The Baring Foundation: Strengthening Civil Society: Supporting legal action related to Covid-19

Overview

This fund will support legal action in all its forms – empowering, persuading, challenging – that seeks to protect vulnerable individuals and communities from the impact of Covid-19 and the response to the pandemic from public authorities, businesses, and communities. They already know that the pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on individuals and communities who already experience discrimination and disadvantage.

It is one of 3 new funding streams to support their grantholders and broader civil society to tackle the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. It will run throughout 2020 and represents a commitment of up to £1 million.

What funding is available?

Grants of up to £40,000 for one year are available for organisations with relevant and demonstrable legal expertise in the areas they work in and who have an annual income of less than £5m.

They believe that legal action could play a critical role in reducing the impact on these communities and drive longterm social change. They will support organisations who already use legal action in their work.

Eligibility

Applications will be considered from civil society organisations in the UK who:

• Have relevant and demonstrable legal expertise in their area of focus;
• Are registered as a charity in the UK;
• Will deliver activities under the grant which delivers benefit in the UK (applications for international work will not be considered); and
• Have an annual income of under £5m.
• rganisations which currently hold a grant from the Foundation are eligible to apply. However, please contact them before submitting an application to discuss your proposal.

NB They highly encourage collaborative working when using the law to achieve long-term social change and they have found this to be a key factor for success. If you plan to collaborate or work in partnership with other groups, they expect you to clearly outline the approach you will be taking and the roles you envisage these organisations to take in the work.

Full guidelines are avaiilable here

NB Other Funding Schemes for COVID-19 (ONLY FOR CURRENT GRANTHOLDERS)

NB Two further streams of funding will support both current grantholders and other organisations which have received funding from this programme (since January 2016):

• Operational impacts: small-scale grants of normally under £5,000 to assist organisations whose operations are severely affected by Covid-19
• Increase in demand for advice from frontline organisations: grants of up to £30,000 for hub organisations. These are vital organisations which provide expert legal advice to other civil society organisations to drive social change.

All eligible organisations for these funds (2 and 3) will be contacted directly – please do get in touch with them if you are one of them and haven’t received an email.