How to get a grant from an international fund: 6 tips

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Ukrainians are cool. The whole world became convinced of this with the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation. Ukrainian energy and desire for freedom inspire people from different corners of the earth to support, to defeat Russian evil with joint efforts. There are many international funds among those who are always ready to lend a helping hand. For example, in the past year alone, our organization, the Canadian-Ukrainian Foundation, has donated more than $20 million to Ukraine for products, generators, medical equipment, medicines and other vital needs. At the same time, we are constantly on the lookout for cool ideas and teams working to help those who need it most. We are convinced that Ukrainians know the acute problems of their society best. That is why we encourage organizations to apply for grants from international funds. What should the project be in order to receive funding? While working on applications, I singled out the criteria that guide future applicants. It would seem that they are uncomplicated and very simple, but as experience shows, not all Ukrainian organizations understand them. Because of this, out of 10-15 applications per week, we currently select only one or two for cooperation – and we want many more. Tip 1: Carefully study the rules and conditions of applying for a grant. First of all, I would like to note that the Canadian-Ukrainian Foundation receives funds from donors and constantly reports on them, in particular – to the tax service. We have our own duties and responsibilities and strive to have the highest trust from our partners. Therefore, there are basic but very important conditions on which we cooperate with applicants. To apply for a grant, Ukrainian organizations must be officially registered as non-profit or charitable organizations. We cannot finance personal projects or support individual people – our foundation works for the good of society in the broadest sense of the word. Organizational skills are very important – applicants must have at least three years of experience in implementing humanitarian projects and programs. This is one of the potential guarantees that the funds will be spent correctly and with benefit. We are also interested in financial reports for the previous two years of activity in order to make sure of the professionalism of the people with whom we may cooperate. An important point is that our foundation supports humanitarian projects aimed at supporting the civilian population and cities, and cannot support projects directly related to the military. You can read more about the selection criteria for each fund’s projects on the official website of the specific fund. For example, you can read about our criteria on the website of the Canadian-Ukrainian Foundation. Tip 2: Be rational and realistic When we receive a grant application, we first look at whether the problem the organization wants to solve is really important and can be solved. For example, if the applicants propose to build something in the East of Ukraine, we will most likely reject such an idea. The war and hostilities are ongoing, the building can be destroyed every minute, therefore, in our opinion, there is no reason to finance the reconstruction. Also, we always recommend teams to soberly assess their capabilities. If you have never worked with a budget of half a million hryvnias, it is unlikely that you will be able to immediately acquire such competencies. It’s better to come up with a 50 or 100k grant idea and execute it flawlessly than to convince donors to give you 300k and show poor work. If the board of directors of the foundation sees that your project gives extraordinary results and people are very satisfied, then there is always an opportunity to continue cooperation. The main thing is that we feel the basis and potential – then we can entrust our partners in Ukraine with larger budgets and opportunities. Tip 3: Offer original ideas It sounds trite, but for your grant application to really attract attention, you have to offer something original. Before applying for a grant, I strongly recommend all organizations to look at the previous history of the work of a particular fund. Carefully review the history of cooperation of funds with other projects, what services this or that fund has already provided to people through its partners. In particular, CUF constantly supports Ukrainians with food and medicine. Therefore, we are looking for organizations with new ideas, without repetition, to create a truly unique project. For example, the “Be Free” youth movement from Zhytomyr Region offered to warm people from the de-occupied territories with stoves. Now two thousand stoves literally save lives – people do not freeze and can always prepare food for themselves in conditions when there is no light and heat according to any schedule. We are also attracted by the fact that bourzuyki are completely Ukrainian products, and therefore Ukrainian business is supported. Another big plus is the experience of this organization. “Be Free” has been working with communities across Ukraine for many years and has a wide network of volunteers. The team provided us with proof that there is a need for burzhujikas, and during reporting we saw a lot of positive feedback from Ukrainian families. Another organization, “Pearl of Podil”, offered to donate beds for internally displaced persons in Western Ukraine. The team provided information from the regional councils that the need for beds is really great – the letters showed that many displaced people still live in schools, gyms, kindergartens and, unfortunately, sleep on mattresses and floors. Therefore, we gladly supported the important idea of ​​the “Pearl of Podolsk”. Tip 4: Think about the future of your organization We have had some very interesting applications, in which ideas are beautifully, simply perfectly painted. The only thing that was missing was an answer to the question of how the project will live after the end of the funding: should it be accompanied and reinvested, or is the organization itself able to continue the work of this initiative? Donors must have a clear understanding: either the project ends or the organization proves that it can continue to support it without our help. Also, in the grant application, I highly recommend outlining the results expected after the project within a year, how it will help the beneficiaries, for example, in 5 or 10 years. This is a very important and interesting moment for us. We strive not just to “cover” the current needs of society, but also to make strategic projects that will positively affect the future of people. Tip 5: Fulfill your obligations Unfortunately, we have a negative experience when one very cool organization, very well-known in Ukraine, turned out to be surprisingly irresponsible. In the contracts with the winners of grant competitions, we always prescribe clear periods for reporting. We usually ask you to send a small letter every month with a few photos, maybe a video, a few paragraphs about how the project is going, sometimes a budget – depending on the amount of the grant. This letter is very important to our organization, not because we are so picky and strict, but because we show our donors how their money is spent. Timely reporting to our donors, content for which Ukrainian organizations create, means more donations, and therefore more projects for Ukraine. It is unpleasant, but one of the organizations, whose image and reputation did not give cause for concern, ignored these simple requirements. We still cannot get at least a minimal report on the spent funds, so we are unlikely to continue working with this team. The demands of donors are not a formality, but another opportunity to show their usefulness, transparency and honesty. Tip 6: Do not forget to submit a budget Another very big banality, but experience shows: for some reason, organizations do not always submit a project budget with their applications. Maybe they forget, maybe it’s a technical error. It happens that the budget has a total amount – how much money is needed, but there are no details – where this money will go. A grant application can be written very nicely, with maximum eloquence, epithets and comparisons. But it is impossible to implement if it does not have financial details. At the Canadian-Ukrainian Foundation, we always encourage you to write “concisely, but in detail”, because no one has time to read 30 pages about what a cool project. If our team can capture the essence of an idea in 10-15 minutes, then the naked eye can see that the organization is experienced in project implementation. Communication will be easier and more enjoyable if all the proper team documents are submitted the first time. *** These simple tips from the Canadian-Ukrainian Foundation are created with one goal in mind – to see and finance as many high-quality and original projects as possible that will benefit Ukraine. In fact, applying for and receiving a grant is not as difficult as it seems, so we hope that this text will inspire Ukrainian teams with ideas that we will implement together for the sake of Ukraine’s victory in the war as soon as possible. Solomiya Sharun, grant manager of the Canada-Ukraine Foundation, especially for UP. Life Publications in the “View” section are not editorial articles and reflect exclusively the author’s point of view.

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