Following a conversation I had with Alberto in October, I have been working on an idea for a collaborative network of businesses. I agreed with Alberto that Edgeryders could provide research in support of this, and we put together an initial outline.
I recently decided to apply for some funding for this, or £50,000) and have just realised that I should really run it past you guys first.
I have prepared a four page project description, and a budget, and have uploaded a couple of documents (the narrative and the budget0 on Google drive in the “Future of the Corporation” folder. See here https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B_vWawrKpTaFTW5yYktfOC1VTGs
Deadline for submission is tomorrow (Monday 4th December) so it is ridiculously late of me. Hope you get a chance to see this and respond before I submit!
Do you have any actual prototypes in mind yet?
yes, @johncoate, I am in discussions with one business (that is in the throes of converting to employee ownership) and am in conversations with several contacts with the aim of starting a prototype next spring. Am also in contact with a group in Germany that has a network of 100s of businesses and would be interested in exploring this.
I already reviewed Patrick’s document, made a few suggestions but otherwise I think it’s good to go. I also would not overthink it – go read if you want, but it’s not required. We are all racing several clocks already.
Agree. Go for it.
I confirm this is now submitted. Should hear within 6 weeks whether they are interested, and then another 6-8 weeks before we know whether we have got it.
Fingers xx!
OK, so we didn’t get the funding - not this time. I am still pursuing the idea in a slightly different form and will come back to Edgeryders about it some time in the future.
Damn! Sorry about that. Any feedback from them?
here’s the feedback
"I am sorry, but we are unable to help in this case. In the current funding round we received applications under this programme for sums which add up to nearly £3 million. Our guideline for expenditure in the round is £420,000. This means that the Trust has to prioritise applications carefully, considering factors such as the importance of the planned work, how well it fits within our published policies, the strength and clarity of the application, the availability of other funding sources, and the balance of work currently supported within a programme.
In the case of your application, although it does fit within our broad areas of interest, I am afraid that it was not judged to be a high priority for the Trust at this time."
Bah. Just boilerplate. 