Guidelines for Responsive Grants - Part Two
GUIDELINES FOR CIVIL SOCIETY RESPONSIVE GRANTS continued/...
5. How much funding is available and what costs can be covered
The limit for a responsive grant application is £20,000. Applications for grants of over £10,000 must be considered by the Foundation's Grants Committee, which meets twice a year in March and September. The Foundation receives many requests for grants, and often has to award less than the amount requested. The majority of the grants given by the Foundation are under £10,000, with the average grant given being approximately £5,000.
Commonwealth Foundation grants may be used towards the costs of supporting participants or resource people in activities, including the cost of airfares, accommodation and subsistence, and towards monitoring and evaluation and reporting of an activity.
6. Application process
There are four grant application rounds per year. The deadlines for the rounds are as follows:
| Grants for Activities in | Application must be received by | Applicants hear from the Foundation in |
| August, September, October | 30 June | end-August |
| November, December, January | 30 September | end-November |
| February, March, April | 31 December | end-February |
| May, June, July | 31 March | end-May |
Applications for over £10,000 must be submitted in time for the 30 June and 31 December deadlines in order to be considered by the Grants Committee in September and March, respectively.
Applicants should not apply for funding for an activity that takes place less than six weeks after the application deadline. We cannot give grants after an activity has taken place.
7. The information we need to assess an application
In addition to the application form we will also need to see:
- a full programme for the activity for which you are seeking funding;
- a full budget for the activity; and
- your organisation's annual report and accounts.
If you are applying online, you will be asked to upload these documents. If you are submitting your application by email or post, please make sure you attach or enclose these documents.
8. The decision making process
At the meeting of the grants team all potentially eligible grant applications made in the current round will be assessed in the light of the Foundation's grants budget, and the grants which are considered to most closely fit the priorities and areas of interest within the funds available will be taken forward.
If your application is successful, an email will be sent to you to inform you of the decision taken and, if necessary, to request further information. Subsequently, a formal award letter will be sent to you setting out the terms and conditions of the grant, along with the reporting requirements and reporting deadline. Any variation from the grant as approved must first be cleared with the Foundation.
If your application is not successful, you will receive a letter informing you of the outcome of your application.
We aim to contact all applicants - whether successful or not - about six weeks after the deadline. Communication is by email where possible.
A list of grants approved will be published on our website and in our newsletter, Commonwealth People.
9. Reporting
All successful applicants are expected to submit a report on the activity for which funding was requested. Where funding is provided to support participation in an event, the report should focus on the roles the Foundation's sponsored participants played in the activity and the benefits they obtained. All reports should demonstrate the impact of the activity and any plans emerging for future collaboration and follow-up activities, particularly at national level. The reporting template is available on the Foundation's website.
Grant beneficiaries should also expect to be contacted by the Foundation up to a year after the activity for which they received funding has taken place. The Foundation will be keen to learn of any longer term impact the activity may have had.
10. Attribution
It is mandatory for all successful applicants to acknowledge the support of the Commonwealth Foundation in all documents or announcements associated with the activity for which funding is provided. This includes all written documents (reports, publications, press releases) or public announcements (speeches and addresses).
In addition:
- the Foundation's logo should be included in all printed material;
- all beneficiaries of Foundation funding should be informed of the source; and
- the Foundation should be sent copies of all documentation produced in association with the activity.
