Fermanagh Trust: Grant to Give Back
Overview
Background to the scheme
The Grant Maker Apprentice Programme is part of a wider £500,000 investment from The National Lottery Community Fund into a major project to identify and develop leaders, to help secure a positive future for the voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector in Northern Ireland.
Fermanagh Trust in partnership with Holywell Trust in Derry/Londonderry and the Rural Community Network a regional support organisation that is based in Cookstown, is delivering ‘Community Leadership in the West,’ an ambitious five-year project which includes new and specific qualifications that support the next generation of leaders, to build their capacity to respond and react confidently to the challenges they face and give them the skills they need to make sure community voices are heard when working with statutory organisations.
Five young apprentices who are part of the Fermanagh Trust’s ‘Grant Maker Apprentice Programme’ are inviting local organisations to apply for funding.
The pilot youth led initiative sees young people becoming grant makers, having active involvement in the planning, awarding money to local projects and addressing what they believe are the key needs for Fermanagh’s young people.
With £4000 from the Fermanagh Trust to give out, the young grant makers have formed the ‘Grant To Give Back’ fund. The process involves identifying where funding should go, creating application procedures and criteria, undertake publicity work, and ultimately decide where the funding should go.
Funding Priorities
At weekly Zoom meetings the young apprentices have worked with others to gain the knowledge and tools required for identifying issues or concerns in their community, researching, negotiating priorities and working as a team to make a positive and meaningful contribution. They are hoping to award funding to projects which focus on their key priority areas:
• young people’s mental health,
• local poverty
• anti-social behaviour
Who can apply?
New and existing groups can apply. If you have an idea for a project and need some help with funding do get in touch with the grant makers and together you can help to, in some way, alleviate these key concerns – young people’s mental health, local poverty and anti-social behaviour.
To get in touch with the team, email grant2giveback@gmail.com or call them on 02866320230.