The Mayo Sustainability Fund is the Community Foundation Ireland’s new pilot fund, aimed at strengthening the ecosystem of climate and sustainability work in Mayo.
The Mayo Sustainability Fund is now open for applications from Thursday 1st May, until 4 PM on Monday 16th June.
You can find all the information, including criteria, how to apply, and application guides, on their website here.
In 2023, the Sunflower Charitable Foundation and Community Foundation Ireland commissioned a scoping study from University College Dublin (UCD) to assess the potential for a Sustainability Fund in Mayo. This study, along with a follow-up community consultation, showed that Mayo has a strong network of organisations working in various areas of sustainability that could benefit from dedicated funding.
The study identified key challenges such as limited knowledge of funding sources, lack of flexible and long-term funding, and limited time and resources for applying for funding. It also highlighted gaps in funding for core operations, capital needs, networking, peer learning, deep community engagement, and project scaling.
The Fund aims to address some of these challenges by providing funding that supports cohesion in the sector through networking, growth, and development, along with flexible funding allowing charities and community groups to deliver their work as best as possible.
Community Foundation Ireland have extended the application window to over 6 weeks based on community feedback. However, they strongly encourage you to register on their portal and upload your documents well before the deadline. They are a small team and may not be able to help troubleshoot individual issues in the final days if they receive many queries.
Community Foundation Ireland will host a webinar about the Fund and the application process on Friday 9th May at 10AM. You can submit questions for the webinar. To register, please click here. The webinar will be recorded for later viewing.