Community Foundation for NI: The Nationwide Northern Ireland Community Fund

Archived Aged 26 - 59 years Aged 60+ Black and minority ethnic Children (0-12) Communities Community safety and crime prevention Education and learning Gender equality and sexual orientation Health promotion Health, wellbeing and sport Healthcare services Information Technology Medical conditions Miscellaneous Poverty and deprivation Refugees and asylum seekers Social inclusion Social welfare and poverty Sport and physical recreation Young people (13-25) Antrim & Newtownabbey Ards & North Down Armagh City, Banbridge & Craigavon Belfast City Causeway Coast and Glens Derry City and Strabane Fermanagh and Omagh Lisburn and Castlereagh Mid and East Antrim Mid Ulster Newry, Mourne and Down Northern Ireland Micro (up to £1,000) Small (up to £10,000)

Track grant Notes

Overview

Priorities

They expect that there will be considerable interest in this funding opportunity, so have identified a number of priorities under each theme.

Theme 1 – mental health

They will prioritise applications which can demonstrate clear mental health outcomes, particularly those based on talking and psychological therapies.

Theme 2 – community services

They will prioritise applications which are seeking to provide support to older people, particularly around rural/social isolation, loneliness and wellbeing; applications which are seeking to address issues arising from poverty; applications which are based on providing support to marginalised communities (LGBTQ+, refugees & asylum seekers, ethnic minorities); applications which are based on providing support to victims of domestic violence / sexual abuse.

Theme 3 – children

They will prioritise applications which are seeking to support children with physical disabilities; children at risk of suicide / self harm; children with medical conditions; children with learning disabilities; children in food / digital poverty.

Who can apply?

To be eligible to apply you must meet both of the following requirements:

You must be registered as a charity with the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland (CCNI), Please note that organisations who have yet to receive their CCNI charity number at time of application or who are part of regional charities registered with the Charity Commission for England & Wales are not eligible.
You must have been in operation for a minimum of three years.

Whilst they have not set minimum or maximum income levels for this fund, they will prioritise applicants with annual income levels of <£100k (based on a three year average).

How much is available?

The fund has a total budget of £335,000 and will make awards of up to £5,000 to successful applicants.

To ensure a regional funding spread and to reflect the location of the Nationwide’s thirteen branches in Northern Ireland, the budget has been split across five Council area based ‘Local Fund Areas’.

What is the application deadline?

There is no fixed application deadline, however they will cap the number of applications to each Local Fund Area on a roughly 1:2 ratio basis. This means that once they have received twice as many applications as the funding available can support they will close the fund to any further bids. This will be done on an area by area basis as follows:

Local Fund 1 (£75,000 – Derry City and Strabane; Mid Ulster; Fermanagh and Omagh) will close once it receives 30 applications
Local Fund 2 (£52,000 – Causeway Coast and Glens; Mid and East Antrim) will close once it receives 25 applications
Local Fund 3 (£84,000 – Belfast; Antrim and Newtownabbey) will close once it receives 35 applications
Local Fund 4 (£62,000 – Ards & North Down; Newry, Mourne and Down) will close once it receives 25 applications
Local Fund 5 (£62,000 – Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon; Lisburn City and Castlereagh) will close once it receives 25 applications

They intend to provide notification on their website and via social media once each Local Fund has reached its application cut-off level, so please check to ensure that the fund is still open to applications in your area before you proceed. They will also endeavour to notify any ‘in progress’ applicants, but appreciate that some applications may still arrive after the cut-off and will not be assessed.

As a result they advise you to submit your application promptly once you have all the required information in place.

What they will fund:

They aim to make this funding as flexible as possible to allow applicants to address their organisational priorities and local community needs.

Funding can be sought under the following headings, providing there is a clear link to at least one of the fund’s themes:

Organisational running costs (rent, insurance, IT, electric, heating)
Salary costs
Equipment
Programme & activity costs

Successful applicants will be given up to 12 months to spend their grant.

What they will look for in your application:

All applications will initially be reviewed for eligibility against the fund’s criteria and will undergo a due diligence check. They will then review the merits of your proposal.

To ensure that you make the best possible case you should ensure that:

You have demonstrated the need for your project and can show how you have identified this need
You have clear objectives and outcomes for your project
You can demonstrate how the funding requested will impact positively on your target beneficiaries
You can show that you have, or can outsource, the skills necessary to make your project successful
You can provide a clear rationale and breakdown for your funding request

Further information is available via their webpage.