Community Relations Funding – practical help on applying elsewhere .

1. Community Relations Funding – practical help on applying elsewhere. Thursday 11th April 2013 10am – 1pm

2. Purpose of Today’s Session • Advice session only open to groups who applied for DCC Good Relations Funding and were unfortunately unsuccessful. • Will aim to advise which of the following may be a suitable alternative – CRC, OFMDFM Minority Ethnic Fund, Derry City Council Support Grants, Culture for All Lottery fund, John Moores Foundation.

3. Structure for today. 1. General Feedback Powerpoint (20 mins). 2. Focused Feedback (15 mins per group). 3. Agreeing ‘next steps’ / applications. 4. Drafting applications to CRC or other funders.

4. A note on the level of demand for the DCC GR Funding. • Just because you did not get funding from Derry City Council Good Relations Grant Aid does NOT mean that your project idea or organisation is not worthy of funding. • The fund was heavily oversubscribed for this year. We have received at least double the usual number of applications. • The quality of the applications was the highest in many years. • 65 groups applied asking for a total of £277,810. We have awarded £102,622. • We were initially only supposed to allocate £84,000 but because of the overwhelming demand we reprofiled budgets and allocated an extra £20,000 into the fund. • This still left us in a position of having to turn down some excellent projects for funding.

5. Scrutinising the Results Sheet.(You are in good company!) • Total number of applications: 65 • Funded Projects: 17 • Funded Core Groups: 6 • Projects not funded: 33 • Core Groups not funded: 9 • Applications under ‘threshold’: 7 • Number of Ineligible groups: 4 • ‘Threshold’ is 43 marks on projects and 82 marks on core. • If we had more money, technically everything above the ‘threshold’ is a good CR project that is ‘fundable’. • There were some good projects under the threshold too but the application forms were filled in weakly in comparison with others.

6. Common areas for improvement. • Refer to the ‘Assessment Form’ when filling in your application form. Imagine you are us. (See handout) • Read the ‘NB’ guidance note under each question. (see your application) • Use your word allocation – very short answers are rarely so succinct that they score highly. • Don’t leave any blanks. • Tell us the obvious – assume we know nothing! We can only score what is in the box.

7. GrantNET • On www.derrycity.gov.uk/grantaid there is a ‘GrantNET’ link on the bottom left hand corner or homepage. • This is a free search engine funded through Derry City Council which allows you to search funders across UK, Ireland and Europe. • You input basic information on your group and what you want funding for and it provides a list of suggestions and websites.

8. DCC Support Grants(Useful if you only need £1000 and don’t need it until December) • Derry City Council Support Grants (£1000) for 2013/14 www.derrycity.gov.uk/grantaid • Round 3: 1st December 2013 – 31st March 2014 • Opens on: 09/09/2013 • Closes on: 20/09/2013 - 3:00pm • Community Development: • Arts and Culture • Womens’ Development • Festivals and Events • Sports Development • These clash with DCC Main Grant and SLA • 2-3 month turnaround process • Also competitive / over-subscribed (about 4:1)

9. John Moores Foundation(Useful if you can wait 6 months and if your application was more Community Development than Community Relations or includes some running costs) • jmfni@btinternet.comwww.jmf.org.uk • Tel: 02828886161 • Usually up to £5000 per year (6 months application process) • Can include project and running costs and equipment. • Priorities: Local Community Groups; Black and Minority Ethnic Organisations; Promotion of Equal Opportunities; Women including girls; Second chance learning; Advice and information to alleviate poverty and mitigate debt; grassroots social health initiatives; support & training for voluntary organisations. • Excludes: Religion, Uniformed Organisations, Networking groups, NI wide groups.

10. Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.(Broadly comparable with our GR project funding – perhaps try if you are not successful with CRC?) • Information on the funds, including eligibility criteria and application forms, can be found on the website. • Reconciliation Fund http://www.dfat.ie/home/index.aspx?id=345 • Anti-Sectarianism Fund http://www.dfat.ie/home/index.aspx?id=42931 • Funding is open to groups in Northern Ireland (as well as all Ireland basis) • 2013 funding deadline: Round 2: Friday 27th September 2013.

11. Big Lottery Funding.(Useful if your application is either cultural or more broadly community development based) • http://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/ is the generic Big Lottery Fund site which you can search for relevant funding opportunities. • Awards for All Funds projects £500 - £10,000 • Culture For All Funds projects £500 - £10,000 and only funds projects within N.Ireland with some link to the UK City of Culture 2013 year. Application Deadline 30/8/2013

12. Making sure your your application is clearly focused on Good Relations. • A small number of applications still confuse Community Development with Good Relations. • If the only Good Relations content in your application is that people taking part are from different backgrounds, or your project is ‘open to all’ then you may need to apply to community development funding streams instead. • Derry City Council’s Good Relations Strategy 2011/12 – 2013/14 www.derrycity.gov.uk/goodrelations • Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 is the legal context of Good Relations. It places a statutory obligation on public authorities to: “Have regard to the desirability of promoting good relations between persons of different religious belief, political opinion, and racial group.”

13. What is Good Relations?Your application must show a clear focus on Good Relations. • The Equality Commission (2008): “The growth of relationships and structures for Northern Ireland that acknowledge the religious, political and racial context of this society, and that seek to promote respect, equity and trust, and embrace diversity in all its forms.” • (2008) The vision statement for Derry City Council’s Good Relations Strategy 2011/12 – 2013/14 is: “Making a meaningful difference locally to attitudes and actions, policies and places in a society in transition from conflict to lasting peace.”

14. Any concerns about our Assessment Process? • Scored initially by an Officers Panel – 2 CRO’s and 1 other officer (3 in total) • Random sampling (2 Core and 2 Project) • Selection Panel – 3 Members, 1 external independent observer, 1 internal observer. • All ineligible applications are presented • Random Sample is presented • If scoring is accurate and consistent on sample then programme is passed. • If there are issues all applications are presented. • All decisions ratified by Development Committee / full council.

15. Next phase of today: • Focused Feedback (15 mins per group) • Agreeing ‘next steps’ / applications • Drafting applications to CRC or other funders.