A selection of grants: a path to successful funding

Grant roundup: the path to successful funding

In today's world, grant programs play an extremely important role in developing a wide variety of initiatives and projects. They create opportunities to bring ideas to life, foster innovation and support diverse fields of activity. In this article, we look at a range of grant programs offered by organizations and foundations to support different sectors and areas.

1) Grant program to support women's humanitarian initiatives "The Power of Women" 2024

The program is aimed at developing the competencies of women from different fields and uniting them to address urgent humanitarian challenges in communities, and at strengthening women's influence over planning and recovery processes.

Who it is for:

- activists, volunteers, community figures;

- representatives of local self-government bodies;

- socially responsible entrepreneurs (with a focus on entrepreneurs who have IDP status / produce essential goods).

Program benefits:

- 150 women and their teams will receive educational and expert support focused on developing their own potential;

- 50 humanitarian initiatives by program participants will receive funding;

- 50 women entrepreneurs will receive additional educational opportunities, expert consultations on developing and scaling their business, and a chance to present their products for orders as part of the program.

Grant size: up to UAH 114,000

Deadline: 14.04.2024

Learn more at the link: http://www.wmnpower.org/?fbclid=IwAR37nWVk-aaV_JREunXekeFnI4dJ9FUHv0_0k4b_iEawSjSAiVNc8aQZ9U_aem_ASOBqNxjA7Gky3kcVYy16sYPK3bOzfA3M_lkUm955BkaelFqRoPTeRVRHnSLDEsp8aNJc6Q0RVBoJaZKCSqZ97H1

2) Grant competitions from the International Renaissance Foundation

1) HUMAN RIGHTS IN UKRAINE IN WARTIME

Who it is for: CSOs that work to protect human rights, uphold the principles of democracy and the rule of law and human rights standards in line with EU and Council of Europe requirements, have experience and expert capacity, and have confirmed cooperation with other partners.

Funding areas:

- independent monitoring of compliance with human rights and fundamental freedoms;

- studying the application of legislation that restricts human rights under martial law and formulating proposals for its reform;

- legal aid in cases of violation or of the application of disproportionate restrictions on human rights;

- developing proposals on the possibilities of applying transitional justice mechanisms and tools to overcome the negative consequences of the Russian Federation's armed aggression in Ukraine.

Learn more at the link: https://www.irf.ua/contest/konkurs-prava-lyudyny-v-ukrayini-v-umovah-vijny/

2) PROTECTING VICTIMS OF WAR CRIMES AND HELPING TO HOLD THE PERPETRATORS ACCOUNTABLE

Who it is for: CSOs in various organizational and legal forms.

Funding areas:

- providing legal aid to those harmed as a result of hostilities;

- assisting pre-trial investigation bodies and the prosecutor's office in building the evidence base for international crimes committed;

- researching national approaches to holding those guilty of war crimes accountable;

- assisting in developing strategies to hold war criminals accountable, improving practices for investigating international crimes, and properly involving victims;

- supporting the self-organization of victims of war crimes and their relatives, and ensuring proper communication with state institutions.

Learn more at the link: https://www.irf.ua/contest/konkurs-zahyst-postrazhdalyh-vid-voyennyh-zlochyniv-ta-dopomoga-u-prytyagnenni-vynnyh-do-vidpovidalnosti/

Grant size in each competition: from UAH 1,000,000 to UAH 4,000,000.

Competition deadline: 25.04.2024

3) MINI-GRANTS UNDER THE PROJECT "INTEGRATED HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE IN WARTIME AND POST-WAR RECOVERY" FROM THE NGO "OUR HELP"

The project aims to support communities in meeting urgent humanitarian, social and medical needs and ensuring a dignified life in crisis conditions.

Who it is for: community initiative groups that are officially registered (NGOs, CSOs, charitable foundations/organizations, volunteer movements, religious organizations and so on).

* Unregistered groups and community initiatives must apply for the competition together with a partner registered organization (legal entity) acting as a representative partner.

Geography: Donetsk region

Funding areas (the list is illustrative, not exhaustive):

- repair and improvement of permanent or temporary housing and related infrastructure, such as water and energy supply and heating systems, insulation of premises and other improvements to heating efficiency;

- purchase and installation of equipment for alternative energy sources, heating, water supply, cooking and so on;

- drilling boreholes, digging wells, repairing a shop or temporary housing for IDPs, and so on;

- purchase of warm items such as blankets, thermal underwear and so on;

- providing children with equipment for distance learning;

- providing medical services, equipment, medicines and more.

Grant size: from UAH 30,000 to UAH 150,000.

Deadline: 22.04.2024, by 20:00

Learn more at the link: https://gurt.org.ua/news/grants/97446/

4) Competition of environmentally focused projects from Interreg NEXT Romania - Ukraine

Who it is for:

- CSOs;

- local self-government bodies;

- regional state authorities, oblast councils and others;

- national state bodies - ministries and others;

- offices/branches of state national/regional authorities and other state bodies working on priority themes;

- local or regional development agencies, environmental agencies, employment agencies and so on;

- research organizations, universities, faculties, colleges, research institutions, scientific and technical centers, research clusters and so on;

- training centers, schools and other state educational institutions, state vocational training and so on;

- business support organizations - chambers of commerce and industry, chambers of trade and crafts;

- European groupings of territorial cooperation;

- hospitals and medical centers.

Applications must be submitted by partnerships of up to 4 organizations from both countries. The activities of Ukrainian organizations must take place in the Zakarpattia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Odesa or Chernivtsi regions.

The competition invites projects under the priority "Environmental focus across the border":

- fostering adaptation to climate change and disaster risk prevention, promoting resilience, taking ecosystem-based approaches into account.

Grant size: from EUR 800,000 to EUR 1,400,000

* Co-financing must be at least 10% of the total project cost and be provided by all partners receiving support from the program.

Deadline: 16.07.2024

Learn more at the link: https://ro-ua.net/en/funding/calls-for-proposals

5) "Cybersecurity of Ukraine's Critical Infrastructure" grant competition from USAID

The competition aims to carry out creative and effective initiatives and solutions aimed at strengthening national readiness, reducing vulnerabilities in cybersecurity and reinforcing Ukraine's critical infrastructure in the cybersecurity sector.

Who it is for: officially registered Ukrainian for-profit and non-profit non-governmental organizations, business associations, think tanks and/or private enterprises.

Project activities must be aimed at achieving one or more of the following goals:

- strengthening an enabling environment for cybersecurity;

- developing Ukrainian cybersecurity talent;

- building a resilient cybersecurity industry.

Grant size: from USD 20,000 to USD 150,000

Deadline: 30.09.2024

Learn more at the link: https://www.prostir.ua/?grants=hrantovyj-konkurs-projektu-usaid-kiberbezpeka-krytychno-vazhlyvoji-infrastruktury-ukrajiny-aps-cci-004

6) Third online startup project competition from the GCIP Regional Accelerator

Who it is for: university students, secondary-school pupils, small and medium-sized enterprises registered for no more than 3 years, organizations, creative teams, scientific societies and unions, and sole proprietors

Projects should be aimed at deploying innovative clean solutions (technologies), including to meet the needs of post-war reconstruction, and should result in reduced emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants into the environment.

An innovative development may take the form of a product, technology, methodological approach, software or design project.

Support for competition semi-finalists and finalists:

- helping innovators go from idea to building a business model;

- finding investors and industry consultants;

- creating presentations for investors;

- helping establish contacts with local businesses;

- an innovation co-working space;

- consulting on commercializing the innovative product;

- financial support in making prototypes, taking part in marketing events and so on.

Deadline: 30.04.2024

Learn more at the link: https://www.prostir.ua/?grants=tretij-onlajn-konkurs-startap-projektiv

7) Annual Program Statement "Building the Future of Ukrainian Logistics and Exports" from USAID

Program goals:

- building up the export and logistics potential of agriculture with an emphasis on grain trade;

- improving export infrastructure, technologies and processes along Ukraine's western borders.

Who it is for:

- companies, associations or manufacturers of logistics equipment in the agricultural sector;

- marketing analysis agencies, business event organizers;

- associations, non-governmental organizations, consulting companies, training service providers;

- state bodies, for example customs authorities;

- research and educational institutions.

Grant size: from USD 25,000 to USD 500,000

* A contribution from the grantee is not mandatory but will be assessed in the context of sustainability criteria.

USAID will hold 2 online conferences with information about the application process, to be held on:

- 13.03.2024 - registration via the link;

- 24.05.2024 - registration via the link.

Deadlines: applications are accepted on a rolling basis, reviewed in stages:

- 15.04.2024;

- 31.05.2024;

- 31.08.2024.

Learn more at the link: https://era-ukraine.org.ua/grants/

8) Scholarship competition for video bloggers from the International Renaissance Foundation

The competition aims to support video bloggers working on the themes of overcoming Russian imperialism and colonialism, cultural decolonization and the formation of national identity.

The priority video-blogging platform is YouTube, but applications are also accepted from bloggers working on TikTok.

Requirements for channels eligible for the scholarship:

- an active channel with video content updated within the last 3 months;

- the channel is at least 6 months old;

- at least 3,000 subscribers for YouTube;

- the channel's values align with the values of democracy and an Open Society;

- the channel posts only original content and uses others' copyrighted material only under fair use;

- the channel is run in Ukrainian.

Scholarships may be spent on:

- paying for filming, editing, motion design and similar services, supported by documentation;

- advertising on social media and YouTube;

- purchasing equipment needed for filming;

- paying for travel within Ukraine needed to film video;

- paying for online services that help in filming video.

Scholarship size: from UAH 100,000 to UAH 150,000

Deadline: 26.04.2024

Learn more at the link: https://www.irf.ua/contest/bloggers-2024/

Conclusion

Grant programs are a powerful tool for developing society and supporting innovative ideas. They allow enterprising and creative individuals to obtain financial support to carry out their projects. Each of the programs listed above has its own conditions and selection criteria, yet all of them are aimed at fostering the development and support of different areas of life and activity.