Grant Policy for Local Partners

February 2022, V3.1

This Grant Policy governs the relationship between ForRefugees (“forRefugees”) and the grassroots volunteers (“Local Partners”) we support during the end-to-end Grant Process.

It should be read in conjunction with the forRefugees’ Terms of Use for Local Partners. Definitions used in this Policy are those provided in the Terms of Use for Volunteers.

This Policy supersedes in full all and any previous versions.

1. REQUESTING A GRANT

1.1 When you are approved as a forRefugees’ Local Partner, you will be informed by a Welcome to forRefugees email. You must provide your nominated bank information and your organisation name will be added to the drop-down list on the Grant Form.

1.2 As a Local Partner you can ask for a Grant at any time by completing this Grant Form online.

1.3 Follow the guidelines on the Grant form to ensure your request is eligible noting that our eligibility criteria might from time-to-time change.

1.4 Requests that are especially urgent, or in any way time-bound, should be advised to us as early as possible by emailing contact@forrefugees.org. We also need at least one photo to be emailed to contact@forrefugees.org immediately after submitting the Grant Form.  

2. APPROVING OR REJECTING A GRANT

2.1 All Grant Applications are reviewed by our Board of Trustees to decide whether to accept or decline them. Our Trustees are impartial. We will be looking for evidence in each request of legitimate Aid being delivered and will also use judgement to determine the relativity of the value of the Grant requested versus the Aid proposed for delivery and number of people it is expected to benefit.

2.2 Trustees review all Grant requests received and Local Partners are advised as soon as practicable once the decision is made. If a Grant request is refused, then forRefugees will provide feedback to the requesting Local Partner.

2.3 In order to limit forRefugees’ exposure, whilst recognising they may be doing great work, the following maximum values are applied to first Grant requests immediately following Registration:

  • A registered charity - £1,500

  • An unregistered charity, an individual volunteer or group of volunteers - £1000

2.4 We do not offer unrestricted grants at this time.

2.5 Once Local Partners have proven they are able to meet their commitments to forRefugees and our donors, larger Grants may be requested and will be considered for approval by forRefugees. Factors to consider include our fund-raising ability as well as the number and total value of other grants already awaiting funding.

 

3. PUBLISHING APPROVED GRANT APPLICATIONS

3.1 Approved Grant Applications may be published as fundraisers on forRefugees’ social media (including, but not limited to Facebook, Instagram and/or Twitter).

3.2 They will be published in the order they are received and approved by forRefugees. This also determines the order in which they will be funded.

3.3 ForRefugees aims to be as transparent as possible. Visitors to the forRefugees Website will be able to see at least:

  • Which country and camp/city is impacted.

  • What the money will be spent on

  • The value of the grant awarded.

  • Who we awarded it to.

Please see the Impact page for more details.

4. MAKING A GRANT PAYMENT

4.1 ForRefugees' cannot guarantee the payment of an approved grant within a specific period of time. ForRefugees fundraises from a variety of sources on a continuous basis – from individuals making regular or one-off donations, from claiming Gift Aid from HMRC, from corporate sponsors, through applying for grants from other sources and more. Our income will fluctuate and a specific level in a given space of time cannot be guaranteed.

4.2 When your grant is the next to be funded we will transfer the total Grant amount as soon as we have sufficient cleared funds in the forRefugees’ bank account. Occasionally, we will pay a grant in installments where this is mutually beneficial to forRefugees and the Local Partner cash-flow.

4.3 Different payment types can be subject to different processing timescales by the numerous payment and banking institutes. This is beyond our control and any such delay in funds transfer must be accepted by you as a condition of applying for forRefugees Grants.

4.4 Grants must be requested in GBP although we can pay you them in your chosen currency. Exchange rate fluctuations are outside of our control. Grants are paid to your nominated account at Registration, or as subsequently updated by you and accepted by us.

4.5 We reserve the right to decline to process any Grant payments at any time at our discretion, e.g. if we have reasonable grounds to believe that such transactions are related to fraudulent activity or misuse of any kind.

5. DELIVERED CAMPAIGNS

5.1 Local Partners must provide evidence to forRefugees as soon as practicable, and no more than two months after spending the Grant money, that the aid or services funded by forRefugees, has been bought and delivered.

5.2 Evidence must include scanned receipts for a minimum of 80% of the total value of the Grant (allowing for paperwork getting lost in such situations). Should you have less than this then a satisfactory explanation, and photos of the aid being delivered, must accompany the receipts you submit. It is at forRefugees’ discretion whether your explanation is accepted, or a reimbursement of all or some of the Grant is required.

5.3 Photos, videos or other interesting media provided by a Local Partner to support a Grant may be used by forRefugees on their website or other social media and in promotional material as relevant to the ongoing promotion of forRefugees. forRefugees will not share receipts. If any other evidence should not be shared for confidentiality or other reasons then please ensure you let us know on submission.

5.4 Donors who have opted to follow forRefugees’ on social media, or joined our mailing list, will normally be able to read about the delivered grant on social media and the website.

6. POTENTIAL ISSUES

6.1 The nature of the Refugee Crisis and the volunteer response to it means that needs can change quickly. ForRefugees understands this and requests that Local Partners inform us by emailing contact@forrefugees.org of any changes to an approved or funded grant as soon as the change is known.

6.2 Reallocation of funds to an alternative project you are delivering may be approved, or it may be appropriate to refund the money to forRefugees for allocation to the next grant from another Local Partner. ForRefugees will not unreasonably decline change of use, but our decision is at forRefugees’ discretion and final.

6.3 Failure of a Local Partner to meet the conditions of this Policy is a breach of the terms of the Grant. Such breach would result in the reimbursement of the Grant from the Local Partner to forRefugees. The Local Partner could be suspended from the forRefugees’ Services for a period determined by and at the sole discretion of forRefugees.

7. ALLOCATING FUNDS

7.1 We regret that we are unable to support outside Europe.

7.2 We regret that we are unable to fund non-refugee volunteer stipend or living costs.

7.3 We are unable to loan money to volunteers or Local Partners for any purpose.