To apply for an award you need to be:

• Engaged with one of our partner youth organisations
• Aged between 18 and 25 years old
• Have an idea or opportunity that you are passionate about pursuing

You can find a full list of our partners here.

To apply you will need to register for Make My Mark using a link from your partner youth organisation.

Typically it takes at least one hour to complete your application, but you can spend as long as you wish on it, so long as you submit it by the time application window closes.

In your online application, you will need to tell us:

1. About you, such as your contact details, address, and date of birth
2. What you are doing in life at the moment
3. About what you want to do - your idea or opportunity
4. What you have done already to pursue your idea or opportunity
5. How you plan to use the grant - don’t worry this doesn’t need to be too detailed
6. What help and support you feel you need from a mentor
7. Where you hope to be in five years time

You can prepare in advance - see the FAQ below about 'What questions do you ask in the application?' - for a detailed list of the questions in the application form.

And you can always save and return to your application at a later date if you're stretched for time.

The application window closes at 11.59pm on Sunday 11th June 2023.

You can use up to 2,000 characters for your answers to most questions, which is generally around 330 words. Please bear in mind that it is always better to be as brief as you can be while still providing all relevant information. If you want to provide more information you can either provide it in your answer to the final question of the application or attach it in a PDF.

Please avoid jargon as much as you can, and if you have to use any jargon, please explain it the first time you use it. Remember that the people reviewing your application won’t know you or your situation, so please try to make your answers clear and concise.

1. Please indicate your current status, e.g. studying, on a training programme, working, not working, etc.

Please tell us what you are currently doing during the working week. If you are doing a number of things please tell us about all of them.

2. Please describe what you want to use a Make My Mark grant for.

Please tell us what you want to use a Make My Mark grant for and the grant amount you will need in round numbers, such as £1,000, £1,500, etc.

Please make sure the grant amount you request here is consistent with your answer to the budget section on the application. You should explain what you want to do, why you want to do it and how you think it will help you in life. Also, please tell us if this is a long standing aim or something you have decided to do more recently.

A Make My Mark grant is intended to help you as an individual but if you think it will also help other people, please set out how and why. If this is something you are passionate about please tell us why.

3. Under which theme would you place your application?

• Community Engagement
• Culture (including Music)
• Education & Training
• Enterprise
• Sport
• Other – please specify (e.g. Travel)

4. What steps, if any, have you already taken to achieve this?

Please tell us what, if anything, you have already done to help you towards your goal. For example, you may have taken time to investigate or plan out what you need to do, you may have taken time to learn new skills to help you, or you may have started on the path towards your goal.

5. Please tell us if you have previously received any funding for your idea

If you have previously received funding for your idea, please tell us how much money, when and from whom you received it.

6. What, if anything, is stopping you from achieving this?

Although you may have started working towards your goal, it is entirely normal to hit some bumps in the road. Please tell us about these. They could be a lack of money, lack of support or advice, lack necessary skills, etc.

7. What support, beyond financial, do you need to help you achieve this?

Make My Mark is not only a grant but will also provide you with access to a mentor (this may be someone with whom you are already working). What help, support and advice do you think you will need along your journey?

Your answer to question six above may help you identify what help you may need. As part of Make My Mark we will try to provide you with the support you need or at least point you in the direction of finding that help.

8. What is it that motivates/inspires you to achieve this?

What is it that engages you with this idea/dream? It may be a variety of things, such as a family member believing in you, someone from your partner charity investing time in you or something inside you wanting to change your life. Help us understand what it is that motivates you.

9. Describe how you see yourself in five years’ time.

Fast forward your life five years and describe what it is you will be doing then, what will you have achieved over the five years, what will you have learnt, how will your life have changed.

10. Please write an “elevator pitch” for your idea.

This should be up to 100 words that explains your idea to someone you have never met.

If you met someone for the first time and you only had two minutes to tell them about what you want to do, what would you say? You may want to practise this out loud as well as writing it down. You could start by summarising your answer to question two.

11. Please set out how you plan to use the money.

This should take the form of a simple budget of just a few lines, with estimated costs, that sets out the main way(s) you intend to spend the money. You don’t need to have every detail worked out yet – we just want to understand broadly how you would spend a grant - and you will be able to change your budget should you need to at a later date. Please list the main areas of spend and roughly how much each will cost.

For example, if you need to buy a piece of equipment such as a camera, then research how much a suitable camera would be online. We don’t need the spend down to the penny, so it would be best to use round numbers.

12. If you are successful in getting a grant, what progress would you expect to make by this time next year?

Please keep your answer short - no more than 100 words. Please tell us what you would hope or expect to achieve in your first year.

13. What would you do if you did not win an award? How would you try to “pursue your dream”?

Please keep your answer short - no more than 100 words. Imagine you don’t get a grant, would you still pursue your idea? If yes, what would you hope to do?

14. Who are your role models in life? And why?

Please tell us who you admire in life. Who do you aspire to emulate in life? What is it about these people that inspires you? If the person is not famous, then please tell us who they are.

15. What are you most proud of?

What have you achieved in your life that you are most proud of?

16. Please provide any other information you think is relevant to your application.

Please tell us if there is anything else that you think we should know when considering your application.

Yes we strongly recommend that you do. You can see full details of the application questions above.

Yes you can. Simply save your application and login into your account once you're ready to complete your application.

Remember to submit your application once you have completed it and you are happy with it. You must submit your application by 11.59pm on Sunday 11th June 2023.

Yes you can.  You can log into your account and revise any elements of your application any time up until the closing date.

The application window closes at 11.59pm on Sunday 11th June 2023.

Yes. Below is the grant agreement that you'll need to sign up to as part of your application:

Make My Mark is a programme run by the Centre for Innovation in Voluntary Action (CIVA) and aims to help young people achieve their potential in life by providing our award winners with a grant, mentoring, and help with networking with like-minded people.  We may pay you the grant in a single payment or in instalments over a period, as you need the money.  We may suspend payment of the grant or ask for the grant money back if you break the terms of this agreement.

We ask you to do the things set out below, so that we can understand your progress and learn how we can improve what we do.  Please read the information below carefully and if you are happy to agree to the points set out, please indicate this by clicking confirm at the bottom of the page.

We ask that you:

1. Actively keep in touch with us to tell us about how things are going over the next few years, including:
   1. Keeping in touch with your assigned lead mentor on a regular basis, as you agree between you.
   2. Being completely open about how things are going:  what is going well, what is more difficult and how you feel about things.
   3. Telling us about any change in your contact details such as your home address, email, or phone number.
   4. Completing the online evaluation forms we send you, so that we can see how you are progressing and whether the programme is working in the way we intend.
   5. Attending network meetings with other award winners.
   6. Telling us how the grant has helped you.
2. Spend the money as you set out in your written application(s) and your presentation to the judges.  If you need to adjust or amend how you want to spend the money you must do so in agreement with your partner charity, this would normally be through a face-to-face meeting or a written proposal.
3. Manage the money in conjunction with your partner charity and keep records to show how you have spent the money (i.e., receipts).
4. Ensure that the money is only used for lawful purposes.
5. Help us promote Make My Mark to future potential applicants in the coming years, including attending future promotional events, helping us with shortlisting or judging, or by providing a case study we can use with future applicants or funders.
6. Consider, once you can do so, how you may “pass on” the help you have received to other young people, such as being part of our Make My Mark team, mentoring future award winners or, if you are able to, supporting us with a donation.

This document appears as part of the registration process, and you will need to agree to it in order to submit your application.