A path to implementation: a selection of grants for diverse initiatives

Today's world invites you to take part in a number of exciting grant programmes that open the doors to bringing creative ideas and social projects to life. In this article we look at a variety of competitions and grant opportunities that provide support in different fields, fostering innovation and development.

1) Business idea competition "Support for micro-entrepreneurship of war veterans and their families: from idea to implementation in the Vinnytsia region"

Who it's for: individuals who intend to start a business, as well as active sole proprietors and micro-enterprise legal entities.

Business owners must fall into one of the following categories: war veteran; family member of veterans; family member of fallen (deceased) war veterans; family member of fallen (deceased) Defenders of Ukraine; serviceperson; family member of a serviceperson.

Geography: the city of Vinnytsia and the Vinnytsia region.

The competition consists of two stages:

1. A training module consisting of 8 online trainings.

2. Submission of participation applications, evaluation of business ideas and selection of winners, and implementation of the business ideas.

Grant size: UAH 100,000

Deadline: 20.01.2024

2) Grant competition "Monitoring reconstruction and recovery on the ground: social infrastructure facilities" from the IER

Who it's for: CSOs registered in the regions of Ukraine (except the city of Kyiv) for at least 3 months at the time of application, whose activities are regional in nature.

*Preference will be given to CSOs that have experience implementing similar projects or that have completed relevant training.

Geography: affected / de-occupied communities of Kyiv oblast (Bucha, Irpin, Hostomel, Borodianka, Makariv and Velyka Dymerka communities), and Chernihiv, Sumy or Mykolaiv oblasts.

Project proposals should provide for monitoring the reconstruction, restoration and recovery of social infrastructure facilities in the specified communities that were reconstructed or rebuilt after partial (significant) damage or destruction in the period after 24.02.2022.

Facilities that are part of social infrastructure:

• education (preschools, schools, vocational schools, higher education institutions);

• healthcare (primary and specialised care facilities);

• culture (libraries, theatres, museums, etc.);

• administrative buildings.

Eligible costs:

• costs for personnel involved in implementing the project;

• staff travel and business-trip costs;

• costs for purchasing or renting equipment and materials;

• office costs;

• other costs and services.

Average grant size: UAH 250,000

Deadline: 31.01.2024 by 18:00

3) "Perform Europe" competition from the "Creative Europe" programme

Who it's for: any organisation and professional in the performing arts who legally operates in one of the Creative Europe Countries.

Perform Europe is a programme that supports partnership projects which rethink the way artists tour across borders.

5% of the funding will be directed to projects that involve partnership with Ukrainian partners or support initiatives in the Ukrainian performing arts sector.

Competition priorities:

• inclusion and diversity;

• tackling climate change.

*In addition, all proposals must focus on quality and innovation and be based on fair principles.

Application conditions:

• applications are submitted by partnerships, which must consist of at least 3 partners and 3 countries where the "Creative Europe" programme operates;

• each application must include at least 1 completed work of performing art (a finished production or artistic concept) ready to be presented in various contexts.

Grant size:

• small partnership projects, €12,000;

• medium partnership projects, €32,000;

• large partnership projects, €60,000.

Deadline: 31.03.2024 by 23:59 CEST

4) Large research grants on education programme from the Spencer Foundation

Who it's for: principal investigators (PIs) and Co-PIs who hold a doctoral degree in an academic discipline or professional field, or relevant experience in a profession related to education.

Grants are not awarded directly to individuals, so the PI must be affiliated with a non-profit organisation or a public/state institution (non-profit or public colleges, universities, school and research institutions, and other non-profit organisations).

The programme aims to support rigorous, intellectually ambitious and technically sound research relevant to the most pressing issues and compelling opportunities in the field of education.

Proposals to the programme should include academic research projects aimed at studying education and may cover a wide range of topics and disciplines that innovatively explore questions central to education, including education, anthropology, philosophy, psychology, sociology, law, economics, history, neuroscience, and so on.

Funding levels:

• from $125,000 to $250,000;

• from $250,001 to $375,000;

• from $375,001 to $500,000.

Deadline:

• by 24.01.2024, by 12:00 Central/Chicago time, submission of a short application (an expression of intent to take part in the competition);

• by 27.02.2024, by 12:00 Central/Chicago time, submission of the full application.

5) "European cultural and creative organisations" competition within the "Creative Europe" programme

Who it's for: representative, multinational, membership-based networks of European cultural organisations that span a wide range of Creative Europe participating countries.

The competition aims to strengthen the capacity of the European cultural and creative sectors to face common challenges and to develop talent, innovate, thrive, create jobs and grow.

Proposals should address the following priority challenges:

• artists and cultural workers: empowering the cultural and creative sectors;

• culture for people: increasing cultural participation and the role of culture in society;

• culture for the planet: unleashing the power of culture;

• culture for shared creative partnership: strengthening the cultural dimension of the EU's external relations;

• culture for digital transformation: helping the European cultural and creative sectors make full use of new technologies to boost their competitiveness.

Total competition budget for 2024: €9,925,000

Deadline: 07.03.2024 by 17:00 Brussels time

6) Grant competition "Successful community participation" from the All-Ukrainian charitable organisation "Institute of Local Development"

Who it's for: civil society organisations, unions, charitable organisations.

Geography: Pavlohrad, Novomoskovsk (Dnipropetrovsk oblast); Pokrovsk (Donetsk oblast); Zaporizhzhia (Zaporizhzhia oblast); Oleksandriia (Kirovohrad oblast); Artsyz, Podilsk, Chornomorsk, Yuzhne (Odesa oblast); Voznesensk, Pervomaisk (Mykolaiv oblast); Zolochiv, Krasnohrad, Pervomaiskyi, Bohodukhiv (Kharkiv oblast).

The competition aims to foster interaction between citizens and civil society groups on the one hand and local authorities on the other, and to launch participatory processes for solving the most common problems of the target territorial communities.

Proposed initiatives may include, but are not limited to, the following ideas:

• the problem of household waste;

• the problem of stray animals;

• arranging areas around buildings, recreation areas, beach areas and places on the outskirts;

• creating conditions to engage young people;

• arranging shelters in apartment buildings;

• equipping "points of invincibility";

• helping vulnerable groups of the population;

• restoring destroyed housing and infrastructure;

• the insufficient number and non-compliance of shelter facilities;

• problems with the reliability of utility services.

Grant size: up to UAH 100,000

Deadline: 22.01.2024 by 12:00

In today's world there are countless opportunities to secure financial support and bring ideas to life in various fields. The grants and competitions described in this article open new horizons for creative and social projects. Regardless of your experience or field of activity, these grants can become the key to successfully bringing your idea to life.