Baring Foundation: Strengthening the Voluntary Sector
Overview
Funding is available through two open pilot funds:
1) Training, education and capacity building
This fund provides seed funding grants of up to £30,000 over six months to two years that support organisations to understand how their objectives can be achieved through use of the law or human rights based approaches.
They have a particular interest in awarding grants for projects that provide:
i. capacity building for your organisation
- operational support, external consultancy and systems change – using funding to incorporate use of the law and/or human rights based approaches into the activities of organisations with little or no history of using these tools.
They expect projects to:
- identify a clear purpose, explaining how an organisation plans to use these tools to address a particular form of discrimination and disadvantage;
- consider how additional capacity for the organisation supports the work of related organisations in the voluntary sector; and
- explain how seed funding can translate into lasting change for the organisation and its ability to advance its mission.
ii. capacity building for collaborations and partnerships
- funding for the development or continuation of voluntary sector collaborations or partnerships that use the law or human rights based approaches. In particular, where the project makes legal or human rights expertise available for other organisations or connects organisations around a particular legal or human rights issue.
They expect projects to:
- identify a clear purpose for the collaboration or partnership, including how it tackles discrimination and disadvantage;
- demonstrate how joint working can have an impact;
- connect organisations with legal or human rights expertise and organisations with little or no history of using these tools; and
- consider ongoing sustainability.
They do not expect applications to be made in partnership with other organisations, but to evidence how your organisation plays a key role in a collaboration or partnership.
Applications will also be considered for projects that provide:
iii. training and education
- the development, replication or scaling of projects that provide training or education on specific aspects of use of the law or human rights based approaches by the voluntary sector, with a particular focus on how ICT can be used.
They expect projects to:
- identify a clear purpose and/or need, either (a) demonstrating how the law and/or human rights based approaches can address a particular form of discrimination or disadvantage or (b) training voluntary sector organisations on specific aspects of the law or human rights based approaches;
- be supplied by organisations with a clear track record of using these tools;
- focus on supporting voluntary sector organisations with a limited history of using the law or human rights based approaches;
- consider sustainability, particularly how technology can be used to make the training more widely available and longer lasting; and
- demonstrate how the project can increase the capability of organisations to use these tools.
Under all the areas of work above, they will consider funding the continuation, replication or scaling of ongoing projects. However, they expect evidence of how this funding can be used for sustainable growth and how the development of models will be documented and shared. You can and should include appropriate budgets for administrative costs and staff time.
2) Applied projects
– grants of up to £150,000 over approximately three years to create new capacity for work that addresses specific discrimination or disadvantage and safeguards the freedom of purpose, action and voice of the sector, linking the skills of ‘non-legal’ and ‘legal’ organisations to enhance and complement campaigns for social change. Organisations will be expected to demonstrate innovative approaches to using these tools and evidence of how they will collaborate to support a shared agenda. Grants will be awarded for the following types of activity (which are not mutually exclusive):
i. tackling discrimination and disadvantage directly
- projects that create new opportunities to use the law or human rights based approaches to address a particular form of discrimination or disadvantage.
Projects should harness existing or develop new legal capacity or human rights expertise:
- on a specific area – e.g. homelessness or mental health; or
- using a place-based approach
to build links with community organisations and front line providers, supporting organisations to recognise and tackle problems with legal or human rights based solutions.
ii. safeguarding the freedom of purpose, action and voice of the sector
- the development of legal or human rights based approaches to support the independence of the voluntary sector. Projects should apply the law or a human rights based approach to support organisations to scrutinise public sector decision making or develop and enhance advocacy and campaigns.
They expect projects to:
- identify a clear purpose for the project, detailing how use of the law and human rights based approaches can be used to achieve specific outcomes;
- connect legal or human rights experts and a broader range of activists and organisations focused on the same issue – incorporating these tools into a broader movement; and
- demonstrate how the funded activity can highlight and prove the value of these tools to the broader sector – we are particularly interested in documenting replicable models.
They will consider funding the continuation, replication or scaling of ongoing projects. However, they will expect a clear explanation of how funding will broaden a project and develop new capacity.
They do not expect applications to be made in partnership with other organisations, but to evidence how your organisation plays a key role in a collaboration or partnership.
You can and should include appropriate budgets for administrative costs and staff time.
A maximum of £1,300,00 in total is available for grantmaking under these funds.