Applying for the BFI National Lottery Creative Challenge Fund

1. About this fund

The BFI National Lottery Creative Challenge Fund has allocated £3m of National Lottery over three years to support programmes focusing on project development along with the talent development and growth of creative practice. Programmes identified to support intervention for early career creatives may be supported by additional funds allocated by BFI NETWORK.

Aims of the fund

We want to ensure everyone can create original screen work, from first-time creators to world-class professionals. All funded activities we support should contribute to at least five of the following aims identified in the BFI National Lottery strategy outcomes.

creative talent is supported and nurtured, as they emerge and throughout their careers
people are better enabled to innovate and experiment creatively
a wider range of stories on screen are told that otherwise wouldn’t be
people from under-represented groups across the UK can access the support they need to develop their careers and skills
a broader range of organisations supported by the fund, breaking down historic barriers to funding
screen organisations have significantly reduced their carbon footprint.

The word ‘creatives’ is used in these guidelines to include: writers, directors, producers and creators of feature film or immersive projects.

Challenge 1: Increasing opportunities for UK creatives to attend feature film and immersive project development programmes

We are seeking organisations to design and run development programmes for UK creatives who have narrative, documentary or animation feature film projects or narrative immersive media projects.

You will need to respond to at least one of the following Challenge 1 specific priorities.

Challenge 1 priorities

Increase the diversity of genres in features and immersive projects

Genre-focused development programmes that will stimulate new projects and provide emerging creatives with environments that give targeted support.

Increase the number of animated feature films and immersive projects in development 

We recognise that producers of these projects often have to adapt to fill multiple roles (producer, creative technologist, distributor and exhibitor) and forge new pathways from development to financing to reaching an audience. We are keen to see applications from organisations who have specialist and relevant experience in providing programmes for animation and narrative immersive productions.

Increase opportunities for early career producers to build viable projects

Creative development programmes designed to support early career and emerging producers. Programmes should focus on honing the producer’s creative instincts and approaches, evolve their communication and problem-solving skills, increase business skills and develop an understanding of market value, sales and box office ambitions at all stages of their project. Attendance fees should be provided to enable the producers to have supported space and time to strategise, package, finance and sell their projects with the aim of increasing conversions to production for projects in development.

Increase opportunity for projects that have scale and a greater chance of a bigger audience impact domestically or internationally

Debut features often achieve significant impact with festivals and award success and then creators usually have a four-to-five-year gap before their next project. Programmes should be aimed at emerging and more established filmmakers who are developing ambitious, independent UK and international films that have the potential for commercial success and audience impact, and that may have scope to capitalise on the new Independent Film Tax Credit (IFTC). We seek partners who have the experience and reach to help address this in a tailored focused programme structure.

Challenge 1 programmes

Programmes can be open to all, or targeted to a specific creative or under-represented group. All programmes must be fully accessible to participants with access requirements. You can propose small or large programmes that can be short- or long-term, virtually or in-person.

Programmes can include:

shadowing opportunities
mentoring
creative practice sessions (such as read-throughs, scene shoots)
peer support
finance and packaging advice
long-term career planning
matching creatives with industry advocates and champions

We expect programmes to be delivered by experienced practitioners. These may include facilitators, producers, script editors, wellbeing providers or other industry specialists.

This fund is not aimed at more generalised training or career development support and each programme participant will need to bring a feature film (narrative, documentary, animation), or narrative immersive media project, that is currently in active development.

Successful applicants will need to issue an open call for participants to take part in their programme. Applications must include strong outreach and engagement proposals. We anticipate that each programme we fund will have a balance of projects and participants to include some that have already been supported at development stage with finance from an external source (public or private) and some with promising projects that are yet to receive development funding.

The funded development programmes will enable creatives to develop specific projects which will be advanced through a structured development environment and primed to receive financial support from the marketplace. Programmes should consist of structured creative practice sessions contextualised with broader career development support. They can be staged as day sessions over a six to twelve-month period or as an intensive week long session that progresses the projects participants are working on.

Slate development is not supported, as that would give an unfair economic advantage to a very limited number of companies. By slate development, we mean a single company building a portfolio of projects that it intends to take rights in or develop further following the National Lottery-funded programme.

All programmes need to be designed to move the individual projects taking part to a further stage of development. Programmes could include, for example:

script writing or editing support
shadowing opportunities
mentoring, for example, read-throughs
scene shoots
peer support
finance and packaging advice
audience and impact strategy
career planning and business development
skills development (communication and problem-solving)
match-making with industry advocates and champions

As part of our commitment to addressing industry imbalances and under-representation, we are particularly interested in receiving applications from organisations:

led by staff that are under-represented in the wider screen industry, in line with the focus areas of the BFI Diversity Standards
based outside London and the South East
with a London or South East base that serve under-represented parts of the industry and are seeking to deliver a larger scale or nationwide programme for the first time

Rights in the projects taking part in your programme

You must not impose conditions relating to project rights on the selected participants for your programme. This includes:

taking any Executive Producer (EP) or similar credits on projects, should they subsequently go into production. You will be provided with BFI branding guidelines detailing how those projects should acknowledge Creative Challenge Fund support, which will identify how your organisation and your programme can be credited on the project alongside the BFI National Lottery;
taking any kind of fee in relation to further development or production of the project;
requiring a ‘first look’ arrangement in relation to any participating project.

However, we recognise that you may select a project for further development following the completion of the programme and would consider this a positive outcome of the Creative Challenge Fund’s intervention.

2. Check if you’re eligible

Eligibility of your organisation

Your organisation must be legally constituted and centrally managed in the UK as one of the following:

a limited company registered at Companies House
a community interest company registered at Companies House
a limited liability partnership (LLP) registered at Companies House
a UK combined or local authority or statutory body
a UK charity or trust registered with the Charity Commission

You must be able to demonstrate:

previous experience in designing and delivering a creative project development programme
specialist expertise in the projects you are proposing to support
- for example, expertise in the development of feature films, animations, immersive media projects
suitable delivery infrastructure, partnerships and relationships

If you’re a newly formed organisation staffed by individuals with relevant experience, the eligibility criteria will be applied to your delivery team’s collective experience.

Where organisations applying are profit-making, the activity we fund will need to be not-for-profit.

If you are currently being funded by the BFI for other activities, you will need to demonstrate that you are able to sufficiently deliver on your funding commitments.

Individuals cannot apply.

Eligibility of your programme

Your programme must respond to the priorities of this challenge and the aims of the fund.

All activity must be completed by 31 March 2029 unless you have approval from the Creative Challenge Fund team before applying.

You can apply if your programme:

is designed to move the projects taking part to a further stage of development
takes place in the UK
is for a UK public audience and public benefit
starts 16 weeks or more after the application deadline
has a duration of up to one year, from your call for applicants to delivery of a final session. We may, by exception, consider programmes with a longer duration if there is a clear case for why this is necessary
has a clear structure with defined start and end points
will recruit via an open application process to encourage creatives who are entirely new to your organisation to take part
supports either:
- a minimum of 10 projects for programmes focused on live action feature film programmes or
- a minimum of 5 projects for programmes focused on animation and immersive programmes (recognising that there are additional participants required to support any technical advancement when developing animation and immersive projects)
includes a payment for all participants during their time participating in programme activity — projects supported can be represented by one or more participants
is focused on project development
is designed to develop projects in any or all of the following formats (programmes can encompass multiple forms where this is practical):
- live action or animated fiction features - standalone work of at least 70 minutes in length.
- documentary features (live action or animation)
- narrative immersive film work – cinematic experiences that aim to develop immersive as a cinematic medium
  - projects can be produced and experienced using a range of technologies — including but not limited to VR, AR, MR and 360-degree experiences
  - programmes cannot support filmed live productions such as a theatre show, sporting or music event, experimental artist’s installations intended for art gallery exhibition or video games intended for home release
has a UK-wide reach in terms of recruitment scope and location of the creatives that take part (We are open to programmes that have a more regional or localised focus, where there is a strategic argument for this)
supports projects that will not gain other sources of finance at this point in their development
- BFI National Lottery funding supports activity that the commercial market alone will not finance

Programmes previously supported through this fund

You’re eligible to reapply with a programme that has previously been supported through this fund if it meets the requirements of the specific challenge. Previously supported programmes need to have completed delivery and demonstrate how they have adapted their programme in response to learnings from previous editions.

Established programmes

As sources of finance for creative development programmes have reduced in recent years, we recognise that there may be some established programmes that have lost other funding and meet the criteria of this fund. Organisations can apply if they can demonstrate:

that they no longer have access to previous, or other, sources of funding sufficient to deliver their programme
that their programme will only be delivered if they were to receive National Lottery support
that the programme has evolved to address immediate industry challenges and to meet all eligibility criteria of these Creative Challenge Fund guidelines

National Lottery funds can only be awarded to applicants who demonstrate need and a clear public benefit from the activity being funded. Any organisations that receive support that apply again to the fund will need to meet the specificity of the challenge concerned. This is project-based, time-limited funding, and as such, there should be no expectation of ongoing support beyond the term of any awards made. All applicants are encouraged to develop plans for alternative sources of funding if they intend their activity to continue following Challenge Fund support.

When your programme is ineligible

You’re not eligible to apply to the BFI National Lottery Creative Challenge Fund if your programme:

supports the development of television projects
- all projects being accepted onto programmes must be feature films for theatrical release or immersive format
focusses on artforms other than independent UK and international film and broader screen activity
focuses on a production output, or includes proof of concept production
is to develop a slate of your own creative projects or is being used to acquire projects for your own slate
places any conditions on participants relating to taking rights in projects participating in the programme.
is to purely deliver training activity (the BFI has separate initiatives that focus on industry skills. Only programmes with a project development focus targeted at writers, directors or producers may apply)

If you would like to run a programme of more than one edition, or you’re unsure if you or your programme are eligible for this fund, please contact us on creativechallengefund@bfi.org.uk.

Eligibility of your programme participants and projects

The BFI will provide guidance to funded organisations on elements that will need to be included in their calls for applicants and will require approval of the call documents before they are published

Participants

The participants of your proposed programmes should be over 18 and not in full-time education at the point of taking part in your programme and either:

UK resident writers and directors, or writer-directors, who are developing their first, second or third feature film or narrative immersive work 
- those working on their first film must have established themselves through a body of existing creative work
UK resident producers of any level (early career, emerging or established) who are developing projects with writers or directors who meet the experience criteria above
- ‘Early Career’ is defined as not having written, directed or produced a fiction feature film or immersive media project that has received UK distribution in the last 5 years unless they have self-financed and/or self-distributed the work themselves.
- ‘Emerging’ is defined as having no more than three feature film projects produced and/or comparable television, theatre or immersive work.
- ‘Established’ is defined as having 4 or more feature film projects produced and/or comparable television, theatre or immersive work that have achieved commercial distribution in the UK.

If applicants to your programme have a project that has secured development funding from any source, it will need to be clear that the activity supported by participation in the Creative Challenge-funded programme is entirely additional and not already funded through the existing development finance.

National Lottery funds can only be used to benefit creatives who demonstrate a compelling case for National Lottery support and a clear public benefit from the activity being funded. We don’t expect you to formally means-test the creatives who want to take part, but do expect you to gain sufficient information from applicants to be able to consider which creatives:

will benefit most from the support
are likely to struggle to find the time or resource needed to make progress on their project without the support
are likely to achieve success without needing public funding for this project or at this point in their careers (based on track records or information they have shared in their application)

Projects

Funded programmes must run an open call asking applicants to confirm that their projects meet the required eligibility criteria including the following:

projects, once made, must be capable of being certified as British through any of the following:
- the applicable cultural test for film, animation or video games
- one of the UK’s official bi-lateral co-production treaties
- the European Convention on co-production

Projects previously funded by the BFI

All projects must be selected through an open and transparent process. You can include (but not prioritise) participants with projects that have previously received development funding from the BFI, or our partners, but need further development support. If these projects are selected by you for your programme, we may require that they complete the delivery on their previous award before they can take part in your programme. This will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis between the organisation delivering the programme and the BFI (or partner).

3. How much you can apply for

The amount of funding depends on the timeframe and ambition of your programme. You can apply for between £12,000 and £150,000 for one edition (or call) for your programme which should run for a maximum of 12 months.

We can consider making awards for up to three editions of your programme at no more than £150,000 per edition. Applications for awards over £200,000 will only be accepted for programmes which demonstrate exceptional project advancement, professional development of the participants, national profile and scale and are supported by a good range of partners. Awards over £200,000 will be rare so we strongly advise that you discuss your project with the Creative Challenge Fund team before making an application for over this amount.  

This fund is highly competitive. You should consider this when deciding how much funding you’ll need to deliver your programme and if the scale of your request is appropriate for the level of public benefit. 

If your project is longer than 12 months 

All activity will need to be completed by 31 March 2029. Our decision to offer funding for more than 12 months will be based on evidence that your programme will deliver strongly against the fund’s aims and that you’ll be unable to achieve your programme outcomes in a shorter period. 

If you’re successful in securing an award for more than one year, funding will be cashflowed in line with your projected expenditure subject to:

satisfactory performance – you’re able to continue your activity in accordance with your contractual terms, and that you can demonstrate (through regular reporting) that you’re able to remain financially viable through to the end of the term
routine reporting of progress against KPIs, costs to date, proposed changes to the forecast budget and activity plans, and details of planned activity

The amount of funding that we can make available for the second year of funding may be impacted by the ongoing availability of National Lottery funds at predicted levels. If we have to reduce funding we will aim to provide sufficient notice and work with you to change plans accordingly.

If you would like to run a programme of more than one year, or you’re unsure if you or your programme is eligible for this fund, email us: creativechallengefund@bfi.org.uk.

4. What you can use the funding for

Eligible costs

Our funding can be used for programme costs including:

cost of your organisation’s staff time for running the programme, where this is not already covered by another source of funding or income
freelance facilitator and contributor fees
payments to creative participants for their time on the programme (see guidance below)
programme venue costs
equipment hire, for production-related workshops for example
creative practice sessions such as read-throughs, scene shoots
travel for delivery staff and participants to and from the programme (see Appendix A for guidance)
participant and programme staff accommodation where programmes are residential and require overnight stays
provision of meals and refreshments for participants when the programme schedule necessitates this
mentors
shadowing opportunities
attendance at markets or festivals for participants where activity is relevant and benefits the outcomes of the programme and the projects
monitoring and surveying costs of participants to feed into your final reporting. This work should be conducted by you and not a third-party consultant
access requirements of participants or contributors
any specific and demonstrable overhead costs your organisation will incur in relation to delivery of the programme such as payroll administration costs or office space where these are not already covered by another source of funding or income. These costs should not exceed 5% of the amount you are applying for and are capped at £2,000
- If you request a contribution towards overhead you will need to provide a breakdown of how the figure has been calculated

Where the content of a programme brings specific sensitivities around wellbeing, applicants can budget for relevant wellbeing support if this carries a specific cost.

Payments to participants

Your budget should include payments for your programme participants. This should be based on a minimum hourly rate of £13.45 or £14.80 if your programme is based in London (Real Living Wage).

All payments need to equate to hours spent taking part in the programme, rather than providing a flat fee. The maximum amount that can be paid to a programme participant is £5,000 (45.5 days at the minimum rate) although this would be a substantial time commitment for participants. We expect most programmes to require a significantly smaller time commitment from participants.

You can propose to pay a higher day rate to participants if this is designed to demonstrably increase access to the programme. If you’d like to do this, you should provide justification in your application.

You may offer programme participants the ability to waive their participation fee, on the grounds that they have already secured substantial development backing for their project, or judge themselves to be of sufficient financial means that they do not require the support. In this instance, successful organisations could propose, during delivery, to reallocate these funds to another area of the programme that offers an opportunity to increase impact. This re-allocation will require BFI approval; if the reallocation is not approved by BFI, or the funds are no longer required, they will be retained by BFI for distribution to other projects seeking National Lottery funding.

All organisations applying must outline the fraud risk measures they will apply to programme delivery, including ensuring the payments for participants’ time are received by the correct individuals, and payments are only made in accordance with actual time spent attending programme sessions.

Ineligible costs

We cannot support the following types of programme or cost:

TV (single episodes/series intended for broadcast (TV or web based) project development
for-profit activity by the organisation running a programme
general marketing costs for you or your partners or contributors
programmes solely focused on production skills / practical filmmaking skills
timed filmmaking challenges
the purchase of equipment such as IT equipment, phones, production kit.
a project management fee or profit line that does not reflect costs directly associated with delivery of the programme
core costs for the day-to-day running of your organisation not associated with the activity/programme
staffing costs which are covered by other sources of funding or income
flights within or between England, Wales and Scotland
provision of one-to-one therapy or other ongoing therapeutic interventions for participants
prize funding or gifts of any kind
alcohol, parties or similar events
activity that is already specifically supported by another external source of funding
programmes that focus on other art-forms such as literature, dance on film, poetry film, opera or artists’ moving image
business start-up costs
development of your business not relating to the project
costs relating to an extension of ongoing work
cost incurred prior to an offer of funding from BFI
promotional materials (stands, printed brochures, tote bags, badges)
costs already covered by other BFI or partner funding – please contact us if you are unsure whether this applies to you

The above list is not exhaustive, and we may inform you that other types of activity within your application cannot be supported by a BFI award, or request that you amend specific budget lines. The budget templates include additional guidance on eligible and ineligible costs.

If you’re registered for VAT

Your figures should not include VAT that you can claim back.

If you are not registered for VAT, or you are registered for VAT but cannot fully recover the VAT you incur on costs, your figures should include irrecoverable VAT. Grants we make are ‘outside the scope’ of VAT and should be listed in your accounts as a grant and not, for example, as a fee for any services supplied to the BFI. You should get financial advice from your own accountant or the relevant tax office.

Partnership funding

You should be able to demonstrate an element of partnership support which can include cash or in-kind support. Partnership contributions are an important demonstration that there is genuine support for your project from your community, stakeholders and other partners. The larger the request to the fund the more partnership funding we would expect to see.

The amount of partnership funding we expect you to include in the income section of your programme budget differs depending on the size of your organisation or your partners or collaborators. For:

micro organisations (0-9 employees), we expect a cash or in-kind partnership match of at least 5% of the amount you are seeking from the BFI.
small organisations (10-49) employees, we expect a cash or in-kind partnership match of at least 10% of the amount you are seeking from the BFI.
medium and larger organisations (50 or more employees), we expect a cash partnership match of at least 20% of the amount you are seeking from the BFI.

Partnership funding does not have to be secured at the point of application but will need to be secured in advance of BFI award payment and before the proposed programme start date.

Other BFI funds cannot be used as partnership funding (for example from BFI Network, BFI Doc Society). UK National Lottery funding from another distributor (for example Arts Council) should not be the only form of partnership funding.

BFI National Lottery funding

We can only award funding to projects that have a clear public benefit along with an evidenced need for National Lottery funds. You should not apply for National Lottery funds to replace existing project funding or available income, or to fund activity that can start without an award.

BFI National Lottery Funding is project-based, time-limited funding, and as such, there should be no expectation of ongoing support beyond the term of any awards made.

All applicants are encouraged to develop plans for alternative sources of funding if they intend their activity to continue following Challenge Fund support.

5. What your programme needs to achieve

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

All awarded programmes will contribute to the following KPIs which we use to measure the success of the BFI National Lottery Creative Challenge Fund:

a minimum of ten individuals supported per programme, noting this number may be higher where each project taking part has multiple participants
45% of beneficiaries based in England outside of London and the South East
15% to be based in Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland
no more than 40% of beneficiaries based in London and the South East
at least 30% of participants taking part in programmes are new to BFI National Lottery funding
projects participating converted to production within five years: 15%

Equity, diversity and inclusion

We ask applicants to address equity, diversity and inclusion by engaging with the BFI Diversity Standards for film. The Creative Challenge Fund will prioritise programmes that will make a significant contribution to improving equity, diversity and inclusion across the industry and so your application will need to make clear, specific commitments to making this change.   If successful, you’ll need to report following the conclusion of your activity, evaluating how you’ve delivered against the aims of the Diversity Standards in practice.

Your programme will contribute towards achieving the BFI inclusion targets for creatives participating in your programme

UK-wide

Our funding supports national, regional and local activity to ensure that communities throughout the UK feel the benefit of the screen industries and culture. You’ll need to tell us where your proposed activity will be delivered and how this will support the BFI’s UK-wide principle.

We’re seeking to support programmes that stimulate a UK-wide ecosystem, providing impact and profile. Applicants are encouraged to make use of partnership working to achieve these aims.

Environmental sustainability

We ask all applicants to consider how you’ll apply environmental sustainability (ES) principles to the funded activity or your organisation more generally. This could include:

implementing good environmental practice for the project for example, travel and events
embedding sustainability within your organisation more broadly
exploring environmental themes as part of the work e.g. programming, training or skills development

Due to the range of organisations and activity that we fund, we’re not prescriptive about what you should focus on. For guidance, you can refer to resources provided by Julie’s Bicycle, particularly the Sustainable Screen Resource Hub, which outlines good environmental practices. To support the beneficiaries of your programme, you can also explore resources provided by BAFTA albert.

If funded, you’ll need to:

ensure at least one member of the funded projects’ creative team completes a relevant BAFTA albert academy workshop.
submit requested environmental impact data and report how you have applied the ES principle

6. How to apply

When you can apply

You must apply at least 16 weeks before the start date of your programme, which is the date you open your call for participants, not the date the participant activity starts. Applications submitted less than 16 weeks before the start of a project are ineligible and will be declined.

We strongly encourage you to apply as soon as you’re ready to provide sufficient lead time to the start of your programme.

Diversity Standards form

Before you can submit your application, you’ll need to complete and submit the Diversity Standards – Creative Challenge Fund form. You’ll need to register an account to do this.

This form will give you a unique Diversity Standards reference number, which you’ll need to fill in your application form. You’ll need to submit both forms 16 weeks ahead of your start date for your application be eligible.

Application forms received without a completed and submitted Diversity Standards form will be considered incomplete and therefore ineligible.

Information you’ll need to provide

In the application form, you’ll need to include:

Programme summary including:

which challenge priority your programme addresses
which project format your programme supports
proposed start date and end date
number of participants
number of projects
programme length
approximate number of hours of facilitated sessions
programme aims and objectives
overview of the content and structure
how the projects will benefit
who you have consulted
who will support the delivery of the programme
what are the expectations of the participants
what are the delivery materials you will ask for from participants

Participant summary including:

who are the proposed participants, what stage of career are they
any geographical focus
any long-term benefits for participants
inclusion targets
outreach and recruitment activities

Programme need including:

why you need BFI National Lottery Funding
what is the legacy of the programme, will it continue once the funding ends
if previously funded for similar activity, what adaptations have been made

Programme management and delivery including:

what your organisation does and its governance structure
past experience
staffing
safeguarding and wellbeing
financial processes
evaluation and monitoring
programme finances

How the programme meets the BFI outcomes and principles of funding:

UK-wide
environmental sustainability
equality, diversity and inclusion

Documents you’ll need to provide

At the end of the form, you will be asked to attach:

marketing and outreach plan describing how you will engage potential applicants
draft programme plan and timeline – including where dates/deadlines (detailing the extent to which timelines can and cannot be moved), content and description of activity, who you will approach to deliver each session (where known at point of application), and proposed event locations (i.e. which city/town rather than which specific venue).
detailed budget in Excel format using the template below providing a breakdown of income and expenditure and showing the amount and status of any partnership funding
your last set of independently certified / audited accounts
risk register for the programme from point of funding confirmation onwards, identifying risks perceived, how they will be mitigated and who is responsible for taking action.

If you have gained agreement from us to apply for a programme that lasts longer than a year, you will also need to attach:

your most recent organisational budget and management accounts for the current financial year as approved by your Board (including both income and expenditure reporting and a balance sheet)
budget and forecast for your organisation covering the full life of the activity being applied for, for example 1 April 2025 to 30 June 2026, accompanied by notes highlighting the assumptions made and key risks (for instance around renewal of funding from other sources)

Equality monitoring

You may be asked to provide equality monitoring data relating to your organisation’s leadership or project staff at the point of application or during your project. The data you submit on this form will be confidential and anonymous.

Submitting an application

You need to create an account to make your application online. You can save your application and return to it later.

Make sure you complete all of the sections, as incomplete applications are ineligible and will be declined.

7. What happens after you apply

You will get confirmation we received your application within 5 working days.
You will get a decision within 12 weeks.

We may write to you or request to meet with you to obtain more information about your application.

If we’ve agreed that your programme is longer than 12 months, we may ask you for a cashflow showing when you will spend the funding. If we need more information from you, it may take us longer to reach a decision on your application. We may share parts of your application with other BFI teams or external consultants during or following assessment.

If your application is ineligible, we will email to tell you we are unable to consider it. We may enable you to fix a mistake if this is the only reason the application is ineligible.

How your application is assessed 

When assessing your application we consider:

how closely your proposal addresses the challenge
how closely your proposal addresses the BFI National Lottery Creative Challenge Fund aims
your track record in delivering relevant professional or creative development initiatives
originality and dynamism of approach to programme design
strategy and sensitivity of approach in the creation of project-specific development resources for relevant talent constituencies
demonstrable understanding of screen sector development needs
level of detail and quality of planning around logistical elements of programme delivery and programme production overall 
any programme partnerships or collaborations and how they enhance the activity
ability to provide partnership funding, whether cash or in-kind, to support programme delivery, in line with graduated requirements depending on company size described above
extent to which the programme will create UK-wide benefit
extent to which the strategic principle of equity, diversity and inclusion is reflected within delivery plans
extent to which environmental sustainability is reflected within delivery plans
value for money demonstrated by the amount of activity delivered with the amount requested from the BFI
your demonstration of need for National Lottery funding
whether there is a clear public benefit to the proposed activity
detail of risk assessment and strength of proposed mitigations, including in relation to wellbeing and safeguarding
how you and your team, including any third party contributors or partners, have managed any previous BFI awards

How we prioritise applications

We get a lot of applications and cannot support them all. We prioritise proposals that:

most closely meet the challenge proposed
we think will have the biggest impact on the participants involved and the wider industry
offer the widest geographical spread to beneficiaries across the UK with other supported programmes
offer value for money
are innovative in approach
aim for ongoing sustainability in terms of continuing to take place beyond the term of any funding from the BFI

Grant and Lottery Finance Committee consideration

Following assessment of each application, funding recommendations will be made to the BFI Grant and Lottery Finance Committee (GLFC). This is the final stage of the funding decision process.

We undertake due diligence assessments of the applications we are recommending to our decision-making committee for funding. As part of this, before applying to the committee, we will request the bank details of the lead applicant. We will also request the personal address and date of birth of the CEO or Managing Director of the organisation applying. Please note that our request for this information is not an indication or confirmation of funding and you will be informed separately of the funding decision on your application. We will use this data to run an identity check. This is not a credit check and will not affect the ability of the CEO or Managing Director to receive credit from other organisations. We will be unable to submit your application to GLFC until we have received your completed form.

All applicants will be informed in writing of the decision on their application. If your application is declined, all supporting materials will be deleted from your submission in line with our record retention policy.

8. Getting a decision

If you’re unsuccessful

We may have turned down your application because we determined that the proposal:

did not fit the BFI National Lottery Creative Challenge Fund aims
did not meet the specific Challenge priorities
did not demonstrate a strong enough commitment to one or more of the following principles: equity, diversity and inclusion; UK-wide; environmental sustainability
was too ambitious for the budget
did not demonstrate enough relevant experience
was under-developed or lacking in detail around programme content, staffing or risk management
did not demonstrate sufficient need for National Lottery support and could be financed by other means
did not sufficiently address the BFI Diversity Standards

It is not possible to resubmit the same application to the Creative Challenge Fund.

Feedback on an unsuccessful application

If requested, we will try to provide feedback. As a small team we will prioritise those organisations where we asked for additional information or interviewed during the assessment process. The feedback will be by email, video call or telephone.

We will keep the data and supporting materials you sent to us in line with our records retention policy.

We welcome your feedback on the application process and how we might improve it. You can contact the Creative Challenge Fund team on creativechallengefund@bfi.org.uk.

If you’re successful 

You’ll receive a written offer of funding. You’ll need to sign the offer of funding and return it to the BFI within 14 days.  

Your offer of funding will set out details of how you will receive the funding, how to use it and how we expect you to report to us.

Read conditions of funding below to find out what you will have to do if you are offered an award.

9. Conditions of funding

If we offer you funding, in addition to the General Conditions of National Lottery Funding, you will be required to deliver the funded programme in accordance with the requirements set out in these guidelines and with the contents of your application (in its final form as approved by the BFI) as follows:

You will need to incorporate the creative and project eligibility criteria set out in section one into your programme design.
Your programme must be free of charge for participants.
Participants must be remunerated for their time in line with the information provided in section four.
You will need to issue a public call for applications that makes applying to the programme accessible for any applicant meeting the criteria and accompany this with creative engagement and outreach work to ensure visibility of the opportunity to a wide range of potential participants.
You will be expected to enter into a contract with each participant setting out the conditions relating to their engagement in the programme covering practicalities around attendance and payment of participation fee as well as conduct and wellbeing. BFI will set out the minimum participation terms for such contract which you can adapt for your purposes.
Programme design, participant selection and ongoing relationships with programme participants must be guided by the principle that this funding is not for slate development. There is not a prohibition on a successful organisation, following the conclusion of a programme, investing further in one or more projects that took part (subject to BFI approval over the terms associated with that investment), but this is expected to be the exception rather than the rule, since the aim of the programme is to enable projects to gain financial support from other sources of investment.
You will be required to work collaboratively with relevant BFI departments and partners, and your award will be overseen by one or more BFI representatives. This will include us requiring approval of a final programme schedule and budget including detail of the contents of each session. We may require successful applicants to attend a group meeting or workshop session prior to launching their programmes. If we request it, you will be required to enable a BFI representative to take part in the selection process for participants in your programme — including shortlisting applicants and/or taking part in any interviews you hold – and to facilitate access for a BFI representative to observe or where appropriate take part in one or more of your programme sessions. We may ask you for a meeting at any point during delivery to review progress, and may require you to share with BFI the materials that creatives deliver to you as part of the programme.
You will be required to collect diversity and geographical monitoring data on the applicants and beneficiaries of your programme, using data categories that will be supplied to you by the BFI. You will need to collect this data in a way that keeps it separate from your decision-making process and report the data in anonymised form to BFI.
Where you have included unsecured partnership funding within your budget, you will need to provide updates on securing this finance to the BFI. The BFI may elect to withhold or withdraw your award if you are unable to secure a level of partnership funding required to deliver the programme as planned, or require that you submit revised plans and budget showing how the programme could be delivered without the planned partnership funding.
Where applicable, you will need to adopt safeguarding provisions for protecting children and vulnerable adults. In terms of ensuring broader wellbeing for participants, you will need to require all participants to sign a code of conduct prior to joining your programme with a focus on behaviour, confidentiality around other participants’ work and a prohibition against any form of copying or plagiarism (as part of the minimum participation terms referred to above).
Your progress will be measured based on submission by you of interim and final reports, dates for the receipt of which will be set out in your funding agreement matched to cash flow of instalments of the award. Each report will need to include a narrative update that includes detail on any changes to plans in comparison to those previously approved by BFI; update on KPIs; and cost reporting against your budget. Your final report will need to include survey data on the experience of your programme’s participants and permit follow-up surveying of participants’ career progression to help inform future BFI strategy
You will be required to write, and agree to the publication on the BFI website of, a final report sharing the learnings of your funded activity. This should be written in the spirit of the greatest transparency possible, to enable other organisations to learn from what your programme has achieved.
You will be required to work with Julie’s Bicycle and, where applicable, BAFTA albert to assess the environmental impact of your programme and identify sustainability actions to take during delivery.
You will be required to take part in evaluation of the Fund, carried out by a third-party contractor appointed by the BFI. This is likely to take place in 2028-29 and may be revisited during later years so you should ensure to retain all data relating to your programme, its participants and its impact until the end of the BFI Screen Culture Strategy in March 2033. You will need to ensure that data on all participants in the Creative Challenge Fund-supported programme can be shared with BFI and any third-party evaluator it appoints, in compliance with data protection legislation.
You will be required to gain BFI approval for marketing and related materials for the programme, in line with branding guidelines that the BFI will provide you with. Those branding guidelines will also set out what credits you may take in relation to your programme’s support for any completed project

Appendix A – Expenses guidance

Our contributions towards expenses would be capped as follows:

accommodation per night
- for major city or overseas: £150
- regional UK: £135
travel including flights:
- economy only
- no flights within mainland UK
- no taxis unless related to an access requirement
Subsistence (meals): £40
- Breakfast: £10
- Lunch: £10
- Dinner: £20

This aligns with general conditions attaching to use of public funding and we will not cover costs of first class travel or accommodation, hospitality or general subsistence unless they are related to an access requirement.

Travel and accommodation costs are only funded by BFI where they are reasonably required where teams are based in different parts of the UK and need to meet for the purposes of furthering the project (e.g. for a workshop/residential).

We would expect teams to use online meeting tools where possible to minimise travel and to act in accordance with environmental sustainability principles.

We would only contribute to meals/subsistence directly associated with approved travel and accommodation.