Deadline: 14 February 2020

Applicants are invited to apply for the Ability to Work Fund that will support not-for-profit organisations to empower more people with disabilities to gain employment. A disability might be a physical or intellectual disability, a learning disability, or a disability due to traumatic brain injury or a mental health condition. The funding will be available over three years, from 2020 to 2023.

Ability to Work Fund is a €1.5 million fund created by Social Innovation Fund Ireland (SIFI) in partnership with State Street and the Department of Rural and Community Development. The Department of Rural and Community Development provides match funding for all philanthropic funds raised by Social Innovation Fund Ireland, via the Dormant Accounts Fund.

Aims

The fund has two main aims:

• to empower 250 people to progress along the pathways to employment by investing in organisations that provide training, upskilling, education and other services to people with disabilities; and
• to double the impact of successful applicant organisations by providing project funding and other supports such as:
  • strategic planning
  • communications strategy development
  • mentoring
  • leadership training
  • market research
  • financial modelling (forecasting your organisation’s financial performance)

Funding Information

• Cash grants of up to €90,000 each year for three years*
• A business supports package to help not-for-profit organisations expand their business expertise and expand and deepen their impact
• A place on SIFI’s Accelerator Programme, a programme which provides training from experts from the private, public and not-for-profit sectors
• Project performance management, including managing its impact
• Access to SIFI’s networks of charities, social enterprises, government and donors
• Access to training and mentoring from State Street employees

*Applicants can apply for any amount up to €90,000 for three years. SIFI will decide how much money to award, which may be less than the amount requested. The amount of the award will depend on how many organisations are selected, their past financial performance, and the budget they submit as part of their application.

Eligibility Criteria

SIFI is inviting applications from organisations that work with people with an intellectual, physical, learning or sensory disability who are aged 17 and older. The organisations must be engaged in creating ways to improve employment outcomes for people with disabilities through education, training and skill-building.

Ineligibility

• Applicants under 18 years of age
• Commercial companies (the fund is only open to not-for-profit organisations such as charities, trusts, schools, or companies limited by guarantee)
• Staff, directors and their immediate family members of Social Innovation Fund Ireland and State Street

Kind of Projects

Projects must meet the criteria set by both SIFI and the Ability to Work Fund. These are outlined below:

• Social Innovation Fund Ireland criteria
  • The project must address a critical social issue
  • It must be innovative in an Irish context
  • It must be possible and desirable to replicate the project or grow its impact in Ireland (or internationally, although this is not a requirement)
  • The project or organisation must have a proven track record
  • The project must be based on the island of Ireland and make its main impact in the Republic of Ireland
  • The applicant must be a not-for-profit organisation such as a charity, trust, company limited by guarantee, and so on. It must not be a commercial company
• Ability to Work Fund criteria
  • The project must relate to education, training or preparation for the workforce
  • The project must support people with disabilities aged 17 and over to achieve better employment outcomes
  • The project must be able to show how it helps people in at least two of the following outcome areas:
    • Enable people with disabilities to progress into further education or training
    • Increase job placement
    • Increase job retention
    • Increase access to programmes with industry-recognised qualifications
    • Enable people to attain industry-recognised qualifications
    • Build basic job-readiness skills like teamwork and time management skills
    • Increase internship and work experience placement.
  • Participants in the project must be living with a disability
  • The project must be able to measure the outcomes for participants
  • The project must consult its participants about its design, delivery and evaluation

Applications from projects which provide individual pathways for participants are more likely to be successful.

How to Apply

Interested applicants can apply online via the given website.

For more information, please visit http://www.socialinnovation.ie/ability-to-work-fund/