Frequently Asked Questions

Top tips for submitting a grant application

• Talk to the Grants Team – before, during and after your application!
• Have your supporting documentation ready to upload as part of your application before the final closing date
• Read the guidance notes and ensure you are eligible to apply, and your project meets the funding criteria
• Check your budgets and ensure you can deliver on spend and project targets
• Keep a record of all your project information and ensure you fully comply with any monitoring requirements as per your funding contract

How do I apply for a grant?

All of our grant programmes that are open for applications are detailed here.

Our applications are submitted online by clicking on the ‘Apply Now’ link at the bottom of each set of guidance notes.

You will be asked to log in to a the fundseeker portal to access the application form. 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. If you require any help with this, please contact our Grants team.

Details of how to apply are linked here

Once you have submitted your application, you will be able to view it under ‘My Applications’.

All supporting documentation, such as your (signed) constitution, accounts, recent bank statement, relevant policies, and management committee details must be uploaded along with your application form and submitted as part of the assessment process.  Supporting documentation should be scanned and uploaded as a PDF.  Your application may be deemed as ineligible if you have not uploaded the supporting documentation correctly.

** Please note that generally supporting documentation should be in the same name as the applicant organisation unless you have been accepted by the Foundation as eligible – for example, if you are a school working with a PTA or you’ve recently changed your name.

If you do not submit the full, and correct, documentation you may not be eligible for full assessment.

Can CICs apply?

The Community Foundation policy as of December 2021 for CIC/Social Enterprise Organisations applying for funding for social enterprises or community interest companies (CIC) is that they must demonstrate that the purpose for which they are requesting funding is wholly not for profit and/or for charitable purposes.

From December 2021 we will consider applications from properly constituted and registered CICs which: 

• Have a committee of at least three unrelated Trustees/Directors (if there are more than three related, the majority must be unrelated individuals with no financial interest in the organisation. This will be the case for all of our funding as it is best practice).
• Have an ‘asset lock clause’. This means that funds or assets are transferred to another named asset lock body (e.g. another charity or CIC). Your Articles of Association should specify the name of the other organisation.
• Are CLGs (Companies Limited by Guarantee, as opposed to Companies Limited by Shares)
• A CIC may be asked to provide a copy of its CIC36 form (declaration on the formation of a community interest company), or a CIC 37 form (application to convert a company to a CIC)

Where can I get help with my application?

The Foundation’s Grants team will give some guidance around your application and general funding criteria; however, the staff will not be in a position to support a group to complete their application.

If you require any specific support, please contact the Grants team and they will be happy to answer any general queries around a programme and/or direct you to an agency that may be able to provide more specific support.

What should I do if I don’t understand the guidelines?

We encourage all applicants to contact the Grants team in advance of submitting their application.  The Grants team will give some advice on the specific programme and some guidance around the type of projects that the programme may support.

Please note that the team will not be in a position to support groups to complete applications or give assurance that their application will be successful.

Are there deadlines for applications?

Each programme will have their own specific deadlines.  We would advise groups to review the guidance notes and deadline dates through our website.

Please note that while some programmes will be open throughout the year there may be deadlines in terms of meeting panel dates.

Check the guidance notes for all information and if it is not clear, please contact our Grants team.

What do I need to apply to the Community Foundation?

The majority of our funding programmes require the following supporting documentation:

• Signed governing document such as a constitution (in the name of the applicant organisation) NOTE: Umbrella governing documents are not eligible for funding, unless otherwise specified in our guidance and unless previously approved by the Foundation staff.  These include Church constitutions not in the name of the applicant organisation, and/or Sports Club and Cultural organisations who use umbrella governing documents.
• Audited accounts or Income and Expenditure Statement
• Current Account Bank statement (in the name of the applicant organisation) – which must be dated within the last three months and in credit. If you are submitting a bank statement that is overdrawn, please provide an explanation. Please note that Credit Union accounts are not eligible.
• We will only fund organisations that have 2 unrelated bank signatories.
• Full name and address of management committee/trustees and Officer positions
• An Equality Policy / Equal Opportunities Policy
• Any, relevant to project and direct/primary beneficiary, policies such as Child Protection, Adult Safeguarding Policies.

Please note that some of our programmes may require additional documentation such as quotations, while others, such as our Micro Grant Programme, may not require a governing document or other items of supporting documentation.  Please check the guidance notes for all programmes.

Can I email my application or get a hard copy to complete in writing?

All our applications are online, and we do not permit applications to be posted by hard copy or emailed.

All applications must be submitted through the Fundseeker portal.

What is our process for assessing applications?

Upon receipt of applications, our team will review your online application to our CRM system.

A pre panel report is generated and we allocate an Assessor to review your application.

The process for review is as follows:

1. Due diligence:

An initial review to check eligibility against fund criteria and to confirm that all required documentation is in order.

The latter will normally include a review of your governing document; accounts or income & expediture statement; safeguarding policy; equality policy; bank statement; bank signatories; governance.

We will also check your Charity Commission NI and Companies House registrations, as relevant.

2. Application assessment:

Applications which pass the due diligence process are assessed against the priorities & criteria of the fund involved, with recommendations to fund or reject made accordingly.

3. Decision making:

Assessor recommendations are normally reviewed & ratified by a panel. This process can vary significantly from fund to fund, depending on donor requirements and/or sums involved.

Letters of offer are issued by email to all successful applicants. Unsuccessful applicants receive feedback on the reasons for rejection to help inform any future applications.

How soon will I know if I am successful?

Depending on panel dates we will try to have all applications assessed and groups informed of outcomes within 6-8 weeks of the funding programme deadline.

What activities do the Foundation generally not fund?

In line with most funded programmes the Foundation will not fund the following, however, criteria depend on particular funds should we ask that you check specific fund guidance to confirm what is eligible for funding, or not:

• Organisations or activities that 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;
• The advancement of religion. This includes organisations whose purposes include advancement of religion
• Promotion of religious or political activity, including any flags and emblems that can be deemed to associated with such
• 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
• 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 abroad
• Individual applications (unless an individual bursary programme)
• Replacement of statutory funding
• Retrospective funding
• Parties and shopping trips
• Groups who have not complied with previous monitoring requirements

There may also further fund specific exclusions.  Please review the fund guidance and criteria in advance to check that your organisation and/or project is eligible to apply.

Can our group apply if we are relatively new and do not have a full set of accounts?

New groups are eligible to apply for the majority of our funds; however, we would encourage groups to review guidance for specific funding programmes to ensure they are eligible.

Groups without a full set of accounts can submit an up to date income and expenditure signed by their Treasurer, in place of a full set of accounts.

Our group is not yet registered with the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland, can we still apply for funding?

In general groups can apply to our funds without having to register with CCNI, however, please review guidance for specific programmes to ensure that your group is eligible to apply.

How do I make a complaint?

Grant Making Complaints Process:

Introduction:

The Community Foundation for Northern Ireland strives to give the best service for our donors, fund holders and those who apply for funding support, however, we recognise that there may be times that we fall short of this standard and as a result you may wish to make a complaint.

In considering making a complaint it is important to emphasise that this will not affect your chances of receiving a grant from the Foundation in the future.

The following procedure is in place should you wish to make a complaint.

What can I complain about?

​You can complain if you think that:

• maladministration’ has taken place in that we failed to follow the procedures in our application process
• we have not treated you in a professional manner
• we have discriminated against you or not treated you fairly

If your complaint is concerning a funding application, we can only look at your application again if:

• we discover (through dealing with a complaint) that we did not follow the published procedures for assessing your application

What you cannot complain about

The Foundation recognise that you may be disappointed if we turn down your application for funding, however, you cannot use the complaints procedure to appeal against our decision on your application if we have followed our decision-making process correctly.

Making a complaint?

Complaints must be forwarded to the Foundation within four weeks of the date of the letter outlining the decision relating to your application. A complaint received outside of this timeframe will not be considered. 

​There are two distinct stages in the complaints process.

Stage one:

If you are not happy with the service you have received in relation to funding, contact Orla Black the Director of Grants and Fund Development in writing or via email oblack@communityfoundationni.org detailing your complaint.

Please outline:

• what happened
• when it happened
• who dealt with you
• what you would like us to do to put things right.

In the case of any other dealing with the Foundation please contact the CEO.

Stage two:

If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Director of Grants and Fund Development in relation to funding, you can make a further complaint in writing to the Chief Executive again detailing:

• what happened
• when it happened
• who dealt with you
• what you would like us to do to put things right.

The decision of the Chief Executive is final and no further complaint process will be entered into after such a decision has been made.

Róisín Wood, CEO – rwood@communityfoundationni.org

When will I hear from the Foundation?

• Within five working days of receiving your complaint we will write to or phone you to acknowledge receipt and give you a date by which you can expect a reply.
• You will receive a reply to your complaint within 28 working days. If we cannot give a full reply in this time, we will tell you why and when you are likely to receive it.

We will keep all complaints confidential. If you make a complaint, we will treat you with respect, and we expect you to treat our staff in the same way.

Use of Artificial Intelligence

The Community Foundation for Northern Ireland is committed to supporting communities, driving inclusion, improving well-being, and transforming our approach to funding practice.

As part of our ongoing efforts to better serve our mission and vision, we are embracing the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance our impact, improve efficiency, and build even better connections with our applicants, grantees, donors and funders.

By integrating AI into our work, we aim to:

• Streamline administrative tasks, which we hope will provide us with more time and resources to focus on community engagement and become an even more relational funder
• Enhance our grant making and impact measurement by gaining insights into what our applicants are seeking and receiving funding for, as well as collating the impact of our grants in a more focused and useful way
• Gain deeper insights into community needs through research and analysis that will then inform our future work

Ensuring that we use AI responsibly is vital to our success. We are committed to openness and transparency and ensuring that we follow ethical practices. We will continue to ensure that our work is led by human judgment, and with lived experience at the heart of all of our decision making. Our journey will evolve, as AI evolves, but we will continue to be led by our values of being passionate and ambitious in all that we do, working with integrity always.

Use of AI to support funding applications

The Community Foundation for Northern Ireland is committed to supporting communities, driving inclusion, improving well-being, and transforming our approach to funding practice.

Artificial Intelligence tools are becoming increasingly popular, particularly when it comes to research and communications and streamlining administrative processes. AI enables people to save time on many tasks and could enable us all to focus on other things, particularly those that require, and need, a more relational approach.

As part of our ongoing efforts to better serve our mission and vision, we are embracing the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance our impact, improve efficiency, and build even better connections with our applicants, grantees, donors and funders. We see the value in using digital technology to enable us, and others, to do other things better.

AI has many benefits, as well as some concerns and challenges.  For this reason, we have developed this statement to help provide some guidance around availing of AI if you are using AI to complete our funding applications.

We are not experts, and we know how fast this space is evolving. We will continue to be mindful of the pace of change and update our position as and when appropriate.

Our position on the use of AI to write funding and/or job applications 

If you are using AI to support your applications, we recommend that you do not over rely on this when forming your responses to our questions. We suggest that you consider the following:

• Use carefully and mindfully
• Do not upload anything that is personal data through any AI tools
• Always ensure your responses are in your own words
• Understand what you’re saying in your responses and make sure you know exactly what you’re applying for and why (you may be asked)
• Ensure you have locally based evidence and/or case studies to support your requests – everything we fund should come from a locally based perspective and/or need
• Ensure accuracy of anything generated by AI. Check websites and review data in more detail – do not assume everything is accurate – it may not be
• Bear in mind the huge energy costs and environmental impact in using AI

We are excited to see what opportunities that may arise from the use of AI, and we hope to further develop activities that can help communities to avail of these opportunities, as well as mitigate any risks or challenges there may be.

What are your Terms & Conditions?

You can download our standard Terms & Conditions PDF here.