We can consider applications for funding ideas and projects if we have funds that have been donated which match the project being proposed. 

Before you submit your proposal please have a chat with our funding and partnerships team. They can let you know if there is any suitable funding and if it would be appropriate to submit a full proposal. 

After you’ve spoken to the team you can submit your idea online.

We fund a wide range of initiatives linked to our three core goals and we can only consider applications for funding ideas and projects if we have funds that have been donated which match the project being proposed. 

You can also download our guidelines for further information about projects we are able to support. (LINK – these will be PDF documents on their own page)

• Items and projects we can’t fund include:
• Items that are core NHS funding responsibilities.
• Salaries or costs relating to the running of core services.
• Applications for activities or equipment that have already been completed.
• Staff social activities.
• Applications to support individually named patients.
• Projects or activities which directly or indirectly benefit commercial companies providing services to the hospital.
• Academic/blue sky research.
• Projects where there are any conflicts of interest with suppliers or employees of the trust.
• Proposals which are detrimental to the trust’s environmental sustainability goals.
• Unsolicited proposals from external organisations.
• Items that include funds being used for the provision of alcohol.

You should speak to your clinical board before you submit your proposal. If they don’t support it we won’t be able to either. Things to check with your clinical board include: 

• Does it align with your clinical board strategy?
• Does your clinical board support the use or named funds to support your idea?
• Does your clinical board have the capacity to manage the proposal and cover any costs not covered by funding. 
• Have you discussed your idea with other departments where needed such as estates, HR, IT or information governance? 

If you’re looking to purchase equipment over the value of £5,000 it also needs approval from the Capital Management Group. 

All digital proposals must follow the trust’s digital request process. Please speak with the digital services team before submitting a proposal. 

Our team will assess each proposal and check against a due diligence checklist. We might need to ask for more information to make sure your proposal meets our criteria. 

Our online form is easy to complete but if you need any support our funding and partnerships team are on hand to help. Some of the information we’ll need you to provide includes:

• Whether the proposal relates to a particular fund you have discussed with us.  
• An overview of the proposal including when it will start and how long it will run. 
• Details of what difference you hope the proposal will make to patients, staff or the wider communities of Newcastle Hospitals. 
• How the proposal fits with our funding criteria. 
• How will you measure whether the funded activity has made the difference you are hoping for. 
• Costs 
• Is the proposal sustainable? You’ll be asked to tell us what will happen at the end of the funded period. 

It can take up to 28 days for a decision for projects that need £5,000 or less, or up to three months for projects seeking over £5,000 – please factor this into your planning and respond as quickly as able to requests for further information to avoid delays.

If your proposal is approved our funding and partnerships team will be in touch by email. They will let you know the details of the funding, how it will be paid and how we’d like you to tell us about the outcomes of your project. It is also important that we share the impact of funding with our donors, supporters and fundraisers so we will also share information about how you should acknowledge your funding. 

We assess all proposals against our public benefit criteria test and consider the following:

• Would our donors be happy for their donations to be spent in this way?
• Is this expenditure additional to what should be provided from an NHS budget? .
• Are we proud to announce this as a project we’ve funded?

For proposals under £5,000 we check:

• If we have a fund available from which the idea can be funded.
• There is a clear description of proposed activity.
• The proposal has potential for a positive impact for patients, visitors staff, or wider communities. 
• The proposal enhances but does not replace trust provision. 
• A budget has been provided and value for money established. 
• Suitability for charity funding.

For proposals over £5,000 we check: 

• If we have a fund available from which the idea can be funded.
• There is a significant potential benefit.
• There is a robust approach to evaluation.
• Does it involve patients, service users, staff, the public.
• Is there any partnership working/delivery.
• Is there an effective plan for delivery.
• Does the team involved have the experience/expertise to deliver.
• Is it good value for money.
• Suitability for charity funding.

Once assessed we’ll consult our advisory panels for decision making. 

• • We have two panels who meet to advise on proposals if certain criteria are met Sir Bobby Robson Foundation – guides all decisions about any funding proposals seeking support from the Foundation’s restricted fund.
  • Great North Children’s Hospital – advises on proposals that seek to use any of the donations associated with The Great North Children’s Hospital.  

  Approval of all funding requests is the responsibility of The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust acting as the Corporate Trustee, or the delegated responsibility of the Newcastle Hospitals Charity Committee. 

  Decisions on funded projects will be: 

  • Made independently of the Trust’s decisions concerning the use of exchequer funds
  • Mindful of how supporters’ funds are used and consider any potential reputational risk.
  • Consistent with any conditions attached to donations. 
  • For projects which are yet to start and not for any item that has already been purchased or delivered.

  Scheme of Delegation: Authorisation of funding requests from Charity
  Value	Fund Type	Authorisation
  Up to £5,000	All	1. Charity Director OR Head of Charity Finance OR Associate Director (Funding & Partnerships)
  £5,000.01 – £20,000	All	Two of:  Medical Director Executive Director of Nursing  Chief Finance Officer  Charity Director
  £20,000.01 –  £999,999	All	Charity Committee at a formal meeting (monthly)
  £1,000,000+	All	Full meeting of Board in their capacity as Corporate Trustee (separate agenda and minuting to regular Board Business)

   

Where funding provided is more than £20,000 is provided, a funding agreement will be drawn up setting out the rights and responsibilities of both parties during the funding period.

For funding of any value, you can spend the funding as intended through the same channels as you would for non-charity purposes. The only difference is, you will be required to use a charity cost centre, which we will provide for you, rather than your directorate cost centre. 

Please note, if completing a requisition for a purchase order you must also include the funding reference number on both ‘note to buyer’ and ‘note to supplier’ or it will not be processed and you will need to resubmit. 

Any queries relating to expenditure of the funds should be directed to our Charitable Funds Finance Team at nuth.CharitableFundsFinance@nhs.net 

We ask that you hold on to any related documentation relating to expenditure of charitable funds for a period of six years. This is because from time to time we will review a sample of projects that the charity has funded to ensure that funds have been used as intended / reported.

Successful proposals must commence use of the funding within 6 months. If not, a new proposal will need to be submitted. Extensions will not be considered in these circumstances.

If we can’t support your proposal we will provide feedback and our funding and partnerships team will work with you to see if there is a different way to meet the needs of the project. 

Yes but only where hospital staff have identified a need and are working in partnership with an external organisation who are best placed to meet that need – find out more about how to apply for funding as an external organisation. (LINK)

A member of the funding and partnerships team will get in touch with you asking you to complete an evaluation of your project when it is completed. 

We ask for this information to see how the funding was used, what impact the project had for patients/staff, and how we can learn about using donations in the most effective way.  

The results of this will help us promote the work of the charity to both our donors and the wider trust and we may use some of your quotes in our charity communications. If you have any photos of your project ‘in action’, we would love to see them too! 

This is really important for us as it tells our donors and fundraisers how their donations have been spent, as well as raising awareness with staff about what the charity is able to fund. Our hope is that in turn this will encourage others to put their ideas forward for funding. 

Newcastle Hospitals Charity should be acknowledged as a key supporter of your project, and this can be done in a number of ways: 

• You must mention that Newcastle Hospitals Charity has funded your project in any reference to it in the trust’s ‘In Brief’ bulletin, or on the intranet or other trust-wide publicity. 
• We have sent you an electronic version of our logo which you must use in any leaflets, promotional materials, etc. If you want some advice around how and where to use the logo, please let us know. 
• If your grant has come from our Great North Children’s Hospital Foundation or Sir Bobby Robson Foundation funds, we have also sent you an appropriate logo to use alongside the main charity logo. 
• We have a number of charity logo stickers that can be used to promote the Charity and stuck on the side of the equipment you have bought with Charity funding – please ask us for these. 
• The charity has a fantastic communications team who are always on the lookout for great stories to publicise the work of staff who have utilised charity funding to benefit patients and staff. They may get in touch to talk to you about what you have been up to. 
• If you use social media in your team/department and want to showcase what the funding was used to buy/do, please remember to add the charity’s social media handles. 
• This will let us know that you have been talking about us so we can share this with our followers too. Our social media handles are: 
  • Twitter/X: @Newcastle_NHS 
  • Facebook: @NewcastleHospitalsCharity 
  • LinkedIn: @NewcastleHospitalsCharity 
  • Instagram: @Newcastle_NHS