NI foundation will increase giving

Howard Lake | 6 February 2020 | News

• Tagged with:
• funding
• Northern Ireland
• small charities

The Halifax Foundation in Northern Ireland will increase its giving from £1.3 million in 2019 to £1.8 million next year the charity’s executive director has said.
Announcing the Foundation’s new strategy for 2020–2023, ‘A Vision for the Future,’ executive director Brenda McMullan says they have developed four new funding rounds and are offering in-kind support.
Ms McMullan says in advance of launching the new strategy they carried out research in the community and voluntary sector with non-profit organisations, recently funded groups and umbrella organisations like NICVA and Rural Community Network who support the sector.
“We also reached out to groups we hadn’t funded before to address any barriers there may be and the response was fantastic and well received,” she said.
 

Simplifying the grant process

As well as introducing revised funding streams, the Foundation made their application forms shorter and more relative to the grant amount groups are applying for. In addition, eligibility criteria has been amended allowing charities that are non-deemed to apply whilst awaiting their Charity Commission NI registration to come through.
“By simplifying our grant process, continuing to provide core funding and by providing larger, longer term grants than before, we really hope to see a positive impact at a grassroots level,” Ms McMullan told NICVA.
The Foundation says it will continue to consider projects of a particular value to the third sector at a strategic level through our Special Initiatives programme.
The Foundation grants programme will support projects:

• up t0 £2,500
• between £2,500 and £10,000
• and long term grants up to £50,000.

The next closing date is 28 February 2020.
The foundation’s in-kind programme will include digital support, one-to-one financial management and a mentoring programme.
In order for organisations to be eligible to apply for any Halifax Foundation in Northern Ireland grant programmes, they must have an income of less than £1 million in the previous 12 months.
 
 
 

About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale. He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.