Most grants that you seek to raise from donor agencies are for benefiting communities in your project area. But do you also think about grants that could directly benefit you and your organization?
There are several donor agencies around the world that consider NGOs and the larger civil society as a great resource to push change. In fact, NGOs are one of the biggest change agents and investing direct resources into them is going to benefit the community as a whole.
These donor organizations build up programs to target civil society by not only funding them but also providing necessary skills for running their institutions more effectively. NGOs in developing countries often fail to acknowledge this and often overlook such programs
Below, we are presenting some of the top open grants available to directly benefit NGOs for picking training, exchanges, knowledge and development to contribute towards a stronger civil society and democracy.
Yale World Fellows
Yale World Fellows is a leadership development program for mid-career NGO professionals seeking new skills and looking forward to build strong networks. The fellowship offers 4-month intensive training and networking opportunities with like-minded individuals to find new ways and ideas to their work.
The fellowship will help you get engaged with other global leaders in your field and empower you with ideas for taking your mission forward. The deadline to apply for next year’s program is December 2, 2015. You can learn more about it here.
The Open Society Foundation’s Fellowship Program
The Open Society Fellowship supports individuals pursuing innovative and unconventional approaches to fundamental open society challenges. The fellowship not only provides substantial funding for your work, but it also help you in reaching out to the vast network with new people and ideas.
With this fellowship, you can also develop your publications and even launch new campaigns or organizations. Competition to this program is highly competitive. The next deadline to apply for this opportunity is January 4, 2015. To learn more about this opportunity, you can visit here.
Atlas Corps International Fellowships for Nonprofit Leaders
Every year, Atlas Corps seeks applications from NGO leaders to apply for its fellowship program in order to develop leaders, strengthen organizations and promote innovation.
The fellowship period runs from 12 to 14 months and it provides a great platform to learn best practices, build organizational capacity, and return home to create a network of global changemakers.
This prestigious fellowships includes health insurance, enrollment in Atlas Corps Global Leadership Lab, flight and visa costs, and a living stipend to cover basic expenses (food, local transportation, and shared housing). To apply for the next year’s fellowship, the deadline is 15 March 2016. You can learn more about this fellowship here.
Commonwealth Foundation’s Grants Program
Commonwealth Foundation’s grants are focused on enhancing civil society participation form stronger democracy across commonwealth countries. It provides grant of up to £30,000 per year and multi-year funding is also possible.
One of the core areas of this grants program is ‘Developing Capacities to Replicate Good Practice on Participatory Governance’ and it recognizes that civil society organizations are critical for development.
The Foundation supports civil society so that it can engage in policy processes more effectively. This means supporting organisation to develop, articulate and progress an agenda and then to identify and utilize the spaces available in governance structures – such as ministerial meetings, high level working groups and summits – to get its message across.
The other focus areas of the grants program are participatory governance and learning. The next deadline to apply for this grant is 31 December 2015. To know more, visit here.
The UN Democracy Fund
The UN Democracy Fund (UNDEF) is open to supporting projects that strengthen the voice of civil society, promote human rights and encourage the participation of all groups in democracy processes. UNDEF has a large focus on civil society and most of its funding is available for NGOs around the world. Grants start from $100,000 up to a maximum of $300,000.
Proposed projects to UNDEF should cover one or more of these areas: Community Activism, Rule of Law and Human Rights, Tools for Knowledge, Women’s Empowerment
Youth Engagement, Media and Freedom of Information and Strengthening Interaction with Government.
The grant opens every year from 15 November to 31 December. FundsforNGOs Premium has developed a training video on how to apply for this grant.
