Deadline: 26-Feb-23
The Civic Power Fund is seeking applications for the Community Action Fund to support grassroots campaigning and community organising in the UK.
Funding Information
- It will provide one-off grants between £2,500 and £20,000.
- These grants are available to grassroots organisations that are building the power of their community and campaigning for long-term change.
- All successful applicants will be offered support beyond funding. This will include the Civic Power Fund Governance Hub and optional, bespoke cohort and capacity building opportunities.
Eligibility Criteria
- The Community Action Fund is open to UK-based organisations that are:
- Rooted in and accountable to their community.
- Hoping to achieve long-term change on issues affecting the lives of their community.
- Addressing injustice by building the power of their community. For example, through community organising, campaigning, or democratic engagement.
- Lacking the resources to take their vision to the next level.
- Seeking to build a larger us and resisting the politics of division
- The Community Action Fund prioritises organisations led by people with lived experience of the injustice they are trying to overcome.
Key Definitions
- Democracy. Democracy means people working together to identify problems, co-design solutions, and win change. It thrives when people have the power to hold their elected representatives to account beyond participating in elections.
- Power. Power is the ability to act. Civic power means people coming together to win lasting change that matters to them. When members of a community stand in solidarity with each other and with those outside their community, they can build a base of people power capable of holding decision-makers to account. This requires people knowing how to influence and engage with democracy over the long-term.
- Lived experience. First hand experience — past or present — of injustice.
- Justice. The five commonly understood principles of social justice are 1) work grounded in human rights; work focussed on 2) the fair distribution of both resources and 3) opportunities; 4) ensuring all groups have equal capacity to participate in democracy; and 5) action to prevent discrimination based on age, class, gender, race, sexuality, ethnicity and disability.
- Grassroots. Organisations that are rooted within a specific community or area.
- Community. Community can apply to your local area, or the particular group you represent. For example: people living with disabilities, people with experience of the immigration or asylum system, people of colour, working class communities, women, and LGBTQI communities.
For more information, visit Civic Power Fund.