Criteria - Stichting DOEN

Applications may be eligible for a contribution from DOEN if they meet the following criteria*:

1. The applicant is a legal entity (applications from individuals are not accepted).
2. The initiative is implemented on the basis of a clear and thorough plan (SMART) in which it is plausible that the (self-)formulated objectives will be realised.
3. The budget and coverage of the initiative are transparent and realistic with a realistic cost-benefit ratio.
4. Initiatives from organisations that have sufficient resources to realise the initiative (in the form of reserve assets / equity) are not eligible for support from DOEN.
5. The initiative has a transparent governance structure with clearly separated roles.
6. The proposed activities will bring about a structural development and lasting effect.
7. The initiative meets a demonstrable need and is well embedded.
8. The initiative has an entrepreneurial approach. This translates, for example, into a contribution from the initiators or a clear plan with regard to financial sustainability.

* These general criteria and exclusions do not apply to Dutch initiatives financed by the Postcode Loterij Buurtfonds. These are subject to separate criteria and exclusions which can be found at www.postcodeloterijbuurtfonds.nl.

DOEN does not provide financial contributions for:

1. Initiatives with purely commercial objectives.
2. Independent (scientific) research, debates, seminars, congresses, symposia and conferences.
3. Awareness campaigns/activities.
4. Regular education, purely educational projects and teaching packages.
5. Health care, primary care provision (including legal aid and rehabilitation), sanitation and (drinking) water projects.
6. Emergency aid.
7. Study grants, work experience, study trips, student exchanges, independent student activities, group trips, (children’s) holiday camps and (day) trips.
8. Anniversaries and other festivities, independent (neighbourhood) activities, parties and/or music festivals or other festivals.
9. Purchase and/or maintenance of real estate, cultural heritage, places and/or monuments and works of art.
10. Restoration and building activities including renovation and rebuilding (unless these investments create new employment, learning-through-working opportunities or meeting places for the target group).
11. Initiatives that focus on amateur arts, such as choirs, brass bands, etc.
12. Purchase of instruments, materials (for example, new uniforms), equipment, transportation and/or inventory (for example, computers, office equipment).
13. The production of films, documentaries and TV series (unless specifically focused on one or more DOEN programmes and with broadcasting guarantee), CDs, DVDs or CD-ROMs, books, publications, magazines and/or websites.
14. Initiatives with a primarily political or religious objective and/or background.
15. Initiatives by governments and government agencies.
16. Initiatives of partners of the Nationale Postcode Loterij or the VriendenLoterij.
17. Initiatives by organisations with disproportionately large equity: free reserve of more than 1.5 times annual implementation costs.

* These general criteria and exclusions do not apply to Dutch initiatives financed by the Postcode Loterij Buurtfonds. These are subject to separate criteria and exclusions which can be found at www.postcodeloterijbuurtfonds.nl

DOEN will support pioneers who are working towards a sustainable and inclusive society in the Netherlands and abroad. The focus is “doing good” rather than “doing less bad”. DOEN is committed to restoring the soil, air and water, and the (re)use of raw materials. The aim is to create a balanced ecological living space.

DOEN is looking for pioneers that contribute to a regenerative economy:

1. DOEN supports entrepreneurs working with new business models on landscape restoration or regenerative agriculture.
2. DOEN supports entrepreneurs who are committed to reducing the use of raw materials or replacing raw materials with natural materials.
3. DOEN supports citizen collectives putting a regenerative economy into practice.

Substanstive criteria

1. The initiative strengthens communities disproportionately affected by climate change (climate adaptation, system recovery and inclusiveness).
2. This concerns an innovative solution for the new ecological balance (for example, on the design side/earlier in the chain).
3. A new trend/development is being initiated in an entrepreneurial way.
4. The initiative establishes a positive connection between active human intervention and ecology (improvement is achieved by doing).
5. The initiative works on regenerating local ecosystems through an approach in collaboration with multiple stakeholders.

General criteria

1. The initiative contributes to the transitions that DOEN wants to accelerate.
2. DOEN funding is catalytic for the initiative and impact, after this the initiative can continue without the support of DOEN.
3. It is a social and/or sustainable enterprise, citizen collective or sector-strengthening initiative which uses an unconventional, surprising and creative approach and is aimed at financial independence.
4. The (local) initiator is able to set an example for the sector with the initiative.
5. It is a demand-driven approach, set up with all relevant stakeholders and embedded in the local context.
6. The initiative is innovative and its social and ecological impact is structural.
7. The initiative has moved beyond the research phase and is in a pilot or early market introduction phase.
8. The initiative will be carried out in the Netherlands (including Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten and the BES islands) or East Africa.

Exclusions

1. Development of technology (R&D phase).
2. Energy saving or generation by means of waste streams and/or recycling.
3. Setting up or implementing certification processes.
4. Initiatives focused only on product level.
5. Initiatives mainly focused on animal welfare.
6. Political or awareness campaigns.
7. Initiatives that are purely aimed at improving living conditions – so-called “Livelihood projects”.
8. Purely technologically driven solutions, such as cultured meat.

DOEN strives for a society where everyone can participate and matter. DOEN focuses on pioneers in the Netherlands Netherlands who promote an inclusive society:

1. Residents’ initiatives: DOEN supports both small-scale neighbourhood projects, which mainly have an impact on those directly involved and the neighbourhood, and the more innovative, somewhat larger residents’ initiatives, which offer alternatives to how we organise society and work on system change. (Through the Postcode Loterij Buurtfonds)
2. Social entrepreneurship: DOEN supports social enterprises and organisations that support them in order to strengthen the sector.
3. Livelihood security: DOEN focuses on the role it can play in supporting initiatives that work in an innovative way towards livelihood security and promote the resilience of vulnerable citizens.

Residents’ initiatives (via the Postcode Loterij Buurtfonds)

Increasingly, active citizens are taking it upon themselves to get involved in their neighbourhood or community. They want all residents to feel at home in their neighbourhood or community and to be able to contribute to it themselves. The Postcode Loterij Buurtfonds supports small-scale neighbourhood projects and more innovative and somewhat larger residents’ initiatives in the Netherlands which have a wider impact than on only those directly involved.

For information about the Postcode Loterij Buurtfonds, the criteria and exclusions, see postcodeloterijbuurtfonds.nl.

Social Entrepreneurship (via the VriendenLoterij Fonds)

It should be possible for everyone to actively participate in society. Unfortunately, there are still too many people on the side-lines. For example, they lack education, qualifications or a (social) network. Or people experience barriers due to mental or physical disabilities that prevent them from fully participating in today’s complex society. Social enterprises give them the chance to get involved again. In recent years, DOEN has supported many social enterprises through the VriendenLoterij Fonds. DOEN aims to take social entrepreneurship from niche to norm and, partly for this reason, also focuses on sector-strengthening initiatives and on social enterprises working intensively with the mainstream business community.

Through the VriendenLoterij Fonds, we support social entrepreneurs and sector-strengthening initiatives that meet as many of the following criteria as possible:

1. The initiative is aimed at employment and/or social participation of socially vulnerable groups in society.
2. The initiative is based upon a revenue model.
3. In addition to demonstrable social impact, the initiative has either green impact (sustainable or circular aspects) or interfaces with the DOEN theme The Power of Imagination to Bring About Change.
4. The initiative preferably takes place in a sector in which social entrepreneurship is even less self-evident.
5. The initiative contributes to strengthening the entire sector of social entrepreneurship and an inclusive, mainstream labour market.
6. The initiative will be implemented in the Netherlands (including Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten and the BES islands).

For more information and to submit an application, see vriendenloterijfonds.nl.

Livelihood security

DOEN is currently focusing on the role it can play in supporting initiatives in the Netherlands that work in an innovative way to realise new forms of livelihood security and promote the resilience of vulnerable people. We are looking for radical, experimental initiatives that can break through the system.

Applications for initiatives related to this can be submitted as a two-pager by mail directly to one of the programme managers (Safka Overweel or Reineke Schermer) and not via the site. The two-pager can be sent to [email protected] (team officer).

In the coming years, DOEN will focus even more strongly on fostering radical imagination as a collective process within the arts. We call this social practice. Here, changes in society will give rise to projects, and individuals and communities will come together in a joint artistic imagination process.

DOEN is looking for pioneers who will work in the Netherlands and abroad on the power of imagination to bring about change, focusing on a multitude of perspectives:

1. DOEN supports arts and cultural projects that use radical imagination to show people that a different world is possible and that work to create and provide space for a multitude of perspectives.
2. DOEN supports artists who involve people and communities in their artistic process (social practice) and thus jointly arrive at alternative perspectives
3. DOEN supports initiatives within the arts and cultural sector that are looking for horizontal, equal and more inclusive forms of collaboration.

The following substantive criteria apply to both initiatives in the Netherlands (including Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten and the Netherlands municipalities of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba) and abroad:

1. Radical imagination
   Radical imagination is the ability to imagine the world not as it is, but as it could be. Radical imagination is not only about the future, but also about the present and the past. The art of this imagination can question seemingly unquestioned, dominant truths and give space to a multiplicity of perspectives, views, voices and narratives. The process of imagination is thus collective.
2. Social practice
   DOEN likes to work with artists and cultural institutions in which art reflects changes in society and gives rise to projects. And that involve individual people and communities in the artistic process and place art and culture at the centre of society. This from a personal, unbiased perspective, with social involvement and off the beaten track. These social practitioners change the rules of the game in their own way, on a large and small scale. In the process, there emerges a different relationship between creator, audience and other stakeholders, and a different view of the world.
3. Inclusion
   For really meaningful and sustainable change, the conditions and opportunities for people to participate in society must improve. This is a counter-movement to the process of exclusion, isolation and marginalisation where the voices of individuals and groups are less heard or ignored and they have less access to facilities, networks, knowledge, experiences and thought leadership in society. Promoting inclusion goes beyond promoting equality or diversity. DOEN wants to encourage concrete action to enable participation in society.
4. Change and movement
   Many arts and cultural initiatives are experiments that affect the existing structures of the cultural sector, and other sectors, in the long term. They are part of a larger movement, and together make meaningful change possible, not only within the cultural sector, but also outside it, in society. This is the only way art can offer the public – in the broadest sense of the word – other perspectives and bring about social change from the bottom up and from niches.

In addition to these substantive criteria, a number of general criteria and exclusions apply.

General criteria  

1. The initiative fits in with the transitions that DOEN wants to accelerate and contributes to a healthier balance between ecological, socially inclusive and cultural sustainability.
2. The initiative knows how to reach and engage new communities.
3. The initiative is not a one-off, but is aimed at structurally changing working methods and embedding and sharing insights and results with other (DOEN) partners and sectors.
4. When implementing initiatives, artists and cultural institutions aim to connect with social partners and society as a whole. They connect parties that do not naturally cooperate with each other and they explore alternative, more equal forms of cooperation.

You can apply for support for initiatives in the Netherlands (including Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten and the Netherlands municipalities of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba) at the VriendenLoterij Fonds. You can submit an application for support for initiatives outside the Netherlands to the DOEN Foundation.

Exclusions for initiatives outside the Netherlands  

1.  Initiatives by organisations from Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand are not eligible for support.
2. Organisations based in the Netherlands and Europe are only supported in exceptional cases, when there is clear added value in the local context and there is no local organisation that can take on the relevant tasks.
3. DOEN does not contribute to one-off exchanges or exhibitions by artists, which are not embedded in a broader strategy to create sustainable and meaningful change.