Month: March 2017

Heritage grants of over £100k for UK projects

Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) is seeking applications for its Heritage Grants programme that is open for any type of project related to the national, regional or local heritage in the UK.

Funding Information

Applicants can apply for a grant of more than £100,000 and they need to make a contribution towards their project as well. HLF describes this as ‘partnership funding’ and it can be made up of cash, volunteer time, non-cash contributions, or
a combination of all of these. Some of your partnership funding must be from your own organisation’s resources.

The application process is in two rounds.

Eligibility Criteria

Under this programme, HLF fund applications from: 

  • not-for-profit organisations; and 
  • partnerships led by not-for-profit organisations.

If private owners or for-profit organisations are involved in a project, the fund expects public benefit to be greater than private gain.

Eligible projects

The programme funds projects that make a lasting difference for heritage, people and communities in the UK. The focus of the project will be on the work or activity that: 

  • is defined at the outset; 
  • has not yet started; 
  • will take no more than five years to complete; 
  • will contribute to achieving the outcomes they describe.

Example of eligible activities:

  • archaeological sites; 
  • collections of objects, books or documents in museums, libraries or archives; 
  • cultural traditions such as stories, festivals, crafts, music, dance and costumes; 
  • historic buildings; 
  • histories of people and communities; 
  • histories of places and events; 
  • the heritage of languages and dialects; 
  • natural and designed landscapes and gardens; 
  • people’s memories and experiences (often recorded as ‘oral history’);
  • places and objects linked to our industrial, maritime and transport history; and 
  • natural heritage including habitats, species and geology.

Deadline

The deadlines vary, depending on how much applicants are asking for, the grant programme, and where their project is based. Check the relevant grant programme page for details of deadlines and funding decision dates.

How to Apply

Interested organisations can apply via the website. For more information, please visit Heritage Lottery Fund.

Grants for feminist and women’s rights organisations

Mama Cash, an international fund that supports women’s, girls’ and trans people’s movements around the world, is receiving Letters of Interest from applicants who are not current grantee-partners until 15 May 2017.

Mama Cash funds organisations and initiatives working from a feminist or women’s rights perspective to empower women, girls and/or trans people in the areas of:

  • Body
    • Reproductive justice 
    • Changing sex, sexuality and gender norms
    • Reframing and ending violence
  • Money (economic justice)
    • Labour rights
    • Environmental justice
  • Voice
    • Accessing and Redistributing Power – Political Participation
    • Shifting Stereotypes through Arts and Media

Grant Information

Mama Cash offers core support grants, which can also include support for specific programmes, projects, or initiatives. It provides both single-year and multi-year grants. Each multi-year grant period runs for a maximum of two years. Do note that for an organisation or initiative she has not supported before, Mama Cash always starts with a single-year grant.

Mama Cash’s grant size ranges from €5.000 to €50.000 per year. Her average grant size is between €20.000 and €30.000 per year.

Eligibility Criteria

Mama Cash supports groups and initiatives that:

  • Work from a feminist and/or women’s rights perspective
  • Are self-led by the women, girls and/or trans people they serve
  • Have the promotion of women’s, girls’ and/or trans people’s human rights as their primary mission, and not just as the focus of part of their programmes
  • Push for structural and fundamental change
  • Focus on issues that are under-addressed and/or contested

Mama Cash is open to supporting informal, unregistered groups of activists, or networks, or coalitions of organisations.

Groups with an annual budget below 200,000 euros will have priority.

Groups must be based outside of the United States or Canada.

Deadline

15 May 2017.

How to Apply

Interested applicants can apply for a grant by filling up the Letter of Interest form available on the Mama Cash website.

7 crowdfunding websites for not-for-profits

Whether you are a charity, a social enterprise or any other not-for-profit organisation, you are probably looking for new ways of raising financial capital. While grant funding is still a common solution amongst not-for-profits, online crowdfunding has also become increasingly popular within the voluntary sector.

Crowdfunding is by definition “the practice of funding a project or venture by raising many small amounts of money from a large number of people, typically via the internet.” Crowdfunding was originally used by entrepreneurs as a means to attract small investments to for-profit ventures, primarily via the internet. Now, the global crowdfunding market is projected to reach between $90 billion and $96 billion by 2025 according to a 2013 study commissioned by the World Bank – roughly 1.8 times the size of the global venture capital industry today- and is being advertised as a valuable tool for fundraising for not-for-profits.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has identified five main types of crowdfunding:

  • donation-based,
  • reward-based,
  • loan-based,
  • investment-based, and
  • exempt.

Donation-based, reward-based and exempt crowdfunding are the most suitable for not-for-profit organisations. Donation-based and reward-based crowdfunding may be attractive fundraising options for a new project, new campaign or a new organisation, especially one at an early stage of development that needs to raise money to meet pre-start costs. All three forms of crowdfunding are unregulated activities and do not need FCA authorisation.

Community shares are a form of crowdfunding exempt from regulation. Community shares are defined by the Community Shares Unit (CSU) as “non-transferable, withdrawable shares in a society with a voluntary or statutory asset lock. Shareholders have the right to withdraw their share capital, subject to the terms and conditions stated in the society’s rules and share offer document. But they cannot sell or transfer their shares, or liquidate the business in order to achieve a capital gain”.

If you want to give crowdfunding a go for your own organisation, here are a few web platforms that you’ll want to check out:

  1. Crowdfunder

Crowdfunder offers two different funding methods: All or Nothing (you only receive your pledges if you hit your target) and Keep What You Raise (you get to keep all your pledges, whether your projects hits target or not). The latter is best suited for causes or charitable projects.  

Cost: 5% plus VAT (plus potentially some other fees depending on the type of payment chosen). The fee is payable only if the project reaches or exceeds the funding target.

Crowfunder also offers the possibility of fundraising for community shares in the UK, thus facilitating the raising of capital for community organisations.

  1. Buzz

FundIt.Buzz is a UK based crowdfunding platform aimed at social enterprises and charities. With FundIt.Buzz you can also collect Gift Aid. You need to reach the first milestone (or whole amount if that was your first milestone) to get the money raised, otherwise all funds go back to the donors.

Cost: 5% plus fees related to card payment.

  1. Bloom VC

Bloom VC is the only rewards based crowdfunding platform in the UK to allow pretty much any project regardless of whether it’s a commercial or social idea. They only allow ‘All or nothing’ type of funding, which means that if you don’t raise all the money set as target, it goes back to the donors.                                                                

Cost: 5% fee from project funding total + PayPal fee, on successful projects.

  1. Kickstarter

Kickstarter is a widely known crowdfunding platform aimed at creative projects. Project creators choose a deadline and minimum funding goal and if the goal isn’t met by the deadline, no funds are collected. Those who back Kickstarter projects are offered rewards for their pledges.

Individuals starting a project on Kickstarter must be 18 years of age or older and be a permanent resident in one of the following countries: US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Denmark, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Mexico

Cost: 5% of the funds raised. Additional fees apply to PayPal payments.

  1. Generosity

Generosity is Indiegogo’s charity crowdfunding platform, which was specifically designed for the needs of socially minded not-for-profits and individuals looking to solve both personal and community challenges.

The platform does not take any fee out of the money raised, however payment processor fees may apply.

Not only is Generosity a socially conscious fundraising platform, but whether or not you meet your funding goal, you will still receive all the funds that you raised.

  1. GoFundMe

GoFundMe is a crowdfunding platform that enables people to raise money for different life events. Supported countries and currencies include: United States of America ($USD), United Kingdom (£GBP), Canada ($CAD), Australia ($AUD), and some European Union countries that use the Euro as their official currency (€EUR). With GoFundMe, you keep each and every donation you receive; reaching your goal is not required.

Cost: 5% of the funds raised. Additional fees apply to processing payments.

  1. Ethex

Ethex allows people to invest positively – that is to put their money directly into businesses whose mission and impacts they support, and that also offer a financial return. Thus social businesses are able to raise finance from sympathetic investors through community shares.

If the minimum target is not reached within the offer period, sometimes the offer may be extended. If it is still not reached within a viable time frame, then Ethex will return any funds received to investors.

Conclusion

These are just a few examples of crowdfunding platforms that are suitable to not-for-profits. As noted above, most of these websites keep about 5% of the funds that your organisation raises, and there are fees collected by credit card processors, so be sure to read the FAQs on each website carefully.

EU Call for Proposals: Support to Agricultural Cooperatives in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

The EU has allocated EUR 1.8 million for the development of agricultural cooperatives in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in order to contribute to improving the competitiveness of the agricultural sector in line with EU accession requirements. The objective of this call for proposals is to create incentives for farmers to cooperate and thereby increasing marketing opportunities, economic development and overall productivity in agriculture.

Key Priorities

  • Providing institutional support to the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Economy (MAFWE) in order to improve the legislation related to agricultural cooperatives and to design effective and efficient policy measures under the National Programme for Rural Development.
  • Strengthening existing agricultural cooperatives and supporting the creation of new ones.

Size of grants 

Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum amounts: 

  • minimum amount: EUR 1.6 million; 
  • maximum amount: EUR 1.8 million.

Any grant requested under this Call for Proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum percentages of total eligible costs of the action:

  • Minimum percentage: 60% of the total eligible costs of the action;
  • Maximum percentage: 95% of the total eligible costs of the action.

Eligibility criteria

In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant and it co-applicants must: 

  • be a legal person
  • be a specific type of organisation such as: non-governmental organisation, public body, local authority, economic actor, international (inter-governmental) organisation of the Rules of application of the EU Financial Regulation

    be established in a Member State of the European Union or in a country covered by Regulation (EU) No 236/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2014 laying down common rules and procedures for the implementation of the Union’s instruments for financing external action. This obligation does not apply to international organisations;

  • be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action with the co-applicant(s) and affiliated entity(ies), not acting as an intermediary.

The Lead Applicant must act with minimum 1 and maximum 3 co-applicant(s) as follows:

– Eligible applicants established in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia must act with at least one (1) co-applicant established in any of the eligible countries;
– Eligible applicants not established in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia must act with at least one (1) co-applicant established in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

Location 

Actions must take place in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. 

Types of eligible actions 

The types of action which may be financed under this call must include these three areas: 

  1. support to MAFWE to review and improve the full package of legislations and policies related to agricultural cooperatives, and strengthening of the capacities of an umbrella organisation of agricultural cooperatives; 
  2. increase awareness on cooperatives among farmers, business community and the general public; 
  3. provide technical and financial support to existing and new cooperatives.

Deadline

The deadline for the submission of applications is 2 June 2017 at 12:00 (Brussels date and time).

How to Apply

In order to apply for the grants, applicants have to register themselves in PADOR. Applications must be submitted online via PROSPECT https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/europeaid/prospect following the instructions given in the PROSPECT user manual. Concept notes ad full applications are to be submitted together under this call for proposals.

For more information, please visit Europeaid and download the guidelines.