DFID’s Small Charities Challenge Fund launched

Melanie May | 11 July 2017 | News

• Tagged with:
• funding
• small charities

DFID’s Small Charities Challenge Fund launched last week (5^th July), offering grants of up to £50,000 for grassroots organisations working in countries with the lowest Human Development Index ranking. 
The Small Charities Challenge Fund (SCCF) was first announced in March, by International Development Secretary Priti Patel, and is designed to strengthen grassroots organisations working with the poor, vulnerable and most marginalised. It is specifically aimed at supporting small, UK-registered charities with an annual income of less than £250,000 and will support small development groups to scale-up and increase the reach and efficiency of their projects.
Grants of up to £50,000 will be available for projects of up to two years in any one of the lowest 50 countries in the UN Human Development Index (HDI) or in certain countries that DFID considers to be high or moderate fragility.
Announcing the fund’s imminent launch at the ‘What the world needs from Global Britain’ event, held in Westminster on 28^th June, Patel said:

“For the most part, smaller charities have not had the opportunity to work with DFID, have not had the opportunity to have access to UK aid, and they have not had the opportunity to share in that funding stream that others have benefited from. This is the first time that we have ever done anything like this – setting up a fund dedicated purely to small, UK based charities across the country.”

The application process for the fund is a one-stage process and it will remain continually open with all applications reviewed on a six-monthly basis.
Applicants will need to be able to demonstrate that they:

• aim to reach the most vulnerable or marginalised in society
• contribute towards the Global Goals
• consider DFID’s wider strategic objectives
• support the goals of UK Aid Direct

All applications are assessed/reviewed by an independent Technical Review Panel.

About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.