Comic Relief Community Support Programme

Overview

What can be supported?

Grant awards of between £5,000 and £20,000 are available. Applicants should note the following:

• Two thirds of the grant awarded MUST be spent and verified by 31st March 2021 (applicable only to awards over £10,000)
• Project MUST be completed within 12 months of the date of issue of the Grant Aid Agreement by the Foundation
• Operational costs to assist in the delivery costs may include contribution to salaries, small capital items and general running costs

The fund will prioritise:

• Initiatives that involve and empower those with lived experience #ShiftThePower
• Initiatives that involve locally based community organisations
• Initiatives that have a clear social impact
• Initiatives that will see completion of the project within a 12 month period from date of grant award

As part of the Foundation’s commitment to a Grant Plus process, This Comic Relief Programme will offer pre application support via webinars and for grantees wider programmatic support which will focus on impact, shared learning, story-telling and policy influence.

The focus areas of the Comic Relief Community Support Programme are as follows:

Child Food Poverty: As many jobs have been lost and/or household incomes reduced, many families are struggling to feed their children with nutritious meals that are the foundation for good health in their early years of development. We want to support community based responses to this issue that have the potential to be built upon longer term. One-off responses are unlikely to be supported.

Child Digital Poverty: As school learning will potentially be a mixture of class based and remote learning, the digital divide will further increase educational inequalities, limiting the potential of children to maximise their skills and talents. We are seeking to support community based responses that will reduce these inequalities in a way where resources can be shared both within a home and/or a wider community setting

Gender Based Domestic Violence: It is well documented that increased incidents of domestic violence against women and men has been evident during lockdown. The Programme seeks to support community based responses to domestic violence across genders, ethnicity, sexual orientation and age and which take account of all forms of abuse whether physical, sexual, financial, emotional, coercive, digital or honour based. We want to support women, men and children in their respective recovery journeys in a way that builds confidence, safety, security resilience, self-worth and value.

Taking Care of Returning Back to School: The return to school will be different this year and areas that need to be taken into account include many of the issues detailed in the following linked document here. The Programme seeks to support community based responses that assist in this return to school experience in a way that supports children, parents/guardians and staff to rebuild relationships which provides the best educational environment and experience for children. (Please note that schools are not eligible to apply but can be involved as partners in a project led by a local community/voluntary sector organisation)

Responding to Loss and Grief: Common to all communities in Northern Ireland throughout COVID 19 has been the inability to support people to grieve the loss of a loved one. As restrictions ease the Programme would like to support actions that provide opportunities for communities to come together to acknowledge the loss and grief experienced by all within the community which may or may not be directly as a result of Covid-19

LGBTQ+ Community: The Programme seeks to support community based responses that initially identify the inequalities that have been compounded by the crisis and initiate actions that seek to actively address these issues for the LGBTQ community in NI

Refugees and Asylum Seekers: As one of the most vulnerable and potentially invisible sectors in our community the impact of Covid-19 in terms of being able to avail of face to face support, access to digital technology, food and services has further added to this vulnerability, invisibility and inequality. The Programme seeks to support communities in supporting refugees and asylum seekers tackle these issues so that they can play a part in building a Northern Ireland that is more welcoming, caring and inclusive.

Racism – Community Based Responses Never before has the issue of racism been more globally highlighted and both the Foundation and Comic Relief wish to renew our efforts to support communities to eliminate such prejudice, hatred and bigotry from our society. The Programme seeks to support community based responses that seek to address these issues in a way which develops respect, inclusion, understanding and harnesses the potential of community diversity to build a new society.

Racism – Supporting Structural Change: The Foundation acknowledges our role in leading by example, exploring our role in tackling racism and seeks to work with a number of organisations who wish to be involved in this work. The aim of this part of the Community Support Programme is to leave a legacy which sees a shift in fundamental structures across the charity sector, where our sector, leaders and decision-makers reflect the communities that we work with. This aspect of the Community Support Programme will be managed by the Foundation.