The Cancer Support Funding award will enable charities to provide a wide range of support services for cancer patients throughout NI, and will cover key areas in the cancer pathway; from pre-diagnosis, through to palliative and end of life care. These services are key support mechanisms towards the implementation of the Cancer Recovery Plan and the Cancer Strategy, and important in working towards the Department’s aim of building cancer service capacity in communities.

The Cancer Charities’ Support Fund will provide support of between £5,000 and £1 million for cancer charities.

The three categories of grant values are:

£5,000 to £30,000 – Small Grant
£30,000 to £500,000 – Medium Grant
£500,000 to £1million – Large Grant

In exceptional circumstances higher awards to charities working together to deliver a proposal, may be considered.

Applications are welcome for projects that must have all the funds spent by March 2024. You can, however, apply for projects over 12 months or up to March 2024.

You should clearly outline in your application the duration of the project and costs associated for each year you are applying for. This will be used for reporting purposes and you should therefore be as accurate as possible when outlining your application costs.

Fund outcomes:

Specific outcomes that the Fund should deliver are:

Prevention such as awareness raising sessions and campaigns
Psychological support/counselling
Palliative care
Improved access to information and support services including financial/welfare/ benefits advice, and support available through new technologies
Enhanced provision of, and access to, practical support for people with cancer
Services to support physical and mental health and wellbeing
Specific research into the experience of patients with cancer
Provision of screening services, and
Delivery of cancer rehabilitation programmes.

For an application to be successful, it must contribute to at least one of the above outcomes, depending on the level of funding applied for.

Who can apply:

The charity must be providing or funding services in Northern Ireland. These services should be focused predominantly on people living with cancer, or their support structure
Charities must be registered or awaiting registration with the Charity Commission

What can be supported:

Projects which support delivery of at least one of the outcomes above
Costs associated with project delivery only
Proposals will be particularly welcome which focus on supporting those living in rural communities, and from the lesser heard/excluded or marginalised communities
Delivery of Departmental objectives as outlined in strategic frameworks
Funding for research linked to cancer patient experience will also be eligible, and
Consideration of other sources of funding may be applied, for example: if the applicant is applying and/or in receipt of funding from any other DoH fund, or support from a Trust, the Foundation may prioritise funding for other applicants who have not accessed other such sources of funding
Costs associated with IT equipment, providing it will support service delivery and enhance a particular service
Volunteer expenses, including training

Closing date for applications is 7th October 2022. For more information and to apply, please visit The‌ ‌Cancer‌ ‌Charities’‌ ‌Support‌ Fund‌ ‌ - Community Foundation Northern Ireland (communityfoundationni.org)