Funding and Marketing
Find new audiences for your outreach, both for public events and for your schools/clubs activities.
You can also seek funding to support your outreach. This would normally be for a new project where you will be doing something that would not otherwise be possible. The funds listed below have yearly cycles, so check out the deadlines and plan well ahead.
Marketing (finding audiences):
Free marketing for astronomy society events! This well-designed site lists stargazing opportunities across the UK, and provides hints and tips for people just getting started in astronomy. Having a central listings site is great for everyone as it gets a lot more web traffic. You can add your own events. Endorsed by the Federation of Astronomical Societies.
STEM Learning have regional hubs with great links to schools. Sign up as a STEM Ambassador to tap into this fantastic network and enjoy a range of benfits.
Applying for funding:
These days, funds tend to be very competitive. Here are some tips to ensure your bid stands out:
Match the funders requirements - carefully check their objectives and target audiences.
Find project partners who can bring added expertise and value to your project.
Explain how you know (or will make sure) that your activity is appropriate for your audience. You get top marks if you involve people from the target audience in the activity design process. Alternatively you might partner with someone (eg a teacher) who can help give expert advice.
Funders tend to prefer projects that offer meaningful engagement for a small number of people who don’t normally engage with science, as opposed to brief/passive activities for a large number of people. Extra marks if you can create any sort of ongoing relationship with your audience rather than just offering a one-off event.
Legacy: if funded equipment/resources will continue to be used for outreach past the official project end date, highlight this in your bid.
If you’re unsure about anything, phone up the funder for a chat. They are usually very happy to help.
AstroBoost is keen to support and partner any projects that allow for sharing of outreach skills and resources with other astronomy societies.
The STFC favour projects that engage 8-14 yrs and their families from socioeconomically deprived areas, or other groups that aren’t very involved with science. The project needs to link in some way to STFC science with a STFC Scientist as a project partner, and the lead applicant needs to have proper accounts. STFC also offer larger awards.
The UK Space Agency are looking for projects that: demonstrate new techniques that can be repeated for larger audiences; enable a space-related element of a larger activity; develop and/or deliver space-related curriculum enrichment activities; and promote careers in the space sector.
This list from the National Coodinating Centre for STEM Engagement (an organisation for universities). It includes funding for all areas of science/technology/engineering/maths, so you’ll have to search through for relevant funds. But it may well include additional opportunities to those given above.
The Royal Academy of Engineering wants to: inspire creative public engagement with engineering; motivate engineers to share their stories, passion and expertise; develop engineers’ engagement skills; raise awareness of the diversity, nature and impact of engineering; and to engage with under-represented groups.
Some of the most useful funding schemes for astronomy societies:
Note: most schemes are annual with similar dates each year. Details and timelines don’t tend to change much year to year, so if you’ve missed out this cycle you can still plan ahead for next year.
Grants available for projects encouraging young people from groups currently under-represented in physics to carry on doing physics post-16. The project must involve ongoing/multiple engagements with the same people, and can include family engagement activities. Deadline 27 February 2023 for projects to run Oct-Dec 2023.
Funding (under £10,000 or over £10,000) available for community projects that (i) bring people together and build strong relationships in and across communities, and/or (ii) improve the places and spaces that matter to communities, and/or (3) help more people to reach their potential, by supporting them at the earliest possible stage.
Funding to support physics opportunities and aspirations. Eg this grant may be appropriate to fund long-term partnerships with a specific teacher/school. Their priority audiences include teachers without a physics background, teachers and students in remote rural areas or in areas of social deprivation, and students on free school meals.
Information to support your funding bid:
There are certain measures and concepts that are often used by funding bodies. Here are some useful links to get yourself up to speed and find data for your region.
Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) are often used by funders as a way to identify the locations that might benefit most from science engagement activities. You are more likely to get funding if you engage people from areas that are designated IMD-1 or IMD-2. There is an interactive map here.
This super useful project from the British Science Association can be used to identify areas where people may have less opportunity for science engagement. This could be especially useful to show need in areas that are not IMD1-2.
This 2023 toolkit adopts a realist approach to evaluation that enables us to account for (and measure) the complexities and subtleties presented across different settings.
An accessible introduction to evaluation, with light-touch tools designed for ease of use. It’s intended to provide advice and resources that can be simply and easily integrated into normal outreach and education activities.
Evaluation
Funders may have their own prefered evaluation framework, but these toolkits can help you find workable ways to deliver the funders requirements, and/or ways to evaluate for your own purposes (eg to improve practice, or to support future funding bids). Both the toolkits below were developed in the UK.
Funders might refer to ‘Science Capital’. This is a concept that considers all the ways in which an individual interacts with STEM in their lives. Science Capital cannot be measured as such, but it’s a useful frame for thinking about outreach.
If you know any other resources that should be here, please get in touch!
I’m especially interested to know of anything that your society has used in practice and that you have found worked for you.