CLOSES THURSDAY 15TH JANUARY
More information can be found here.
Aim of the Fund
The community sector has faced many challenges in recent years with a global pandemic and more recently a cost-of-living crisis. The sector has continued to support communities, and demand is increasing for their services, yet their costs are rising, and many community sector organisations are constantly firefighting to meet the demand of their services, and source funding to deliver.
The pandemic showed us the importance of digital inclusion and connectivity. The pace of change and progress in digital technology, and the opportunities (and challenges) that digital brings, is vast. However, lack of digital skills, together with access, confidence, trust and motivation issues present barriers for many, not least the community and voluntary sector.
Unless organisations in the sector become more digitally able, they risk being left behind.
The aim of the Inspiring Growth Fund is to help organisations in the community sector to take that time and space and increase their digital capacity, with a particular focus on building on and availing of the opportunities that AI (Artificial Intelligence) may bring to better support communities, as well as to ensure that the sector is not left behind.
Fund criteria
Grants will be offered between £5,000 to £10,000 for up to two years.
Who can apply?
Constituted community organisations with charitable purposes supporting communities in Northern Ireland.
Whilst the following is not an exhaustive list, we would expect to see some clear impact in at least one of these areas:
- A better understanding of the opportunities that digital may bring;
- An expanded and/or more efficient and effective service offer;
- Stronger and more digitally capable leadership and governance;
- Improved management systems;
- Improved impact measurement systems;
Essentially, we want to ‘unlock’ potential in organisations to build sustainability, develop ideas and deploy innovative digital solutions to better tackling the issues facing communities at this time.