The Brian Conlon Foundation

Introduction

The Brian Conlon Foundation is an independent Charitable Trust set up in Brian’s memory to continue his legacy by supporting causes that were close to his heart and that he was passionate about.

Brian was hugely successful in many walks of life – a high achiever in education, entrepreneurship, sport and in business. When a knee injury ended his budding Gaelic football career, Brian turned his attention to business, setting up First Derivatives from his mother’s spare bedroom in 1996. Now one of Ireland’s most successful companies, it employs nearly 3,000 people with fifteen offices globally. Thousands of local graduates have passed through the company’s HQ in Newry, many of whom ended up being deployed to large financial institutions throughout the world.

Brian was immensely proud of his roots and his hometown of Newry, and, despite all of his success, he remained a humble and generous individual throughout, supporting numerous people and deserving causes, often quietly.

Grants will be awarded to community associations and groups in the Newry area, who are working to advance education, amateur sport, provide opportunities for young people, and assisting communities in the local area.

Grants up to £3,500 will be open for applications.

The Brian Conlon Foundation commented “Brian spent his life making a difference to the people around him, so it is fitting that this Foundation reflects those values and continues the spirit of his generosity in areas that he cared passionately about. Our goal is to ensure that Brian’s legacy lives on and will continue to make a difference.”

Fund criteria

The Brian Conlon Foundation will support the provision of support for projects based in Newry City – view boundary map here

The fund will focus on the following priorities: 

• Advancement of Education
• Advancement of Amateur sport
• Opportunities for young people from the local area
• Assistance for communities in disadvantaged areas

This might include:

• Educational activities supporting people from disadvantaged areas
• Projects that provide enhanced sporting opportunities for people who are particularly disadvantaged
• Projects that will directly benefit those disaffected from mainstream education
• Early years intervention, particularly in disadvantaged areas, within Newry city

Awards will be available of up to a maximum of £3,500 to support small community projects. We anticipate, however, that the average grant will be around £2,000.

In the event of oversubscription, priority will be given to projects that have not previously received support from The Brian Conlon Foundation.

Under the most recent funding round (January 2025) – 44% of applicants were successful.

Who can apply?

• Constituted organisations with charitable purposes based within and to support beneficiaries in the Newry city area

Examples of projects that may address some of these issues include:

• Addressing expectations of young people, and/or parents, giving people hope e.g. digital literacy giving a sense of energy, developing something new and exciting
• Projects building self-esteem with young people disaffected from mainstream education, or who have faced or face barriers to employment
• Sporting projects for disaffected people
• Provision of after school/homework clubs in disadvantaged areas
• Community based clubs
• Community based apprenticeships

The Fund will not support the following:

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
• Costs that can be considered a statutory remit
• Schools, however, Parent and Teacher Association are eligible if they have a governing document with charitable purposes
• Individuals
• Retrospective costs
• Trips outside of Northern Ireland
• Buses, minibuses or other community transport schemes (not including transport costs forming part of a project)
• Capital projects
• Running costs of large organisations
• Holiday schemes
• Parties and shopping trips

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.