Access Programme for Cultural Organisations

Grants are available to not-for-profit cultural organisations in Derry City and Strabane to improve access to arts and culture for people with disabilities.

The Access Programme for Cultural Organisations is provided and administered by Derry City and Strabane District Council as part of its Arts and Culture Strategy 2019-24.

The funding is intended to support capital costs to enable the following:

  • Improve access to arts and culture organisations across Northern Ireland for people with disabilities.

  • Make arts and cultural organisations more inclusive across society.

  • Increase participation in arts and culture activities by people with disabilities.


    Grants of up to £30,000 are available.

Applications will be accepted from constituted, not-for-profit cultural organisations located in Derry City and Strabane.

For projects requiring adjustments to the fabric or structure of a building, the applicant must be the owner or leaseholder (five years minimum) of the premises.

The deadline for applications is noon on 12 January 2023.

An online application form and guidance notes are available to access from the Derry City and Strabane District Council website - Derry City and Strabane District Council (smapply.org)

For further information on how to obtain this fund, please contact the following:

Caitriona Doherty
Derry City and Strabane District Council
Londonderry Office
98 Strand Road
Derry / Londonderry
BT48 7NN
Tel: 028 7125 3253
Email: caitriona.doherty@Derrystrabane.com


Sense Cost of Living Support Fund

Sense has launched a fund to provide financial support to people with complex disabilities who live in the family home and are facing financial hardship. Here’s how it works and how to apply.

In response to the cost of living crisis in the UK, we’re distributing grants of £500 to people with complex disabilities who are on low incomes and who are living in the family home.

Your application must be completed on your behalf by a social care professional nominated by Sense. You must be accessing a Sense service or one of the services provided by our nominated partner charities. If you want to apply, get in touch with the professional who works with you or your family to discuss your application.

If you’re unsure of who to speak with, contact our Information and Advice service.

Here’s an easy read version of this page.

To apply, you or the person in your family must meet all of the following eligibility criteria:

  • You or a person in your family must have a complex disability.

  • You live in your family home.

  • You live in England, Northern Ireland or Wales.

  • You have a household income of less than £30,000 (excluding PIP and other benefits that are not means-tested).

  • You have household savings of less than £1,500.

  • You’re currently accessing either one means-tested benefit and/or carers allowance.

  • You are not on a Debt Relief Order (DRO) or an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA).

  • You must be accessing a Sense service – or one of the services provided by the list of our nominated partner charities.

For more information and to apply, please visit Sense Cost of Living Support Fund - Sense

Travelling with Confidence Grant Programme

A growing number of large and small charities are now providing these travel training schemes and through our new Travel Confidence Grant Programme, we hope to help them and travel providers, to make an immediate impact for disabled people. Examples of grant funding from this programme could include (but is not limited to):

  • Grants to improve awareness of responsibilities and influence policy and practice in the transport sector

  • Funding to embed a user-led approach to inclusive design and delivery of transport services

  • Grants to scale, promote awareness of, and increase access to, travel training programmes that increase skills, knowledge, confidence, choice and control when travelling

  • Grants to support the development of accessible tools and technology solutions that support journey planning and in-journey navigation

Charities and organisations can apply for grants from £100,000 to £1 million. To ensure fair and transparent awarding of funding, each application will be assessed consistently against our criteria.

For more information and to apply, please visit Charitable Grants | Travelling with Confidence Grant | Motability

 

BC & P Fund

The BC & P Fund exists to support small, locally based grassroots community projects in the Local Authority areas of Mid and East Antrim, and Antrim and Newtownabbey.

Criteria:

  • Priority will be given to applications from small groups, typically with an annual income of less than £200,000, as evidenced in the most recent set of accounts.

  • Projects must aim to directly support one of the following specific groups:

    • Young people

    • Older people

    • People with disabilities

  • The Fund will not support projects targeting all ages.

  • Priority will be given to projects that are:

    • addressing health and wellbeing issues

    • targeting those facing disadvantage (e.g. rural isolation, low income, social exclusion, reduced access to services

    • involving the beneficiaries in their development and delivery

Examples of types of projects that may be supported within Fund themes:

  • Community education and training opportunities

  • Communication and leadership skills

  • Local initiatives to improve resources and community facilities

  • Creativity and self-expression through drama, music or a range of arts.

  • Inclusion and involvement of disadvantaged communities

  • Out of school projects for young people

Who can apply:

  • Constituted grass roots community and voluntary groups

  • Have a committee of at least three unrelated Trustees/Directors (if there are more than three related, the majority must be unrelated individuals with no financial interest in the organisation.)

Grants available:

The grants are split into two elements:

  • Small scale grants that are limited to £3,000 – £4,000

  • Larger scale grants that are limited to £10,000 (only two of these grants will be available per round)

Closing date for applications is 3rd October 2022 and more information can be found here BC & P Fund - Community Foundation Northern Ireland (communityfoundationni.org)

 

The Cancer Charities’ Support Fund

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)

 

Improving Lives Grant

The Improving Lives grant programme provides grants to charitable organisations that help people when other sources of support have failed, are inappropriate, or are simply not available.

We support established organisations delivering services directly to beneficiaries. We are looking for services which can demonstrate a track record of success, and evidence the effectiveness of the work.

This is our largest grants programme, through which the majority of our funds are distributed.

Grant size: £20k – £60k per year

Length: 1-3 years

Decision timescale: 6 Months

Deadlines: None

Priority areas:

We have six funding priorities that describe the work we support and how we want to bring about change for the most disadvantaged people in the greatest need.

  1. Help at a critical moment

  2. Positive choices

  3. Accommodation/housing support

  4. Employment and training

  5. Financial inclusion, rights and entitlements

  6. Support networks and family

For more information and to apply please visit https://www.henrysmithcharity.org.uk/explore-our-grants-and-apply/improving-lives-grants-programme/improving-lives-grants-programme-overview/