Community Relations Council (CRC) Core Funding
Overview
The Northern Ireland Community Relations Council’s (NICRC) Core Funding Programme contributes towards the salary and running costs for organisations that are considered of strategic importance in promoting community relations work in Northern Ireland.
Key Principles of the Core Funding Scheme
1. The work must be intentional.
Regardless of the grant scheme, a programme must have a clear good relations purpose from the outset with deliberate and planned activities which directly address sectarianism.
2. It must address an identified good relations need.
All applications must be able to clearly demonstrate the good relations need they want to address and how they have identified this need.
Guidance Notes 2025/26
Read the Guidance Notes for the Core Funding Scheme.
Available Support
The Core Funding Programme has an annual budget of approximately £1.2m and supports around 30 organisations each year. The amount awarded per organisation normally ranges between £20,000 and £80,000 per annum with an average award of £42,000. Based on the 24/25 funding round and ongoing budget commitments to organisations they expect £700k for new applications.
View the Core Funded Groups for 2023-24.
Eligibility
Organisations seeking funding from the Core Funding Programme must demonstrate:
- A commitment to the underpinning principles of the NICRC, i.e. equity and equality; human rights; respect for diversity; interdependence and non-violence.
- A capacity to enhance and sustain work of high quality in pursuit of these principles and a track record of engagement in community relations work.
- A capacity to engage significant and diverse elements of Northern Ireland society in the improvement of community relations to include changes in institutions and communities.
- A capacity to work together with other organisations and agencies in the promotion of community relations principles and practice.
- An intention to address a strategic need or gap in existing community relations provision.
Welcome Statements 2025-2026 - What are they looking for?
The NICRC has produced Welcome Statements relating to the geographic reach and thematic impact of the types of supported work it would like to see for the 2025-26 period.
The Council would welcome applications which will deliver good relations programmes in the following areas:
- Ards and North Down
- Belfast (South)
- Belfast (East)
- Causeway Coast & Glens
- Fermanagh and Omagh
- Lisburn and Castlereagh
- Mid-Ulster
- Newry, Mourne and Down
The Council would also welcome applications which will deliver good relations programmes in rural and/or border communities.
Thematic Impact
The Council would also welcome applications that support the following areas of activity:
- Work which supports and develops the next generation of good relations practitioners as this relates to emerging challenges such as: sustainability; the environment; poverty; the changing nature of communities; and good relations from a global perspective.
- Work which aims to engage communities on emerging issues of concern identified by applicant groups as requiring priority intervention. The need for such work will need to be clearly evidenced by applicant groups.
Together: Building a United Community (T:BUC)
Applicants are required to outline the outcome in Together: Building a United Community to which the proposed project will contribute.
The Together: Building a United Community Strategy, published on 23 May 2013, reflects the Executive’s commitment to improving community relations and continuing the journey towards a more united and shared society.