Deadline: 12 October 2018
The Aziz Foundation is seeking applications for its Development Fund to support a holistic development programme for Muslim communities.
The Foundation looks to make strategic interventions to develop an effective leadership and service infrastructure so that Muslim communities can efficiently utilise their considerable resources.
Priorities
- The number of projects which can be supported is limited by the amount of funds available for distribution in one year. The Board of Trustees have determined that the priorities for funding over the next few years will be around:
- Community Development: To identify needs, raise awareness and strengthen capacity for self-help in disadvantaged communities. In addition, to invest in and develop the leadership capacity and human capital of disadvantaged communities, so that they may better address their needs.
- Public Engagement: To strengthen the representation, visibility and voice of disadvantaged communities in policy, media and public discourse, and arts and culture.
- The priorities in this policy will be reviewed every year (or more often if deemed necessary by the Board of Trustees), and may be changed in accordance with the Trustees’ view of the most effective application of available funds at any point in time.
Grant Making Principles
The grant-making will be governed by the following principles:
- Applications from within the UK are eligible for consideration, unless specified in the advert.
- Applications for project funding will be considered on their own merit, regardless of previous rejection or receipt of grants.
- The Board of Trustees has ultimate responsibility for all grant-making decisions in line with the Foundation’s charitable purposes and any restrictions agreed with donors and funding partners. However, the Board of Trustees may give certain decision-making responsibilities to its subcommittees or staff within its framework of delegation.
- The Board of Trustees reserve the right not to approve any recommendation or nomination if, after due consideration, it determines that the resulting grant would not be charitable, falls outside its priorities, or would conflict with the Foundation’s stated policies or damage its reputation.
- The Board of Trustees will not normally approve/support applications for:
- purposes for which the government has a statutory responsibility to provide;
- large, well-funded national charities i.e. those with an annual income more than £5 million or with more than £50 million of assets, or charities dedicated to issues deemed by the Board of Trustees to be already well funded;
- general appeals, fundraising appeals, or marketing appeals;
- one-off conferences or events, except where these events fall within a wider project context that aligns with the funding priorities, the impact and connections to these priorities being clearly demonstrated;
- partisan or evangelical groups or organisations whose mission or charitable objectives state an intention to proselytise. As a values-based organisation, the program will however consider offering support to faith-based organisations which are doing demonstrably positive and impactful work in the field of community development and social justice, without a proselytization agenda; or
- activities which appear to, or actively seek to, influence public opinion in favour of a particular political party or promote political partisanship.
Grant Making Criteria
- The aim of the grant-making criteria is to provide clear information from the Board of Trustees to those individuals and organisations who want to apply for grants.
- Clear guidance on criteria for applications from individuals and groups is a part of this policy and set out in the guidance notes documents available on the Aziz Foundation website. The Board of Trustees may delegate responsibility to its Grants Committee to review these criteria from time to time and, if necessary, to amend or update them.
- The Board of Trustees wish to make grants to a wide range of organisations and are particularly keen to help disadvantaged communities and sections of societies. While not excluding large UK-wide charities, the Foundation will normally only make grants to such organisations where the proposal and outcomes have potential to achieve a substantial impact.
Application Process
All grant requests (except donor nominated grants) go through a three-stage process as summarised below:
- STAGE 1 – Application – all grant applications will be subject to initial assessment to ensure they meet the basic criteria for funding. Requests that cannot be allocated to live funds are rejected.
- STAGE 2 – Assessment – staff determine whether the request should be shortlisted for support. Shortlisted applications will be reviewed by the Grants Review Committee(s), the Board of Trustees, or by a person acting with the delegated authority of the Board of Trustees.
- STAGE 3 – Decision – requests not shortlisted are rejected. Grants not recommended are rejected, unless allocated to another fund. All grants must be approved/confirmed by the Board of Trustees or a person/committee acting with its delegated authority.
Eligible Country: United Kingdom
For more information, please visit Development Fund.