Open Grants from The Community Foundation for Ireland
The Community Foundation for Ireland is currently inviting applications for the following three grants:
Social Change Grants
In this year’s Social Change Grants Scheme, grants of up to €7,500 are available to organisations working to address Mental Health issues, in particular for Travellers, victims of Domestic Violence and Refugees. Please see below for details of the type of projects we are seeking for each of these three funding strands:
- Travellers: Projects aimed at suicide prevention, in particular via the reduction of stigma around accessing mental health services
- Victims of Domestic Violence: Projects that offer a space and network for peer support and recovery from mental health distress and trauma
- Refugees: Projects that support the recovery of people suffering from mental health distress and promote their integration into the local community OR Projects that run targeted and culturally appropriate mental health promotion campaigns.
The aim of the grants scheme is to address mental health issues through innovative, community-based approaches that strive to bring about social, behavioral, attitudinal and cultural change and ultimately improve the mental health of beneficiaries in the target groups.
Deadline: 4.00pm on 28 September 2018
Traveller Identity Grants
In 2017 a piece of research commissioned by The Community Foundation for Ireland highlighted that 40% of Travellers had been bullied at school due to their identity. A further 54% said they had experienced an obstacle when accessing employment and of this number, 42 % had experienced discrimination as an obstacle for reasons including their identity or being known locally as a Traveller and once discovered to be a Traveller lost their job. It is little wonder therefore, that the Community has found itself in the midst of an identity crisis.
With this in mind, the Foundation is offering grants of up to €5,000 to nonprofit, community-based groups to develop new and innovate projects that focus on creative responses to the Traveller identity crisis.
What The Community Foundation for Ireland is looking for:
- Priority will be given to Traveller-led organisations, but applications will also be considered from organisations with a proven track record of working consistently with Traveller groups
- Applications must be from local, community-based organisations and must demonstrate a community engagement element, involving members of the Travelling community in the planning, implementation and/or monitoring/evaluation stages of the project.
- Priority will be given to projects that focus on youth engagement and working with young Travellers
- Applications are welcome from all counties in the Republic of Ireland.
Deadline: 20 September 2018
Traveller Leadership Grants
In 2017 a piece of research commissioned by The Community Foundation for Ireland highlighted the fact that Travellers in Ireland are still faced, on a daily basis with a wide range of social challenges, such as discrimination, bullying and obstacles when accessing accommodation, employment, education and health services. In light of this, The Community Foundation for Ireland met with key stakeholders from leading Traveller organisations who identified a need to build capacity from within the Travelling Community by developing leadership strategies at a local level.
With this in mind, we are offering grants of up to €6,000 to Traveller-led organisations to develop Leadership Strategies within their local communities. These strategies will be developed in 2018-19 for the three year period 2019-2022 and must focus on three key themes:
- Political leadership among Travellers
- Leadership of Travellers within the Traveller movement
- Engagement of the youth in the movement but also within the wider landscape
For organisations who produce exemplary strategies in Year One (2018), a second grant may be offered in Year Two (2019) to support those organisations to operationalise their strategies and enact them over the three year period.
What The Community Foundation for Ireland is looking for:
Local, Traveller-led, community-based organisations to:
- Work with the communities they serve to determine what kinds of leadership strategies are needed by local groups in their areas/ communities
- Develop a three year leadership strategy with that community that incorporates the three key themes listed above
- Develop a strategy that incorporates well-defined deliverables for each of the three years, with clear and practical pathways to achieving these deliverables.
Deadline: 20 September 2018