skip to main content

The Baring Foundation: Implementing Successful Litigation Fund

Archived Active citizenship Adult Education/Learning Advice services Age discrimination Communities Democracy and freedom Education and learning Gender equality and sexual orientation Human rights and equality Human rights and justice People with disabilities Policy, advocacy and campaigning Poverty and deprivation Racial equality Refugees and asylum seekers Social inclusion Social welfare and poverty Voluntary and community infrastructure Antrim & Newtownabbey Ards & North Down Armagh City, Banbridge & Craigavon Belfast City Causeway Coast and Glens Derry City and Strabane England Fermanagh and Omagh Great Britain Lisburn and Castlereagh Mid and East Antrim Mid Ulster Newry, Mourne and Down Northern Ireland Scotland Wales Medium (up to £60,000) Small (up to £10,000)

Overview

Purpose of the Fund

This call for expressions of interest is intended to support civil society organisations to implement a court judgment or the outcome of a litigation process that has the potential to achieve social change for people facing discrimination and disadvantage. They know that social change is rarely achieved in the courtroom alone and this fund will provide resources for civil society to continue its work after successful litigation.

This fund is looking for expressions of interest that support the implementation phase after ‘successful litigation’. This phrase is deliberately broad, with the intention that it spans everything from a definitive judgment of the Supreme Court to the early settlement of a claim. They encourage applications that aim to implement successful litigation regardless of how far the formal process progressed. The key criteria is that the decision has the potential to contribute to social change for people facing discrimination and disadvantage.

What is funded?

They expect implementation work to be varied and reflect the circumstances and nature of the successful litigation. This could include:

  • advocacy and policy influencing;
  • campaigning;
  • awareness raising;
  • research;
  • monitoring of implementation; or
  • further legal action.

Who can apply for a grant?

Applications will be considered from charities, with an annual income of £2m or under, registered in the United Kingdom (or charities exempt or excepted from registration) or other not for profit entities. Activity under the grant applied for must deliver benefit in the UK. Applications for international work will not be considered.

Applications will not usually be accepted from organisations that undertake strategic litigation as their core business. Please contact them to discuss an application, if this may apply to your organisation. Organisations which currently hold a grant from the Foundation are eligible to apply. Please get in touch with them to discuss whether your project is eligible.

Size and type of grant

Grants of up to £30,000 are available, for up to one year. They expect to award approximately ten grants in this pilot year (2020).

Their expectations

Grants awarded under this fund are intended to support ongoing work by organisations, so they will expect you to explain how you were involved in the successful litigation, the plans you had put in place for the implementation phase and why additional funding is required at this stage.

They expect you to:

  • show a clear understanding of the successful litigation;
  • demonstrate how your planned activities may achieve social change in relation to people facing discrimination and disadvantage; and
  • indicate how you plan to learn from your work in this area and how you might share this with civil society more broadly.

More Information

Application guidelines (These include case studies of two organisations who have recently engaged in a range of activity to implement court judgments.)

The following resources may also be useful:

Find out more about the three organisations given grants in the 1st round.

Framework for effective use of the law by voluntary sector organisations

Using the law to address unfair systems: a case study of the Personal Independence Payments legal challenge