Phase One of the fund closed to applications from individual organisations on Friday 3 March 2023.
We opened the grant fund in January 2021 after extensive public consultation on the policy directions we had been given from the Department of Finance around building 'capacity, resilience and sustainability' in the third sector. As part of the first phase of the Fund we delivered an open grant programme and also invested in a number of strategic projects. To date we have awarded £21m to 249 organisations across Northern Ireland. A significant amount of funding has been invested and projects are making a considerable impact. However, we also know that there are some gaps in the investment to date. These are outlined in the first learning report on Dormant Accounts Funds NI which we published last year.
We have identified a gap in the current grant programme for support to smaller grassroots organisations. Our learning has informed us that support for grassroots organisations is best provided by a trusted support organisation or umbrella body. Therefore, we will develop a programme for umbrella and membership organisations. We anticipate this programme will open in Spring 2024. This will ensure we reach the smaller organisations that have not benefited as much from Dormant Accounts Funding to date.
To supplement this work, we are delighted to announce that we have contracted an external evaluator, SQW. The evaluation work will run to May 2025 and will seek to explore learning and good practice around the Fund’s contribution to improving the resilience of VCSEs in Northern Ireland. It will also focus on communicating that learning to the Fund, grant holders and the wider sector so that other organisations can be inspired to make changes to help them become more resilient.
As part of their evaluation, SQW will be carrying out surveys and interviewing grant holders. We ask grant holders to ensure they are measuring the impact of their funding and reflecting and recording the learning from their project so a rich body of evidence is built for the sector.
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Strategic Investments
The Dormant Accounts Fund will continue to consider applications for larger strategic investments to enable collaboration and develop new and creative approaches to sustainability for the sector.
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Reduce your environmental footprint
The National Lottery Community Fund cares about our environment and are always striving to manage our environmental impact. We encourage and support projects and communities to do the same. Learn more about how you can make your project or event more environmentally sustainable and perhaps save money at the same time.