Meet the Funder: Motability Foundation

We were really delighted to be joined by Dani and the team from the Motability Foundation for last week’s ‘Meet the Funder’ session.

As many people will already know, CTA and Motability share a huge synergy in our missions. At CTA, we believe that everyone in their community should be able to access transport that meets their needs and for Motability, the aspiration is all about making all of our journeys accessible, so they fund, support, research and innovate so that all disabled people can make the journeys that they choose. The support from Motability Foundation for the Community Transport movement is a really important part of breaking down some of the multiple barriers that are faced by disabled people.

To give a window into the enormous contribution that Motability have made in this space, just in 2024/25 Motability supported 10,473 people with grants of more than £59.3 million to access the Motability scheme, and provided grants to 31 charities and organisations that support disabled people of more than £14 million last year alone. Since 2022, the Foundation has invested more than £50 million through its organisational funding.

It's been really fantastic to see the Foundation’s recognition of and support for the Community transport movement. We're really grateful to Dani and the team for their enthusiasm about joining us. Our aim for last week’s session, and the recap of the Q&A below, is really about helping you feel more informed about the updated grant programme and coming away with a really clear sense of what a strong application needs to include, so you feel more confident in putting your EOI and applications together. Please check out the recording and transcript for more info, and see the recap of the Q&A below.

Q1

Q: Operator A has applied for a new minibus, but not sure whether they're being processed. So how can she find this out? And how soon could they reapply if they're unsuccessful?

A: The grant managers are currently actively working through all of the applications that we've got at the moment. If it has recently come through, the likelihood is you will know within the next week or so.

Q2

Q: If someone is thinking about a bit of digital transformation as well as potentially expanding or piloting something new, should they get in contact with the grant manager so that they can have a look at what's the best route for them to apply?

A: Yes, it would be a good idea if you are looking at a mixture just to just to get in touch and run it by either myself or one of the grant managers and then we can see whether it's fitting under one of those five themes with the building resilience or whether it lends itself better to the large grant fund.

Q3

A: A couple of people have asked about your definition of disability. We use the Equality Act 2010 definition of disability and try to take an holistic view to support as many disabled people as possible. If you have any questions or are unsure, please get in touch.

Q4

Q: We have a varied operation which includes dial-a-ride, day trips, a car club, and several different projects within the one organisation, and we’d like to bid for funding across a number of different areas. Is it better to put them all together as one ‘uber project’ or maybe look at them as individuals?

A: Motability Foundation can only take one application under the one funding round per organisation. I would say if that's what you're looking at and you're looking at multiple projects really honing on the ones that are top priority for you, for an organisation and if they fit under the large grant scheme. Try not to do like a whole wide, wide range of projects, because the likelihood is grant managers will come back and say where are we sitting with this? Which one's a priority for the organisation and that's potentially where capacity questions will come into place.

Q5

Q: Can you tell us anything about future funding rounds?

A: So the plan is these current rounds will close at the end of December (just to point out that is if you are doing a full application that deadline is for your EOI, you will get time after that to get the full application) and then the plan is springtime next year, we will be reopening the funding rounds. So if for any reason you apply within this funding round and are unsuccessful, you will be able to reapply in the next funding rounds that open.

I've also had quite a lot of inquiries come through from organisations who aren’t ready to apply yet, either because they haven't necessarily submitted accounts yet, so their prior financial year is under three months free reserves, or perhaps they aren’t quite ready with their community engagement to frame the project proposal for the EOI. There will be funding rounds open early next year.

Q6

Q: What is your definition of a ‘small’ operator? Is it just about that income level for the bids or is it about kind of vehicles already in use, passenger journeys?

A: No, it's definitely more around the income. That's not to say that if you're a large organisation and you're looking for one minibus and one driver that you can't apply under the small grant scheme. But I think that for a small organisation where we've dropped the threshold to £50,000. If we feel that you've put in a bid under small and it leans more towards the large, we'd come back to you again and let you know that we're moving it on our side.

It's just more around enabling the smaller grassroots organisations to start accessing the funding that we've got available.

Q7

Q: If an operator is part of a group that received support through the Motability Foundation, but they weren't directly funded but funded as part of this partnership. Would they potentially be able to bid for funding directly in their own right in this current round?

A: I would say if they are currently part of a cohort that's receiving funding to get in touch with the grant manager that's currently looking after that and they would be able to have a wider discussion on that.

Q8

Q: Would funding for staff training and wages be an eligible expenditure line. So could staff wages be included?

A: Yes, absolutely. Salaries, training, uniforms, anything that they need to be able to do the job. Laptops, phones, you can put onto the budget line.

Q9

Q: Motability Foundation have talked a lot about leveraging their funding to make a significant impact. For many rural operators, the impact often isn't about the numbers in terms of volume of passenger, but about the individuals and the impact that it has. So very often in rural locations, CT is the only transport option, so how could operators like that really demonstrate to you what impact looks like for them? And how will grant assessors look at that?

A: That's a really good question. So when it comes to journey numbers we will of course always look at journey numbers and what CTO’s are delivering. But we will also look at the area that you're in. I have visited a number of CTOS that are in Wales and one on the Isle of Harris on Lewis, I'm very, very aware that if you have a community of 3000 people that your impact on journey numbers isn't going to be anywhere near what an urban CTO is delivering.

I wouldn't worry too much about trying to get where your journey numbers are coming in, I would just literally highlight within your application we're in a rural area. We're the only transport that's available if there. If there are taxis, they're generally very expensive.

And they are all things that we know, but they are really, really good to highlight within your application. It's it is about the journey of numbers that you're delivering, but it's within relevance to the area that you're in. So I wouldn't panic if you're looking and its smaller numbers, we will always take into consideration the area where you are.

Q10

Q: If we've had groups that have benefited from Motability funding in the previous iteration, can you tell us a little bit about how you'd be looking at bids from groups like that who want to now apply again in this round?

A: So we aren't doing continuation funding and one of the main reasons why we're saying we aren't doing continuation funding is you're potentially coming to the end of a grant and it's restarting a new grant. What we are looking at is that there is growth on what you've previously been funded so that it's not a like for like you're either looking to extend/expand one part of it or you've looked and gone or from the the previous three years of delivery, we've now learned that our community wants another service and you're looking to pilot it.

To make sure that there is a slight or large expansion on what you were previously doing and that you're using the learnings from the previous funding to deliver something new or something moulded a bit differently. We're looking for growth on what you've previously, or that it will be enhanced or improved, and we’re very happy to discuss this with you to explore what this could look like.

Q11

Q: You mentioned that you encourage applications from partnership. Is this only for the resilience grant fund? Or would it be for all the grant programmes? That could be a really attractive option for two smaller organisations to come together as long as one of them still is over that £50,000 income threshold.

A: It's for all the grant programmes.

If you’d like to submit any additional questions, or if you need clarification on anything covered, you can reach out to the Motability Foundation team directly at grantstoorganisations@motabilityfoundation.org.uk