Deadline: 20-Oct-21
The Community Foundation for Ireland is offering Older Persons’ Fund to promote the civic engagement of older people, as a means of working towards making a difference in their communities.
The Older Persons’ Fund seeks to realise the benefits of this changing demographic by building a long-term sustainable fund to support older people’s voices at a local and national level and their capacity to engage fully in all strands of society. In line with this goal, the mission of The Older Persons’ Fund will be to support strategic community based and national activities promoting Older People as Active Citizens and Advocates – including influencing policy, community decision-making processes, leadership, negotiation and other ways to give greater “voice” to Older People.
Areas
The Fund will initially support projects in the area of civic engagement which:
- Support older people’s ‘voice’ at a local and national level, and their capacity to engage in all strands of society.
- Promote older people’s participation as active citizens in their communities and their inclusion in civic life.
- In the longer term, the Fund will also support activities that address older people’s social exclusion, for example loneliness and isolation, where increased civic participation is a planned outcome.
Funding Categories
This year they have the following two categories that you may apply for a grant under:
- Inclusion of older people in active citizenship roles – Grants of up to €7,500 will be available to organisations working towards inclusion of older people in active citizenship roles
- Supporting older peoples’ voices at local & national level – Grants of up to €7,500 will available to organisations working towards supporting older peoples’ engagement in advocacy.
Eligibility Criteria
- Applicant organisations should have an annual income of not more than €2,000,000. Documentary evidence may be requested
- All applicant organisations must declare their organisations annual income on the online application form. Depending on your organisation’s income you must submit either your organisation’s Annual Accounts or most recent set of Audited Accounts
- Applicant organisations should have an organisational bank account or access to one. A copy of a recent bank statement no more than six months old must be submitted with your application. This is for account verification purposes only and you can block out any financial or transactional details. If your organisation has a Credit Union account you must supply an IBAN number for your specific account. They are unable to accept applications without your unique account IBAN
- Only one application per organisation may be made (either you apply for the category ‘Supporting peoples voices at a local and national level’ (advocacy) OR the ‘Active Citizenship’ category)
- A willingness to share learning with others
- Commitment to working in partnership with other organisations should be demonstrated where possible
- Proposals must include clear, detailed, realistic costs and timescales
- They encourage applicant organisations to consider adopting The Governance Code for charities
- Applications must be from community and voluntary groups that possess charitable aims and are not for profit
For more information, visit https://www.communityfoundation.ie/grants/types-of-grants/the-older-persons-fund