 6.0, below. If you have any other questions not covered here, please direct them to Raveene-Jonelle Dompreh at funding@which.co.uk.
Submission of application forms
Completed application forms should be submitted by email to Raveene-Jonelle Dompreh at funding@which.co.uk by the stated deadlines. Applications received after these deadlines will not be considered.
Useful links
https://www.which.co.uk/policy-and-insight/article/which-fund-guidance-notes-ao6Sf3m0qYan
https://www.which.co.uk/policy-and-insight/article/which-fund-faqs-for-applicants-ablLD3w2UYeo