Your weekly funding news and deadlines update from GrantTracker.
Funding News
Live Here Love Here: Small Grants Scheme – opened today
The Live Here Love Here Small Grants Scheme forms part of a wider programme aimed at promoting civic pride within communities and improving environmental quality. The Small Grants Scheme is a partnership between 10 Local Councils, Northern Ireland Housing Executive, McAdam and Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful. The Small Grants Scheme is about encouraging practical, local action towards building more sustainable communities. Grants are available from £500 to £3,000 and are open to Unconstituted groups, Volunteer, community groups and NGOs, All schools and third level education organisations, Youth groups, sports clubs, churches, and not-for-profit organisations.
Community Relations Council – small grants now open
The Community Relations Council, with the support of Government, has established a fund to spend each year on community relations projects. This funding is intended to help community/voluntary groups throughout Northern Ireland develop their capacity to engage in community relations work and to enhance the community relations potential of projects they undertake. Grants are up to £10K maximum and for project costs only. Average grant is £2K – £5K.
Community Foundation for Northern Ireland: The Ultach Fund / An Ciste Ultach
The Ultach Fund exists to support the work of communities across Northern Ireland who wish to use and promote the Irish language. Open to registered charities and constituted grass roots community and voluntary groups based in Northern Ireland. Priority is given to applications from small groups, typically with an annual revenue income of less than £250,000 (excluding capital income), as evidenced in the most recent set of accounts. Priority is given to Irish language organisations, should the fund be oversubscribed.
Armagh City, Banbridge & Craigavon (ABC) Borough Council: Community Grants
Grants are available for eligible groups including Seeding Grant, Community Development Grants, Large Scale Capital Projects, Community Events Fund, Large Event Fund, Arts Project Fund, International Tourism Event, Good Relations Grants, and Paint Scheme for Banbridge.
Sea-Changers: Grants Programme
Sea-Changers welcome applications from a wide variety of groups and entities for one-off grants towards tackling marine conservation. Small grants – up to £500, Main Grants – between £500 and £2,500, and their Tackling Ocean Plastics Fund will be open for applications, as part of Sea-Changers' Main and Small Grant Funds, in 2022 (select the option on the application form). The latter funding stream aims to address the increasing problem of plastics that are damaging the marine environment and the species that call it home.
NI Policing Board: Police Property Fund Grants Scheme
The Police Property Fund Small Grants Scheme 2nd Call is now open and will offer eligible projects grants of between £1000 and £10,000. The Fund, made up of assets recovered by the PSNI as a result of criminal investigations, and administered by the Board in line with the Police (Property) Regulations NI 1997, supports projects that engage with local police, contributes to building community safety and/or confidence in the police in your area, and is aligned to a charitable purpose.
Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust Announces Three Funding Programmes
The Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust has announced three funding programmes which will open in Spring and Summer 2022. All the three programmes have a focus on providing targeted support for veterans, Armed Forces families and serving personnel. All the three programmes have a focus on providing targeted support for veterans, Armed Forces families and serving personnel. This can be for new and additional support; or could build on work that organisations have already done. Read more here.
Upcoming Deadlines
The Allen Lane Foundation funds small registered charities, voluntary groups, and charitable organisations across the UK. They are interested in funding charitable causes which they believe to be unpopular both in society, and with other funders. They aim to help organisations to become sustainable, supporting running and core costs to enable them to have flexibility, security and longevity. Over a typical year, they make around 150 grants, to a total value of between £750,000 and £800,000. The average grant is £5000 to £6000.
Deadline 14 April 2022
For its Spring 2022 funding round The Fore is offering 6-18 month grants of up to £15,000. They make unrestricted grants which have the potential to have a transformational impact on an organisation. Transformational impact includes helping organisations become more sustainable, more efficient, to grow significantly or enabling an organisation to take a major step forward of some kind. They see their grants as investments in the organisations they support.
Opens 10am for registration on 19 April 2022.
Funding is available for fresh ideas looking to secure up to £50,000. Each charity can apply for funding of up to a maximum of £50,000 and Aviva employees will decide how the funding is distributed. Funding themes are: Climate Action - Promoting healthy, thriving communities by preventing, preparing for and protecting against the impacts of climate change, and Financial Wellbeing - Helping people take control of their wellbeing by giving them the tools to be more financially independent and ready for anything. Projects must be raising funds to help: Develop a new approach, product or technology; or implement a new initiative or pilot a new scheme; or expand existing services to a new area or beneficiary group; or adapt services to meet today's needs without compromising those of future generations.
Deadline 23:59 on 20 April 2022.
Live Here Love Here: Platinum Jubilee Pollinator Garden Award
As part of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations in 2022, Live Here Love Here is administering an Award to a group or partnership to create a bespoke community pollinator garden as a legacy of the occasion. The Award is being wholly provided by the Department of Environment, Agriculture and Rural Affairs and managed by the Live Here Love Here programme.
Deadline noon 22 April 2022
Belfast Harbour Community Awards
Belfast Harbour has opened applications for the 2022 Belfast Harbour Community Awards, with an increased pot of £75,000 available for grass-roots organisations across Northern Ireland. The Belfast Harbour Community Awards Fund provides grants of up to £5,000 to grassroots communities and charities that help transform our community and help local people thrive.
Deadline 22nd April 2022.
Articles and Resources
Remember to check out guest blogs from Friends of the Earth in the Fundraising Hub.
Tori Arthurs, Supporter Recruitment Manager gives some pointers to get your project off the ground when advertising on Facebook to recruit new donors and supporters Guest Blog: Getting started with using ads on Facebook for fundraising | NICVA
Paige Ardrey, Social Media and Engagement Manager gives us her top tips for getting started on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, which can be powerful tools for campaigning, fundraising and growing supporters Guest Blog: Top Tips for Getting Started on Social Media | NICVA
Recordings from NICVA’s #DigitalFundraising Webinar Series 2021 are available on our website including Live Panel Discussion - trends, ideas and overcoming challenges in cashless giving | NICVA.
Upcoming Fundraising Training
Develop your fundraising skills and support your organisations long-term stability with our training:
25 May 2022 - 11:00am to 12:30pm
Vicky Hewlett, Senior Marketing & Communications Manager discusses the featurs of their point-of-donation platform, Give A Little, which helps charities of all sizes collect cashless donations and could help charities and organisations in Northern Ireland adapt to a cashless society.
5 May 2022 - 10:30am to 12:30pm
This two-hour webinar will enable you to understand the importance and benefits of a Case for Support, examine the key component parts of it, and explore ways to apply it to funding applications, presentations, social media messaging and more.
Get ahead with GrantTracker and access over 1000 funding schemes in NI's leading database. Just £100 a year for NICVA members and £145 for non-members here.