The Gill’s Charity Fund

Purpose of the Fund

The Gill’s Charity Fund offers funding to organisations for projects for the benefit of older people resident in the Borough of Carrickfergus (as per the old Local Government area).

In recognition of the needs of older people, and the great work that groups supporting older people are doing, the Community Foundation acquired the management and administration of the Gill’s Charity Fund in 2021.  The Fund will be accessible annually.

Grants available: Up to £3,500

Who can apply?

• Fully constituted voluntary organisations and community groups based within Northern Ireland, although the project must be strictly aimed at older people resident in the Borough of Carrickfergus only.
• Applying organisations should provide, promote, maintain or manage or organise amenities and facilities for the promotion of welfare or recreational or cultural activities of a charitable nature.
• Organisations with an income level of below £100k

Priority will be given to:

• groups requesting smaller value awards
• locally based projects primarily supporting local people

Examples of types of projects that may be supported:

• Reducing isolation and vulnerability of older people, through supporting participation in activities.
• Reducing the fear of crime amongst older people.
• Encouraging and supporting independence of older people.
• Improving health and well-being, and supporting older people to remain in their homes.
• Supporting older people to keep warm.
• Supporting older people to access a nutritious meal.
• Reducing potential for age discrimination, and/or abuse.
• Enabling older people to access technology.
• Enabling older people to access potential benefits and entitlements that they may not be aware of.
• Engaging older people to take community action.
• Enabling active participation of older people in the community in decision-making, and addressing issues facing their sector.

What can be supported?

• Running costs, such as sessional costs for tutors, venue hire, transport.
• Capital costs are eligible, if essential to the project

We will not fund:

The Community Foundation will not fund organisations or activities which promote causes that are contrary to our purposes. Causes and activities that are contrary to our purposes include, but may not be limited to, those outlined in our investment policy.  We will not therefore fund organisations or activities which we determine are linked to the promotion of armaments, alcohol, human rights abuses, tobacco or pornography.

In addition there are some general things that our grant aid cannot be used for: 

• The advancement of religion.  This includes organisations whose purposes include the advancement of religion
• The establishment of endowment of any school or institution providing further education within the meaning of the Education and Libraries (Northern Ireland) Order 1972
• The provision of assistance to any Housing Association within the meaning of the Housing (Northern Ireland) Order 1976
• Promotion of religious or political activity, including any flags and emblems that may deem to be associated with such
• CIC Companies Limited by Shares, or CICs without an asset lock clause.  Eligible CICs must have at least three unrelated committee members, and/or the majority of the committee unrelated
• Trips outside of Northern Ireland
• Applications from individuals
• Applications from statutory organisations
• Projects lasting longer than twelve months
• Purchase of vehicles
• Holiday schemes
• Parties and shopping trips
• Activities that duplicate existing services
• Retrospective funding
• Substitution for statutory funding
• Groups who have not complied with previous monitoring requirements

An end of grant monitoring report must be submitted upon completion of the project.

Applicants with a live grant will still be required to submit their monitoring. However, as the monitoring function on the Fundseeker portal is still under development, this will need to be provided at a later date. We will contact you as soon as the this has been activated.

Please read the following text before beginning your application:

• You are a locally based not-for-profit, voluntary or community group working in Northern Ireland to improve the quality of life for local people
• You have an active management committee, with no two related cheque signatories
• You have a governing document, i.e. Constitution in the name of the applicant organisation
• You have a current bank account in the name of your organisation
• You have up to date annual accounts
• You have complied with the conditions of previous grants including submission of monitoring returns.

Please note: The Community Foundation now uses a new Fundseeker Portal for all applications and monitoring. If this is your first time applying, or your first time accessing the portal, we recommend reading the ‘How to Apply’ guide before starting your application.

For further information and to find out if your group or project is eligible, please contact the grants team on 028 9024 5927 or email applications@communityfoundationni.org.

The fund will be open for applications from Tuesday 10 February 2026 and will close on Thursday 12 March 2026 at 1pm.