If your organization is planning a regional or international workshop or an
exchange visit to another NGO or project, but you are in need of grant support,
then one of the best possible options is applying for the Commonwealth
Foundation's Civil Society Responsive Grants.
The Commonwealth Foundation is an inter-governmental organization supported by
Commonwealth governments to provide support towards strengthening of civil
society for sustainable development, democracy and intercultural learning within
the commonwealth countries. It has grantmaking programmes for NGOs specifically
for supporting activities that involve intercultural exchange: such as short
training courses, workshops, seminars, conferences, cultural festivals,
exchanges and study visits in other Commonwealth countries. The Civil Society
Responsive Grant programme of the Foundation is specifically for NGOs in
Commonwealth developing countries. To get the list of Commonwealth countries,
which are members of the Foundation, click here.
If your organization is planning to organize a regional or international
workshop or conference, you can request support from the Commonwealth Foundation
to sponsor participants. But remember that the support will be only for
participants from Commonwealth developing countries.
Similarly, with the grant support, you can network with another NGO in another
country by arranging a cross-country visit. Your organizational staff or
community members can go on a visit to another NGO in another country to see its
projects and also invite its staff/community to your own country. The Foundation
will provide the grant to support the full visit, including air travel and
accommodation for the staff. However, such kind of support for this
cross-country visit is preferable only between Commonwealth developing countries
only. For an organization seeking an exchange visit with a developed country, a
strong case has to be made giving details of the benefits to be achieved for
members in the developing country.
The Foundation prefers to fund exchange visits within a region rather than the
international ones.
The Civil Society Responsive Grants supports activities in four main areas:
* Culture
* Governance and Democracy
* Human Development
* Communities and Livelihoods.
Applicant organizations should justify that their activities fall in any one of
these areas in addition to its significance to an international or
intercultural exchange. Gender and youth are cross-cutting themes of the
programme and this should also be highlighted in the proposal. Besides
supporting exchanges, there is opportunity for funding voter education projects.
However, such projects are required to complete another application form in
addition to the standard application form under this programme.
Who can apply?
NGOs registered in a Commonwealth country can apply for the funding support.
Their work should be relevant to the values, objectives and priorities of the
Foundation, demonstrate accountability and transparency and should be in a
position to obtain resources from other sources as well.
It is also important for the Foundation that the actual beneficiaries of the
grant programme are both women and men, should be 35 years or less than that
and should be skilled enough to transfer the learning.
Travel grant to attend international conferences or events can be made to the
Foundation but the beneficiaries should be from developing countries and half of
them should be women.
Proposals can be submitted to the Foundation during any part of the year.
However, there are four grant application deadlines for making decisions.
These are quarterly-based deadlines:
Grants for activities in Application must be received by Applicants hear from
the Foundation in
October, November, December 30 June Beginning of September
January, February, March 30 September Beginning of December
April, May, June 31st December Beginning of March
July, August, September 31st March Beginning of April
How much funding amount can be requested?
Generally, the Foundation awards grants around £5,000, but NGOs can request
funding up to £12,500. In rare cases, grants of up to £25,000 can also be made.
However, decisions for approving funding amount of more than £12,500 are made
only twice a year when the Grants Committee meets (in March and September). For
grants less than £12,500, requests can be made anytime or according to the
quarterly deadlines given above.
The Foundation is very flexible in its grantmaking approach. As soon as the
proposal is approved, it transfers the amount to the grantee organization
without many strings attached. However, after the end of the activities, the
grantee organization should submit a report explaining the impact of the grant,
the follow-up and the learning achieved and transferred. All grantees should
acknowledge the support of the Foundation in their outputs such as reports,
publications, events etc.
Application form can be downloaded from the Foundation's website and after
completing it, it can be submitted by email. More information is available at
this link:
http://www.commonwealthfoundation.com/Howwedeliver/Grants/Civilsocietyresponsivegrants
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