Belfast City Council: Capacity Building Grants

Overview

Important Notice There are separate application forms for the Capacity building grant and the Revenue grant for a community building. Please note organisations can only apply for either a Capacity building grant or a Revenue grant for community buildings. Organisations cannot apply for both grants.

When referring to timescales, they use the financial year which starts on the 1 April and finishes on 31 March each year.

A central tenet of their community development grants is that organisations must clearly demonstrate the active involvement of the committee/board, staff/volunteers and beneficiaries in the design, delivery, monitoring and evaluation of the project.

Who can apply for a Capacity Building Grant?

To be considered for a Capacity Building Grant your organisation must meet a number of eligibility criteria which are explained and detailed below. They include eligibility criteria for all Belfast City Council grants for Community Development Grants and specifically for a Capacity Building Grant.

Belfast City Council’s grant eligibility

If your organisation does not meet these eligibility criteria, they will not consider your application: Your organisation must meet all of the following criteria.

1. It must have an office in and operational focus in the Belfast City Council local government district. (The Northern Ireland Neighbourhood Information Service (NINIS) has maps of Belfast with a postcode search function. See www.nisra.gov.uk)
2. It must be a not-for-profit organisation and be unable to share out profits to members or shareholders. If it includes any social economy enterprise, any profit must be reinvested in the objects of the organisation.
3. It must have up-to-date annual and management accounts signed as agreed by the board or management committee and supply copies of them.
4. It must hold a bank account in the organisation’s name and provide evidence of this. Belfast City Council is highly unlikely to fund an organisation that is in poor financial health or that cannot prove that it has effective financial controls.
5. It must have a board or management committee and supply a list of members and hold Annual General Meetings.
6. It has ensured that all of your organisation’s policies and procedures are in place, up to date and fit for purpose to comply with all relevant legal and regulatory requirements for the group, services and activities for which your organisation is wholly liable.

Community Development Grant eligibility

To meet the community development grants eligibility requirements, your organisation’s governing document must clearly state that:

1. your organisation has community development as a primary objective; this would include promoting the benefit of the area, relieving poverty, , improving social welfare and quality of life.
2. Membership is inclusive of your identified community and open to its full range of opinion;
3. Each year your organisation holds an Annual General Meeting (AGM) at which each member has an equal vote;
4. Your organisation has a management committee or board of directors which is appointed at your AGM using a clear democratic process for the selection of members i.e. election;
5. The committee/board presents the report for the year at the AGM; and
6. An annual statement of accounts is presented at the AGM

They provide Community Development Grants to formally constituted, autonomous community development organisations to enable people to engage in the long term, value-based process of community development.

It’s important that the groups we fund are inclusive of their identified community and open to its full range of opinion i.e. do not exclude any part of that community. Each member must have equal status and be entitled to vote at the AGM. Decisions about the organisation and its activity must only be made by members and no other organisation can have the ability to impose a decision on the group i.e. they must be fully autonomous organisations. Groups must be managed by their community which means that the management committee/board has to come from the membership and be elected at the Annual General Meeting. The management committee or board must be accountable to their membership for the work done and money spent during the year. The committee must present a report and financial accounts which are formally adopted by the membership at the Annual General Meeting.

Capacity Building Grant eligibility

Finally, to be eligible for a capacity building grant, your organisation must also meet all of these eligibility criteria:

• It must be a community development organisation providing direct capacity support services and resources to at least two independent and fully autonomous organisations within your community within the last 3 years 2019-2022

Typical activity that will be funded through a Capacity Building Grant

The capacity building activity you include in your application must meet the capacity and developmental needs of your community. The types of activity they expect to fund through their Capacity Building Grant include:

• Supporting other lower capacity or smaller organisations to ensure good practice in governance, committee procedures and applying appropriate policies and financial management
• Signposting members of the community/ other lower capacity or smaller organisations to the most appropriate support organisations and funding opportunities
• Creating and distributing information and other communication to members of the community/ other lower capacity or smaller organisations
• Helping new groups to get established to address identified needs
• Supporting other lower capacity or smaller organisations to:
  • develop local area plans
  • develop outcomes and action plans
  • apply for funding
  • become sustainable
  • supporting other lower capacity or smaller organisations to undertake projects and programmes that address needs/issues in their specific communities.
• Providing community development capacity building support to other lower capacity or smaller organisations via formal and informal training and mentoring
• Providing opportunities for members of the community/ other lower capacity or smaller organisations to work together to provide solutions to common issues.
• Providing processes by which members of the community/ other lower capacity or smaller organisations influence policy and service delivery in the area
• Representing your communities’ interests on high level structures

This list details the type of the activities they would expect to fund under the Capacity Building Grant; however, they do not expect to see all of the examples reflected in your application. You must align the activity you are applying for to the capacity and developmental needs of the community and other lower capacity or smaller organisations you are supporting. It is unlikely that an organisation which focuses on delivery of thematic activity like arts, culture, sport etc. will be funded by a Community Development Grant unless the group meets the community development eligibility criteria, the specific grant criteria and the programme is of a community development nature.

Amount of funding available

• Capacity Building Grants: maximum of £50,000 per annum
• Funding will only be available for capacity building programmes that are used for the benefit of Belfast residents
• Costs are likely to include capacity building staff, capacity building programme delivery costs and running costs/use of space to support capacity building