How to win funding from the Stars Foundation. The Stars Foundation in the UK has launched the second annual Stars Impacts Awards and is accepting applications to the fund now. The Foundation offers grants to NGOs and similar organisations in selected countries around the world to support projects in Health, Education, Protection and WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene). The Stars Foundation grants represent a great opportunity for thousands of NGOs to access large amounts of funding “to improve the lives of disadvantaged children in countries with the highest rates of under-five mortality. Countries in Africa to the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific to Latin America can all apply. The full list of eligible countries is detailed below: Africa-Middle East: Algeria, Angola, Armenia, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, Cote D’Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, The Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania,Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Occupied Palestinian Territory, Sao Tome & Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo,Tunisia, Uganda, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe. Asia-Pacific: Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kiribati, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nauru, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Pakistan, Philippines, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tajikistan, Timor-Leste, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Vietnam. Latin America-Caribbean: Bolivia, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti,Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago. If your organization is based in one of the above countries, depending on other criteria, you may be eligible to apply for support. Before you proceed any further your orgaisation needs to answer “yes” to every single one of the following questions: Is your organisation a locally registered non-profit-making organisation – a charity, non-governmental organisation, voluntary organisation or similar? Does your organisation work directly or indirectly with children in one or more of the areas of Health, Education, Protection or WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene)? Does your organisation have its own annual independently audited annual accounts? Does your organisation have an annual income in its most recent set of independently audited annual accounts between US$200,000 and US$4,000,000 (or equivalent in local currency)? Does your organisation have its own constitution? Does your organisation have its own bank account? Does your organisation have its own dedicated Board of Trustees/Directors? Is your organisation open to staff and beneficiaries from different faiths? Does your organisation have independent decision-making power and complete autonomy over how it spends its money? Please take your time and ensure that you have answered all of the above questions accurately. If you have answered “yes” to every question then your organisation is eligible to apply for up to $100,000 of unrestricted funding along with a a bespoke package of consultancy, PR support, and media training for thegrant-winning NGOs. IMPORTANT NOTE: Most grant applications fail because of grantees paying insufficient attention to vital eligibility criteria. Please double check this and ask a colleague to check as well before you go ahead and start looking at the rest of the application. We understand that finding that perfect grant opportunity is extremely exciting and potentially the beginning of a wonderful journey, but please don’t waste your time by failing to check that your organisation is eligible. If in any doubt you should contact the Stars Foundation via their website to discuss whether your NGO is able to apply. What the Stars Foundation looks for Like most international grant opportunities, the Stars Foundation Grants are heavily oversubscribed meaning that any organisation seeking to win funding will have to work extra hard to make sure that their application is as strong as it can possibly be. The three headline criteria for winning funding from the Stars Foundation as listed on their website are evidence of effective practice in past and current projects, demonstrable evidence of a positive impact on the lives of disadvantaged children and excellent management practices. Effective Practice – Your organisation can demonstrate the implementation of effective practice in past and current projects by referencing established policies, prcoedures and practices. The Stars Foundation wishes to work with organisation’s that have a sound methodology behind their projects and the overall management of their NGO. The Foundation wants to know about how your organisations works and why to show that you understand your environment, your strengths and weaknesses and ultimately that you can create a positive social impact for the people you work with. Positive Impact on the lives of children – The Stars Foundation aims to provide grants to NGOs that are able to demonstrate that their programmes have had a positive impact on the lives of children. As an organisation hoping to receive funding you will need to gather information on your past and current projects with children to use as evidence of your good work. You will need to extract data that shows that your organisation has changed children’s lives for the better. You can use a mixture of qualitative information such as quotes and narratives to quantative information such as the number of children you have supported, how many training sessions you have provided and other information from your children’s projects. Excellent Management Practices – The final headline quality that the Stars Foundation are looking for when selecting grant applicants for funding is that they are able to show evidence of top level management practices. Your organisation will need to be able to prove that it has effective management processes for tackling a range of issues from bullying to complaints and whistleblowing to financial management. The Foundation will look for a clear track record of excellent financial management, an effective and active board of trustees and qualified staff as a minimum. Stage 1 Criteria – Delivery of programmes and impact on the lives of disadvantaged children: This expectation has already been covered in the previous three headline criteria but it is important to notice the primary focus of the Stars Foundation is on the impact of your organisation’s programmes on the lives of disadvantaged children over and above any other factor. Stage 2 Criteria Strategy and Leadership Finance and administration Innovation and flexibility Stakeholder involvement and accountability Human resource management These criteria concern themselves with your organisation’s strength of management and operational capabilities. The Stars Foundation aim to reward organisation’s who can demonstrate they have sound leadership in the form of qualified management, an effective structure and an active board of trustees. They will also hope to see evidence of the sound strategic management of your organisation that may take the form of a business plan or similar document. To put your organisation in the best position to receive funding you should work to emphasise the financial management and controls you have in place. The Foundation is looking to establish working patterns with partners long term and by demonstrating that your organisation has tight control over its finances you should able to reinforce that your organisation is sustainable and will be active for many years to come. The Foundation also calls for evidence that you organisation can be innovative in its approaches and programme delivery. If you can provide evidence that your organisation has worked to develop new and different ways of working that maximise the impact you have on your beneficiaries then you will be in a great position to receive funding. It is also important to highlight your organisation’s flexibility, whether it is in terms of timescales, unexpected expenditure or major changes to programmes. The Stars Foundation, like many other leading grant makers, aims to work with NGOs and similar organisation’s that are widely supported by the communities that they work in. If you are able to evidence that your NGO is well supported and ideally features a number of people of influence from the area on your board of trustees. The more experience you have of working with the community to find solution the better chance you will have of securing funding from the Stars Foundation. The final critera for funding from the Foundation is that your organisation has effective Human Resources management. This includes qualified staff, sufficient numbers of staff for the projects you deliver, well trained and prepared staff as well as appropriate policies and procedures for managing any staff related issue. Will your organisation be applying for funding from the Stars Foundation? Let us know in the comments.
Posted on: Fri, 15 Nov 2013 10:39:05 +0000
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