Social Justice Small Grants Programme

Introduction

The Social Justice Fund is part of, and supported by, the Northern Ireland Human Rights Fund (NIHRF).

NIHRF Purpose:  This collaborative Fund will work to advance a fairer and more equal society where the human rights of all are protected.

Aims of the Social Justice Fund:

To support local community groups to give voice to excluded groups, and work to advance a fairer and more equal society where the human rights of all are protected.

Target Group: Community Sector

The fund will support locally based community groups and locally based ‘communities of interest’ with an interest in promoting or embedding human rights and social justice in their day-to-day work for and with their chosen communities.

Size of Grant:

Grants will be available up to £5,000.

In very exceptional circumstances the panel may decide to award grants up to £15,000.

Objectives:

Applications must demonstrate that their proposal will contribute to at least one of the following objectives:

• To give voice and power to those whose human rights are most at risk and to support them to challenge inequality, exclusion, and unfairness.
• To provide groups and communities with support to challenge, monitor and remedy inequality and rights violations.
• To increase awareness of and contribute to building a culture of rights within and between communities, particularly those most marginalized from decision making
• To support communities and marginalized groups to find solutions to contentious issues

Values:

Applicants must demonstrate in their application how they will advance and adhere to the values of the NIHRF:

• Inclusive – drawing on human rights expertise, including those with lived experience, to develop NIHRF’s strategy, grant making and learning.
• Applying a rights-based approach – adhering to the principles of participation, accountability, non-discrimination, empowerment, and legality.
• Collaborative – The essence of the NIHRF is partnership and collaboration based on mutual trust which draws on the strengths of the partners who will work together to advance the NIHRF’s purpose.
• Encouraging Learning – the NIHRF will support learning between all partners, actively encouraging, listening and being open to responding and adapting.
• Courageous – We will approach complexity with courage and ambition and be open to new solutions to entrenched problems.

We would particularly welcome applications for projects which focus on peacebuilding/legacy, racial justice, gender, health, socio-economic rights, tech, and digital rights, (including the need for accountability and safeguards), and climate.

Project Ideas:

• Rights/Culture/Identity Projects
• Anti-Poverty Initiatives
• Projects which contribute to Peace Building
• Projects which tackle digital justice, environmental justice, and feminism

Eligiblity:

To be eligible for consideration for a grant, the applicant groups must:

• be constituted and based in Northern Ireland or working towards being constituted
• have an active committee and current bank account
• maintain financial records and present accounts to your AGM
• have at least two cheque signatories who are unrelated
• have an income of £1.5m or less

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 We Will Not Fund:

• 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
• Activities that duplicate existing services
• Retrospective funding
• Capital build projects or large equipment purchases
• Dinners, fund-raising promotions, or other ticketed events
• Individuals
• Substitution for statutory funding
• Projects where the Foundation’s contribution is a minor part of a larger funded initiative
• Initiatives that involve redistributing the funding as small grants
• Organisations that did not comply with reporting requirements of previous grant aid
• International trips
• Sole Traders or Private Business/Companies

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

The success rate for the last round of the Social Justice Small Grants Programme was 42%.

The fund will close on Friday 5th June at 1 pm.

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.

If you have any queries regarding this fund, then please contact the Grants Team via e-mail applications@communityfoundationni.org.