T&C

Introduction

John Lewis & Partners (“we” / “us”) and environmental charity Hubbub UK (the “Administrator”), have come together to run “The Circular Future Fund”, a fund designed to support a small number of high quality projects to identify trailblazing ideas and innovations that can accelerate the transition towards a more circular economy in the UK (the “Fund”). We will select organisations from the pool of applicants and offer to fund their project for a period of one year. The successful grant recipients (“Grantees”) will be required to report back on the impact of their project so the impact of the fund can be evaluated and reported.  

Submission of an application for the Fund constitutes each Applicant’s full and unconditional agreement to these Terms & Conditions and to the Organisers’ decisions, which are final and binding in all matters related to the Fund. Receiving funding is contingent upon fulfilling all requirements set forth in these Terms & Conditions and entering into further agreements, which shall be provided to the Grantees once selected from the pool of applicants. 

 

Terms and Conditions

I. DEFINITIONS

“Organisers” means both:


Hubbub UK Ltd
Somerset House
Strand
London
WC2R  1LA

AND


John Lewis Plc.
171 Victoria Street,
London,
SW1E 5NN

 “Fund Panel” means: The team of individuals appointed to judge applicant’s applications and select the Grantees.

II. FUND DATES

    • Applications Open: 09:00 22nd November 2021 

    • Applications Close: 23:59 9th January 2022 

    • Panel Presentation Day: 24th March 2022 

    • Grant fund distributed and projects to start: May 2022 

    • Further dates will be announced in due course 

III. APPLICANT ELIGIBILITY

    • The Fund is open to: 

      • Charities 

      • Academic bodies and institutions 

      • Community Interest Companies 

    • Social enterprises as defined: “Organisations that have a clear charitable mission, that can demonstrate the positive difference they are trying to make and which reinvest profits to further their social mission, and/or which, in a ‘wind-up’ situation, pass remaining assets on to another non-profit social enterprise that has a charitable purpose.” 

    • For-Profit organisation as defined: “Organisations that aim to generate profit from their operations, which have been operating for no longer than 5 years”  

    • Applicants must prove they are an officially constituted body in the UK by providing their company registration number, and/or charity registration number and their constitution.  

    • Applicants must submit their audited accounts for the last financial year.  

    • Applicants must be seeking funds to support a specific and discrete project. Organisations seeking funding to cover core operational costs will not be considered.   

    • The Fund aims to offer grants valuing £150,000 to £300,000. The grant must represent the majority funding for the project. The Organisers reserve the right to offer grants of a lower or higher value depending on the merit of the Applicant and funds available.    

    • Applications from a collaboration of organisations or partnerships are welcomed. The lead organisation, which shall be the “Applicant”, must be one of the types of organisation listed above.  

    • Each Applicant shall appoint one individual (the “representative”) to represent it and act on behalf, including registering and entering an application, of said organisation. The representative must be duly authorised to submit on behalf of the organisation. The representative warrants, represents and undertakes that: 

    • he/she is duly authorised to act on behalf of the organisation; and 

    • he/she has read these Terms & Conditions and that any partner organisation has read them and agreed to abide by them.

IV. FUND APPLICATION PERIOD

    • Applicants may submit an application between 09:00 22nd November 2021 and 23:59 9th January 2022 (the “application period”). 

    • Applications must be submitted through the website www.circularfuturefund.co.uk by submitting the required supporting materials to the email address circularfuture@hubbub.co.uk and completing the online application form. 

    • Any application submitted outside of the application period will not be considered. 

V. APPLICATION

    • Applicants for the Fund must demonstrate that part of their project focuses on stimulating the circular economy, around one of the following topics: textiles, food waste or household products, technology and services.

    • Applications must be completed in English. 

    • An Applicant may not enter more than one application.  

    • An application may be rejected at the sole discretion of the Organisers. This will include, but is not limited to, if the application, either in part or in its entirety, is deemed to be obscene, defamatory, likely to incite violence or illegal activity, in violation of any third-party’s rights, or is otherwise deemed to be inappropriate. 

    • Applications must not infringe the intellectual property rights of any other person or entity. 

    • By submitting an application, the Applicant warrants, represents and undertakes that any use of the application by the Organisers (or any of their respective partners, subsidiaries and affiliates) as authorised by these Terms & Conditions, shall not infringe upon, misappropriate or otherwise violate any intellectual property right or proprietary right including, without limitation, any registered or unregistered trade mark, copyright, design rights or patent, nor any privacy rights, moral rights nor any other rights of any person or entity. For the avoidance of doubt, the Organisers shall not be liable for any third party claims for infringement of third party intellectual property rights subsisting within the Applicant's idea submitted within the application.

    • We are a big organisation therefore we are constantly creating and developing ideas for our own use. Hence, by submitting an application, you agree that any ideas subsisting in your application does not preclude us from creating an idea that may be similar to yours. You acknowledge and agree that we cannot guarantee that something similar isn't currently being created or developed by us and we cannot guarantee that something similar will not be created in the future. Should we wish to collaborate with you on your idea in the future, we will notify you of this and such collaboration will be subject to an agreement between You and Us.

VI. SELECTION PROCESS

    • From the pool of applications received, the Organisers will select a number of Applicants to attend a Panel Presentation Day in London. The Fund Panel will rate the quality of all applications using predefined criteria. 

    • Applicants invited to attend the Panel Presentation Day will be given the opportunity to present their project idea to the Fund Panel, followed by a short question and answer session. Successful Applicants will be chosen following the Panel Presentation Day. 

    • Successful applicants will be offered a portion of the £1 million grant Fund. The value of the grant will be decided by the judging panel and may be less than the value requested in the Applicant’s application.  

    • Should a successful Applicant wish to accept the Fund offer, they will be required to enter into further documentation, which will include Offer Terms & Conditions. For the avoidance of doubt, no Grantee shall be eligible to receive Fund monies until they have signed their Offer Letter with the Organisers. 

    • An Applicant will be deemed ineligible if: 

    • they refuse to participate in the Panel Presentation Day; and/or 

    • they are uncontactable for a period of more than 7 days during the application process 

    • In the event of Applicant disqualification, the Organisers, at their sole discretion, may select an alternate Applicant to participate in the Panel Presentation Day. 

    • The Organisers reserve the right, in their sole discretion, to disqualify any Applicant. This includes if they find the Applicant to be tampering with the application process or to be acting in violation of these Terms & Conditions, or to be acting in a manner that is in violation of any applicable law or regulation. 

VII. THE FUND

    • The Fund will support projects for one year.  

    • Six months from the start of the Fund year and at the conclusion of the Fund year, Grantees will be required to report back to the Organisers. Details of the timings and requirements for the reporting will be provided to Grantees as part of the Offer Letter. 

    • 70% of the agreed funding will be paid out to Grantees on receipt of the signed Offer Letter. A further 20% will be paid on receipt of the six-month report and the final 10% will be paid on receipt of the final year-end report. 

    • The grant money must only be spent in accordance with the guidelines set out in the Offer Terms & Conditions. 

    • At the conclusion of the Fund, Grantees will be required to openly share learnings, outputs and results of the funded activities.  

VIII. VERIFICATION OF POTENTIAL GRANTEES

All Applicants will be subject to further due diligence, including audited accounts and proof of status, such as charity registration number, company registration number and/or constitution.

IX. GENERAL CONDITIONS

  • Each Applicant acknowledges and agrees that the relationship between themselves and the Organisers is not a confidential, fiduciary, or other special relationship, and that the Applicant’s decision to provide its application to the Organisers for the purposes of this Fund does not place the Organisers (or their respective agents) in a position that is any different from the position held by the members of the general public with regard to elements of the application, except as specifically provided in these Terms & Conditions. 

  • The Applicant recognises that we and the Administrator are separate legal entities which are independent of each other and that no partnership exists between us and the Administrator. 

  • The Applicant acknowledges and agrees that in making an Application, this does not and shall not be deemed to establish any partnership or joint venture between the Organisers and the Applicant, Us and the Applicant and the Administrator and the Applicant.

  • By submitting an application, each Applicant (including all partners and participating members of an organisation) agree(s) to: 

  • comply with and be bound by these Terms & Conditions and the decisions of the Organisers, which are binding and final in all matters relating to this Fund; and 

  • indemnify, defend and hold harmless us, the Administrator (and their respective parent, subsidiary, and affiliated companies) and any other organisations responsible for sponsoring, fulfilling, administering, advertising or promoting the Fund, and all of their respective past and present officers, directors, employees, agents and representatives from and against any and all claims, expenses, and liabilities (including legal fees) resulting from any breach of these Terms & Conditions by the Applicant. 

    X. LIABILITY

  • Subject to the remainder of this paragraph, the liability of us and the Administrator under these Terms & Conditions is strictly limited to £1,000 each. 

  • Subject to the below, we and the Administrators shall have no liability in connection with: 

  • any incorrect or inaccurate information; 

  • technical failures of any kind including, but not limited to, malfunctions, interruptions, or disconnections in phone lines, internet connectivity or electronic transmission errors, or network hardware or software or failure of the Fund website; 

  • unauthorised human intervention in any part of the application process or the Fund; and 

  • technical or human error which may occur in the administration of the Fund or the processing of applications. 

  • If for any reason an application is confirmed to have been erroneously deleted, lost, or otherwise destroyed or corrupted, the Applicant’s sole remedy is to request the opportunity to resubmit its application. Such request will be determined at the sole discretion of the Organisers if the Fund application period is still open. 

  • Nothing in these Terms & Conditions shall exclude or limit any party’s liability for death or personal injury caused by its negligence, for fraudulent misrepresentation and/or for any other loss or damage the exclusion or limitation of which is prohibited by English law. 

 

XI. MISCELLANEOUS

    • The Organisers reserve the right to cancel, suspend and/or modify the Fund, or any part of it, if any fraud, technical failure or any other unanticipated factor or factor beyond the Organisers’ control impairs the integrity or proper functioning of the Fund, as determined by the Organisers in their sole discretion. 

    • The Organisers’ failure to enforce any provision of these Terms & Conditions shall not constitute a waiver of that provision. The Organisers are not responsible for incomplete, late, misdirected, damaged, lost, illegible or incomprehensible applications, or for address or email address changes of the Applicant. Proof of sending or submitting an application will not be deemed proof of receipt by the Organisers. 

    • In the event of any discrepancy or inconsistency between any provisions of these Terms & Conditions and disclosures or other statements contained in any Fund materials, including, but not limited to, the Fund application form, Fund website, advertising (including, but not limited to, television, print, radio or online ads), these Terms & Conditions shall prevail. 

    • The Organisers reserve the right, without liability, to amend these Terms & Conditions at any time in their sole discretion. In such event, the Organisers will post the amended Terms & Conditions on the Fund website. Any amendment will become effective at the time the Organisers post the amended Terms & Conditions. 

    • Should any provision of these Terms & Conditions be, or become, illegal or unenforceable, such illegality or unenforceability shall leave the remainder of these Terms & Conditions unaffected and valid. The illegal or unenforceable provision shall be replaced by a valid and enforceable provision that comes closest and best reflects the Organisers’ intention in a legal and enforceable manner with respect to the invalid or unenforceable provision. 

XII. PRIVACY Any personal information collected from you when entering the Fund is subject to the privacy policy which can be found on the Fund website here.

XIII. LAW AND JURISDICTION

These Terms & Conditions (including any associated non-contractual disputes or claims) are governed by English law and the parties hereby accept the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts in relation to any dispute arising under or in connection with these Terms & Conditions.

XIV. CONTACT US
If you have any questions or wish to send us any notice regarding this programme, please email us at circularfuture@hubbub.org.uk.