COVID-19 Stability Fund for Community and Voluntary, Charity and Social Enterprises

The Stability Fund has been developed to provide support to qualifying organisations who find themselves in particular difficulty and have seen their trading and/or fundraising income drop significantly during the crisis.    The Fund will be focusing on organisations providing supports and services in the following sectors

• Health and Social Care (including addiction, disability and mental health)
• Child and Family Services (including counselling/therapies)
• Domestic/Sexual/Gender based violence
• Housing/Homelessness
• Community Services (e.g. meals on wheels/befriending services/old age supports/vulnerable people’s support groups etc.)
• Community Education Sector

With funding being provided from the Dormant Accounts Fund the new Stability Fund will provide a once off grant to qualifying organisations that are providing critical services to those most vulnerable in society.

Organisations will be required to demonstrate the impact that the crisis has had on their services and applications will be prioritised according to need.

Pobal (www.pobal.ie), which works on behalf of Government to support communities and local agencies toward achieving social inclusion and development, will administer the Stability Fund on behalf of the Department of Rural and Community Development.

The Stability Fund will open for applications on the 11th of May 2020. Further details on the Fund can be found on the Department’s website at (www.gov.ie/drcd) and also on the Pobal website at www.pobal.ie.

Email queries can be sent to stabilityscheme@pobal.ie

https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/b1a7b9-covid-19-community-voluntary-charity-and-social-enterprise/ 

Introduction

The Department of Rural and Community Development is funding the COVID-19 Stability Fund for Community and Voluntary, Charity and Social Enterprises. If you are a community and voluntary organisation, social enterprise or charity and you are in urgent need of funding to help your organisation through COVID-19, please read the information below to find out more. €35m has been made available through the Dormant Accounts Fund.

Who is eligible?

The primary aim of the Stability Fund is to assist community and voluntary, charity and social enterprises who are experiencing financial difficulties due to a reduction in their fundraising income and / or traded income as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Eligible organisations can apply for a once-off grant towards their operational and overhead costs such a rent, utilities, (excluding salaries) for the next few months.

The grant awarded will be dependent on the need identified and the demand for the available budget. It is envisaged that grants awarded will vary in size ranging from €2,000 to €100,000.

Opening and closing dates

Opening date for applications is Monday 11th May 2020

Closing date for application is Wednesday 20th May 2020 at 5pm

Please note that the Stability Fund portal will automatically close at 5pm on Wednesday 20th May, 2020.

You will not be able to submit your application after this date and time. Your application form will remain as a draft and will not be considered.

Guidelines and Further Information

Only online application forms will be accepted for consideration. Hard copy or e-mail applications will not be considered.

This funding is available to ensure that those most vulnerable and disadvantaged in our society continue to receive services and supports in this difficult period.

The guidelines, further information and application forms (available from 11th May) are available at Pobal . Please read them prior to starting your application.

Contact details

If you are unclear about the criteria or need technical assistance with the portal please contact Pobal via stabilityfund@pobal.ie . Pobal will respond by e-mail or telephone within 48 hours.