Elevate Community Mentoring & Grants Programme is returning

CDHN's Public Health Agency funded Elevate Community Mentoring and Grants Programme 2023-24 is coming back. If you are interested in being part of this year's Programme and want to find out more, sign up for an information session where the Elevate Team will provide an overview of the programme and answer any questions you have.

Monday 24 July 7pm to 8pm

Tuesday 1 August 11am to 12pm

For more information please contact The Elevate Programme – developing skills in your community | Community Development and Health Network (cdhn.org)

Community Grants Programme

The overall aim of the Halifax Foundation is:

To support charitable organisations within Northern Ireland to enable people, who are disadvantaged or with special needs, to participate actively in their communities.

The Foundation has two main target areas to which it seeks to allocate funds:

• Social and Community Needs

• Education and Training

Types of costs funded include - materials and equipment, contribution towards salary costs, overheads, transport costs, volunteer expenses, training/tutor costs, activity costs and refurbishment costs.

For more information and to apply, please visit Funding Opportunities 2023 | Halifax Foundation NI

2023/24 Central Good Relations Fund now open for online applications

The 2023/24 Central Good Relations Fund (CGRF) is now open for groups who wish to apply online for a project funding grant (for projects over £1,500).

Applications must be submitted online by:

Thursday 12 January 2023 at 6:00pm

To access the online application portal, you must first register your organisation. However, if you have previously registered, you do not need to register again. Please follow the link below and enter your username and password in the ‘Local Account Login’ section to log in to the application portal.

Already Registered? Login to apply for a 2023/24 CGRF grant

If you have not already registered, please use the link below to register your organisation. Please note, you must register your organisation by 12:00 noon on Wednesday 11 January 2023 to enable access to the online application portal. Any registrations submitted after that time will not be accepted.

Register to be able to apply for a 2023/24 CGRF grant

You should read the 2023/24 CGRF Guidance notes found here Central Good Relations Fund | The Executive Office (executiveoffice-ni.gov.uk) which include a step-by-step guide to registration and a step-by-step guide to the application form before you start.

Register

To register (if you have not already done so), you will need:

• Your contact information;

• Details of your organisation, including address and organisation type; and

• A copy of your organisation’s constitution (WORD or PDF).

Online Application

To apply online you will need:

• Your online sign in details (username and password);

• Details of your proposed project including proposed activities and costings; and

• Copies of job descriptions, if applicable (for any salary(s) being claimed).

Got questions?

Contact our team using the e-mail below:

• GoodRelationsFund@executiveoffice-ni.gov.uk

Update on the Dormant Accounts Fund Northern Ireland

From 5pm on 3 March 2023, The National Lottery Community Fund will not be accepting applications to Phase One of the Dormant Accounts Fund Northern Ireland from individual organisations. If you are thinking of submitting an application to the fund, we encourage you to get your applications in as soon as you are ready. You don’t need to wait until 3 March. 

The team will continue to assess applications and to announce the new awards that are made, but no new applications will be accepted from 5pm on 3 March.   

The National Lottery Community Fund are expecting Dormant Accounts Fund NI to remain highly competitive, so before you apply please read through the information on their website for guidance and to find out about the projects they have already funded. You can also contact their team in Northern Ireland if you would like advice. 

The National Lottery Community Fund always said that they would take a test and learn approach to the Dormant Accounts Fund NI. They have awarded just under £13m through 147 grants. This is helping organisations to develop new skills and build resilience and sustainability, creating a strong voluntary and community sector which can continue to support people and communities across Northern Ireland.  There is lots to learn about the models that are working well, and the challenges faced, that they want to share with the sector. You might like to read the first learning report on Dormant Accounts Funds NI which they published in June 2022 to find out what they’ve learned to date.

The Dormant Accounts Fund NI will continue to remain open for strategic applications. Discussions will still take place with organisations who are interested in developing strategic projects that enable collaboration and develop new and creative approaches to the sustainability of the sector.  

New legislation was passed in June 2022 expanding the UK-wide scheme to include a wider range of Dormant Assets.  This means that additional funds will be made available to Northern Ireland through the scheme in the future, as announced by Finance Minister Conor Murphy on 25 October 2022.   

The Department of Finance has confirmed its policy direction that the Dormant Assets scheme should continue to support the sector to build capacity, resilience and sustainability in the future.  

The National Lottery Community Fund will take some time to reflect on how they have delivered against policy directions and engage further with the sector to identify and address gaps. In doing this, they will continue to work with the Department of Finance and ensure that feedback from stakeholders informs the development of the next phase.   

Their National Lottery programmes will remain open to applications and you can find out more about these here. 

Keystone Fund

Sharply increased demand for services, economic pressures and an ongoing decline in public donations is putting many smaller charities across the UK under heavy strain.

The Keystone Fund aims to enable locally and regionally-focused charities working towards social equity to become more agile in their support for their communities. It provides a programme of unrestricted grants, networking and access to advice webinars and toolkits.

The legacy of the fund will be greater opportunities for those who need it most, along with charities that are in a stronger position to continue to support them, thereby accelerating progress in society towards a fair and sustainable future for all.

CAF intends that through these grants and access to additional resilience building resources, small charities will be better positioned now and for the future as keystones in their communities.

Grants available

• Unrestricted grants, intended to enable charitable organisations in the UK to adapt ways of working, strengthen capacity or build resilience, according to identified needs.

• Grants will be awarded between £5,000 and £50,000

• Approximately 120 grants will be awarded over 2-3 rounds during 2022-23.

• Grant funds must begin to be spent within 6 months of grant payment, but can be carried forward into the following financial year if required to enable flexibility. They should be fully spent within 24 months of grant payment.

Grants will not normally be restricted to specific projects, but we will ask you to tell us how you would like to use the funds. We intend that charitable organisations can use a grant to become more agile in their support for their communities. This might include the costs of leadership time to develop strategy or organisational capacity, or to access additional external expertise, support and advice to develop their resilience plans. Grants might also be used for staff costs, digital costs, overheads, delivery costs or equipment, according to your identified longer-term needs.

In addition, building on CAF’s advisory opportunities for charities across the UK, all grant holders will gain access to webinars, toolkits, and networking opportunities to accelerate their impact.

Priorities for the Keystone Fund

We will support eligible charitable organisations to:

• Adapt their ways of working (eg digital capability, staff and volunteer training, operational challenges)

• Bolster their core building blocks (eg governance, strategic planning, capacity building)

This fund is not designed to support direct service provision or capital projects.

How and when can we apply?

A two-stage online application process aims to provide the smoothest possible process for small charities to apply:

• Stage 1: You will complete a small number of eligibility questions, and provide a short overview of your work

• Stage 2: Selected organisations will then be invited to complete a more detailed application

We will offer a short webinar for any organisation which is invited to Stage 2 so that you can ask questions about the application process.

Timelines

• Stage 1 applications open: 9 November – 23 November

• Webinar for further information: 2 December (recording also available)

• Stage 2 applications open: 7 December – 9 January

• Decisions communicated: February 2023

There will be more than one round of funding. Further rounds will be announced and are likely to take place in Spring/Summer 2023.

For more information and to apply, please visit Keystone Fund (cafonline.org)

Churchill Fellowship

A Churchill Fellowship offers you the full funding to travel anywhere in the world for 4-8 weeks, researching a topic of your choice that can make a contribution to UK society on your return.

Scheme details

Churchill Fellows are funded to spend up to two months discovering new approaches and best practice in their chosen topic, from innovators and leading professionals worldwide. Then they support you to share their global insights with communities and sectors across the UK and turn their ideas into action.

For the first time, Fellows can carry out their international research entirely online from the UK, or by travelling overseas, or through a combination of both.

These are not academic research trips, they are journeys to learn about real-world issues from the leading practitioners in the world. And we want you to make a real-world difference with your learning when you come home.

Who can apply

Fellowships are open to all UK adult citizens regardless of their age, qualifications or background. They prioritise applicants and projects that would not receive funding from any other source and welcome applications from those with lived or learned experience of the issue they wish to address.

The Fellowship experience is life-changing for many. In their annual survey of Fellows’ impact, the majority report significant growth in their knowledge, networks, confidence and standing – and projects that may have started with local aspirations have often grown to national scale. In the 2021 survey, 100% of Fellows said they would recommend applying for a Fellowship.

Applications made this year are for projects to begin from August 2023 onwards.

Eligibility

They fund UK citizens from all parts of society to research a practical topic overseas that can make a real difference to their community or profession when they come home. And award 150 of these Fellowships each year and selection is made on the potential of the applicant and the strength of their idea.

Application Deadline 5 pm on 22 Nov 2022
You can apply online here.

Mutual Aid Fund

This fund aims to support groups who are in the process of transitioning and are facing distinct challenges in adapting to a post-COVID environment. Funding will support specific projects/activities aimed at strengthening a group to better respond to the reality post-COVID, such as evolving community needs or a group’s capacity.

Grants of between £1,500 and £5,000 are available.

Applications are accepted from mutual aid groups in the UK that meet two or more of the following criteria:

• Believe in ‘solidarity not charity’.

• Are autonomous/independent (ie not affiliated to a larger/national organisation).

• Are volunteer-led.

• Operate a flat structure/decision-making process.

• Do not require eligibility checks (ie no means testing on the community members that are served).

• Operate absolute financial transparency and accountability.

• Meet immediate local needs.

• Practice radical inclusivity.

• Are committed to fundamental change/ending socioeconomic inequalities.

Successful applicants need to be willing to share learnings with other mutual aid groups.

Funding is for projects and activities that meet all the following criteria: 

• Clearly helps a group adapt post-COVID.

• Demonstrates a key contribution to a group’s sustainability.

• Be completed within nine months.

Examples of eligible projects include: 

• Upskilling group members, such as in their technological capacity.

• Piloting a programme that would help secure more sustainable sources of funding.

• Creating the capacity to design and implement a strategy/programme that would contribute to the sustainability of the group, including paying an existing group member or hiring a consultant.

• Buying equipment necessary for the sustainability of the group, such as fridges for a food bank.

Groups will have nine months from the beginning of September 2022 to implement activities. 

Key dates:

• Confirmation of successful applicants - beginning of August.

• Disbursing of grants - beginning of September.

• Groups will then get nine months to implement their activities.

• Final learning convening is planned for 16 June 2023.

The funders hope for this to be the first of multiple rounds of funding, so applicants who are not successful this time, might be considered for future opportunities.

Guidance notes and an online application form are available on the Social Change Agency website - Mutual Aid Funding - Apply for grants (thesocialchangeagency.org)