UnLtd support social entrepreneurs, all sorts of different people who have set up their own project or business which has ultimately helped other people. UnLtd provides funding and support to those individuals as well as providing legal and financial help if needed.

Live UnLtd is the name for all of the work UnLtd undertakes with young people ages 11 – 21.

Live UnLtd provides young people with the opportunity to create positive change in their communities. We do this by offering awards of up to £5,000 to develop your idea, as well as offering non-financial support from a dedicated Live UnLtd team member. Non-financial support can include budgeting advice, networking opportunities, governance issues and working with volunteers.

Our average award size is £1,500 – with a maximum award size of £5,000. Applications above the average award size are rare and very competitive so please consider this carefully upon making your application. We encourage you to apply for what you need, and in most cases that won’t be the full amount.

If you are aged 11 – 15 we offer awards of up to £500 in addition to support from a Live UnLtd team member.

If you are under 18 years of age you will need parental consent to undertake your project and a designated advisor to support you with the development and running of your project should you be successful.

An advisor is an adult that you trust that is able to support you throughout the project – this could be a youth worker, teacher, parent or anyone else that you choose. An adviser can be your parent or guardian – the person who signs your consent form.

Individuals who are age 11-21 and are living in the UK

Basic Eligibility:

• 11 – 21 years of age
• Living in the UK
• Applying as an individual or informal group, with your own idea. This means that you cannot apply on behalf of an organisation. For example your school, youth club or youth centre.

Applications to Live UnLtd must meet the following criteria:

• Have a positive social impact on your community
• Demonstrate that you have identified a problem and can explain how your project would tackle the problem
• Tell us what specific activities your project includes and what you hope to achieve
• Provide a learning experience or opportunity for you

Applications to Live UnLtd must not be for:

• Your paid employment
• Political campaigning or the advancement of a religion
• Activities outside the law, against public policy, or anything that fosters ethnic, religious or commercial disharmony
• Your living expenses
• Undertaking academic qualifications
• Employing others to run your project

Project costs we can support:

• Insurance
• Equipment
• Venue Hire
• Advertising and publicity
• Printing
• Equipment Hire
• Volunteer expenses
• Travel (within the UK)
• Materials
• IT equipment
• Business start-up fees
• Registration fees

Costs we can not support:

• Top up funding for an existing project, or funding to support an organisation
• Formal academic qualifications
• Payment of loss of earnings, payment for your time, or other costs leading to personal financial gain
• Payment for someone else to run your project. An award may be used to pay other people – such as a facilitator, or volunteer travel – however these costs should not be your entire budget.

We will consider training costs if it is directly related to carrying out your project, however if you are applying solely to undertake training we would not be able take your application forward.

The funding is only part of what we offer!

We’ll support you in the running of your project. This means that you’ll have a dedicated member of the Live Team who will be your designated point of contact and there to answer your questions, and guide you through the process of setting up a project. This support can include budgeting advice, networking opportunities, governance issues and working with volunteers.

Applying is quite simple. The first step is to make an enquiry by clicking on the ‘Make an Enquiry’ button below. Following that a Live UnLtd team member will contact you on the details you provide within 3 working days.

Yes, however remember to think about what kind of support you might need from other people to run the activities of your project. We encourage individuals to apply, as well as informal groups.

Of course you can – all you need to do is select one of the group to be the ‘lead individual’ on the application form. This is the person who’s name goes on the cheques!

Once you have made an application, and you meet all of our basic eligibility criteria a member of our team will contact you to arrange a time to meet you, and talk about your idea in more detail. If you do not meet the basic eligibility criteria we will write to you explaining our decision.

You can expect to wait 4 to 7 weeks between the time you have made your application, and the time you will have a final decision

In most cases we will pay the funding into either your account or the account of your parent or guardian. The funds are paid in instalments via a BACS transfer.

You will be supported in developing your project for 1 year, by a Development Manager who you will normally meet at your interview.

Before the year comes to an end, your Development Manager will have worked with you to develop some next steps for you and your project. You will also benefit from being in the Live UnLtd network and will have access to other opportunities, such as training and events.