Community Foundation for Ireland announces Environment and Nature Fund

Deadline: 2 August 2019

The Community Foundation for Ireland has announced an Environment and Nature Fund – Sustainable Communities.

The grants scheme has been devised to reduce consumption and waste in communities throughout the country by supporting the experience and enthusiasm of local community groups.

Funding Information

This year they committed to further supporting their Environment and Nature Fund and with match-funding from the Environmental Protection Agency they have established a fund of €100,000 to focus on creating Sustainable Communities through the Circular Economy and Sustainable Consumption and Waste.
Within the scheme, three strands of grant funding will be offered:
- Strand 1: Grants of up to €3,000 to develop a Community Action Plan focused on reducing consumption and waste in the areas of food waste, plastic and packaging, clothing/textiles and electrical items.
- Strand 2: Grants of up to €5,000 to support community groups to trial new and innovative approaches around reducing consumption and waste in the areas of food, plastic and packaging clothing/textiles and electrical items.
- Strand 3: Grants of up to €10,000 to support community groups to grow current small scale initiatives to reduce consumption and waste in the areas of food, plastic and packaging, clothing/textiles and electrical items that reach a larger number of users and could act as a viable demonstrator for other groups.

Outcomes

The ultimate aim of the funding scheme is that successful community groups will develop new or existing waste prevention measures that will ‘act local but think global’.

Criteria

Grants will support community groups who wish to reduce consumption and waste in their local areas with a view to achieving a measurable local impact.
Priority will be given to projects that focus heavily on engaging the wider community and demonstrate an intention and capacity to work closely with local people, businesses and institutions. Assessors will take into account a proportional geographic spread of funded projects and priority will be given to proposals that demonstrate an intention to engage with a wide group of stakeholders within the community.
Applicants are asked to consider how they can measure impacts of their project to demonstrate its effectiveness and how these measures will assist in managing into the future. Applications are invited for projects that offer actions and approaches that are suitable for replication in other communities around Ireland. Applications that reduce consumption and waste by promoting sharing of products and equipment will be favoured for funding.

The Fund Will Not Cover:

Core or ongoing overhead costs of grantee organisations, Equipment costs, Promotion of religious causes, Work that has already taken place, Non-charitable activities, General political donations, Sponsorship or fundraising events, Work taking place outside the Republic of Ireland.

Applicant Requirements

Groups may apply for only one strand of funding
Applications must be from community and voluntary groups that possess charitable aims and are not for profit
Applicant organisations should have an annual income of not more than €2,000,000
Where relevant, the applicant must submit either applicants organisation’s Annual Accounts or most recent set of Audited Accounts
Applicant organisations must have an organisational bank account
A copy of a recent bank statement must be submitted with applicants application. This is for account verification only and all financial transactions may be redacted before submission
Proposals must include clear, detailed, realistic costs and timescales
Applicants must be prepared to evaluate and learn from their work as well as to share project learning and outcomes through the participation in a grantee learning event in 2020
They encourage applicant organisations to consider adopting the Charities Governance Code
A commitment to equal opportunities must be demonstrated
Organisations working with cohorts under the age of 18 will be required to produce a copy of their Child Protection Policy
Organisations working with vulnerable cohorts over the age of 18 will be required to produce a copy of their Vulnerable Adult Policy/ Safeguarding Policy