Application is now open for Commonwealth Foundation Grants 2019-2020 with up to £200,000. With more than 2.3 billion citizens, the Commonwealth provides a potentially huge pool of ideas for advancing societies. Further, the Foundation believes in the power of stories and storytelling for social change and will award grants for creative approaches that have the potential to influence public discourse.

The selection process is highly competitive and selected projects will have been designed to undertake work that has the potential to lead to one or more of the outcomes in the Foundation’s strategic logic model.

Moreover, the Commonwealth Foundation’s program teams are all involved in shaping the focus of the call for proposals. Further, an internal review process, including long-listing by the Grants team followed by a shortlisting process involving all program teams, prepares a final list of applications that are then submitted to the Grants Committee. Final decisions on which projects to support are made by the member states represented on the Foundation’s Grants Committee.

Benefits of Commonwealth Foundation Grants 2019-2020

The Commonwealth Foundation offers grants of up to £200,000 over four years in support of innovative project ideas and approaches that seek to strengthen the ability of civic voices to engage with governments and that have the potential to improve governance and development outcomes through their active participation.

Eligibility for the Commonwealth Foundation Grants

In order to be eligible for the Commonwealth Foundation Grant, applicants must be:

• registered not-for-profit civil society organizations (CSOs).
• registered in a Commonwealth Foundation member country and the project should take place in an eligible Commonwealth Foundation member country. A list of countries eligible under this call is available at Annex one.
• applying for funding for a maximum of four years
• does not have an existing grant from the Commonwealth Foundation at the time the application window is open.
• similarly, the application is for funding for a maximum of £50,000 per annum
• likewise, the average of the applicant’s total income over the last two years is less than £3m
• The project must address one or both the Commonwealth Foundation’s outcomes
• Also, the applicant will provide the following documents as part of the application:
  • completed logic model using the Commonwealth Foundation template
  • a copy of the organization’s registration certificate (Check the official link for details)
  • a copy of the organization’s most recent audited accounts. However, it must include both the accounts and the opinion of the external auditor who has certified them. Similarly, it should not be older than December 2017)
  • a copy of the registration certificate for all partner organizations
• However, keep in mind that Australia, Canada & New Zealand are eligible to apply but project activities must be implemented in eligible countries in this list that do not have asterisks beside them.

Eligible Regions: Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Brunei Darussalam, Cameroon, Canada*, Cyprus, Eswatini, Guyana, India, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Malaysia, Malta, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, New Zealand*, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Seychelles (Please check the official link for further details)

How to apply for Commonwealth Foundation Grants 2019-2020?

Application for the Commonwealth Foundation Grants is available to apply online through the official link. However, candidates must study the grant guidelines and criteria before submitting the application. Likewise, the applicants must include the necessary documents required for the application.

Deadline

Commonwealth Foundation accepts the application for the Grants until the deadline on 9 January 2020 at 5 pm GMT. Applications arriving after the deadline are not eligible for the grant.