Applications are open for the Commonwealth Foundation Grants Programme 2024.
Under this call, the Foundation is looking to support projects that seek to facilitate constructive engagement between civil society and government, including civil society participation in policy development and decision-making.
Applications must address one or more of the three priority themes and other funding considerations, such as partnerships and exclusions.
- Health justice
- Freedom of expression
- Climate justice
- Other funding considerations, such as partnerships and exclusions
As one of the three intergovernmental pillars of the Commonwealth, the Foundation operates within that critical space between government and the people. The Foundation works to bring the voice of civil society into all aspects of governance, supporting civil society engagement in shaping the policies and decisions that affect people’s lives.
Deadline: October 24, 2024
Grant
- The total grant amount requested must be between £15,000 and £30,000 per year, and for a maximum of two years.
Eligibility
To be eligible for a grant under this call, the following criteria must be met:
- The applicant must be a not-for-profit civil society organisation (CSO) registered in an eligible Commonwealth Foundation member country. (See above for the list of eligible member countries.).
- Newly registered organisations (those that have been registered and operating for less than three years) are not eligible to apply.
- The proposed project must be implemented in the country of registration. Projects can be implemented in one or more eligible Commonwealth Foundation member countries and can have a national, sub-national, regional, or international remit. In multi-country projects, strong local participation in project implementation is required (see further information on partnerships below).
- The project must seek to facilitate change through constructive engagement between civil society and decision-makers, including civil society participation in policy development and decision-making, within one or more of the Foundation’s priority themes (see Question three, below).
- The applicant organisation must have a minimum of three years’ demonstrable experience working on participatory governance and advocacy within the area/theme(s) of the proposed project.
- The total grant amount requested must be a minimum of £15,000 or between £15,001 and £30,000 per year, and for a maximum of two years. (Note there are different requirements depending on the requested grant amount; see further information at question five below and the ‘How to Apply’ section within the above Guidelines.).
- The requested grant amount should not exceed 70% of the applicant organisation’s total annual income, averaged over the past two years.
- The annual income of the applicant organisation, averaged over the past two years, must be less than £2.5m.
- The project proposal must address at least one of the notified priority themes as set out in Question Three below.
- The project proposal must demonstrate appropriate integration of gender considerations. For example, the applicant may use the findings of gender analysis to inform the design of the project proposal and/or ensure the allocation of adequate resources to effectively address gender equality in the project cycle.
- Applicant organisations that are currently implementing or have recently completed a Commonwealth Foundation Grant but have not received their final payment are not eligible to apply.
- Proposals must relate to projects that are expected to begin after 1 August 2025 and before the end of September 2025.
Note that applications not meeting the above eligibility requirements will not be considered.
Application
To apply, you will first need to log in to your SurveyMonkey Apply account and complete and submit an online application form on the website.
All applicants must submit a completed online application form. All applications must include the following additional documentation:
- A logic model (using the template provided).
- A copy of the organisation’s registration certificate. This should be a clear scan of an official registration document provided by the relevant authorities in the country where the applicant organisation is registered. If the registration certificate does not clearly state that the organisation is not-for-profit, please add other documentation which can be used as evidence of your organisation’s status as a not-for-profit (for example, articles of association). When the original registration certificates are not in English, shortlisted applications can be expected to be asked to provide a certified translation.
- If you are based in India, you should be compliant with the Foreign Contribution Registration Act (FCRA) or have preparations in place to obtain a valid FCRA Registration to legally receive charitable funding from outside sources.
- For grants of £15,000 per year: The applicant organisation may choose to submit either the latest audited accounts or a copy of the organisation’s most recent annual accounts. Annual accounts must include a balance sheet, a profit and loss statement and notes about the account. They must be signed by the organisation’s Board or its principal executive officer. Audited accounts or annual accounts must not be older than December 2022.
- For grants exceeding £15,000 per year: a copy of the organisation’s most recent audited accounts is required. Note that audited accounts must include both the accounts and the opinion of the external auditor who has certified them. They must be signed off by the auditor and the organisation’s Board or its principal executive officer. They should not be older than December 2022.
The application and supporting documents cannot be emailed to the Foundation.
