The Equity in Action Fund

Purpose of the Fund

The Equity in Action Fund will support small-scale, innovative, and community-based initiatives that actively address and counter:

• Hate crimes and hate incidents
• The spread of misinformation and disinformation (particularly online)
• The intersection of both, including how false narratives contribute to prejudice and violence

Eligibility Criteria

Applicants must meet the following:

• Be a constituted organisation with charitable purposes
• Demonstrate experience or a clear plan to engage in work aligned with the fund’s themes
• Be able to deliver the proposed project within a 12 month period

Priority Areas

Projects should address one or more of the following:

• Prevention of Hate Crime: Community engagement, education, or interventions that reduce bias-motivated incidents
• Countering Misinformation and Disinformation: Fact-checking initiatives, public education campaigns, or media literacy efforts
• Support for Affected Communities: Programmes offering legal, mental health, or community support to those impacted by hate crimes or targeted misinformation
• Digital Resilience: Tools, workshops, or campaigns helping communities recognise, report, or resist online manipulation and hate speech
• Youth Engagement: Youth-led or youth-targeted initiatives addressing online harm, radicalisation, or bias

Examples include, but are not limited to:

• Financial support for people who are afraid to leave their homes/relocate affected people
• Co-ordinating local response across groups
• Resourcing community support spaces and costs associated with security measures.
• Provision of additional safeguarding and mental health support to staff and those they work with
• Sharing of safety information with people at risk

Funding Amounts

• Grants between £3,000 to £5,000
• We are happy to be flexible with costs and can support costs associated with staff time, materials, events, technology, training, outreach, evaluation, or anything that will align well with the fund priorities

Priorities for assessment

1. Relevance & Impact: Does the project directly address hate crime or mis/disinformation? Is the impact meaningful for the target community?
2. Community-Led: Is the project informed by or led by communities most affected?
3. Innovation & Feasibility: Is the approach creative and achievable within the proposed timeframe?
4. Collaboration: Does it involve partnerships or community collaboration?

Grants will not support:

• Projects not directly tied to hate crime or mis/disinformation
  In addition, the fund will not support:

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 associated;
• 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;
• Trips outside of Northern Ireland;
• Individual applications;
• Purchase of vehicles;
• Parties and shopping trips;
• Applications from statutory organisations

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.

If you are unsure about any of the above text or have any other queries then please contact the Grants Team on 028 9024 5927 or via e-mail: applications@communityfoundationni.org.