New grant programme for housing projects in N Ireland
Howard Lake | 8 March 2018 | News
The Community Foundation for Northern Ireland has announced a new grant programme in collaboration with the Nationwide Building Society and UK Community Foundations which will support local housing projects.
Known as the Nationwide Fund, grants will be provided worth between £10,000 and £50,000 for housing projects and charities from across Northern Ireland to help make a change in their local areas whether through providing housing services to people in need or offering support to the most vulnerable.
In a unique approach to the application process, pre-application training is also being made available as soon as the fund opens to help maximise applicants’ chances of success.
The applications will be reviewed and shortlisted by a regional Community Board, made up of Nationwide members, employees and charity partners. The shortlist will then be put to Nationwide members to vote on with the expectation that successful projects will not only receive a grant but also community support.
Orla Black, Deputy Director of Philanthropy at the Community Foundation, said the pre-application training and webinar will provide an opportunity to iron out any queries and questions potential applicants may have and will enable the Foundation to provide some guidance on how to complete the application. Applicants can sign up for pre-application training by visiting the website.
The new fund will support projects grouped under three key themes:
1. Improves conditions (this could be physical, emotional or social)
2. Directly helps people into a decent and affordable home (this could be through supported accommodation or stable rental accommodation)
3. Indirectly helps people into decent and affordable homes through the creation/evaluation/research of innovative ideas that challenge the existing housing model
Grants will be between £10,000 and £25,000 for bids from singular organisations; and between £10,000 and £50,000 for bids from partnerships and consortia.
The Nationwide Fund is open for applications from 5 March to 16 April 2018.
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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.