A new grant programme is being established to support delivery of Welsh Government’s National Equality Objectives 2024-28.
This new programme will help align funding with policy priorities, and improve accessibility and transparency of funding, and ensure a wide range of organisations can use their experience and creativity to support of delivery of Welsh Government objectives.
In advance of launching these grants by May 2025 Welsh Government is providing the opportunity for feedback to shape the grants. Feedback is welcomed on:
- The proposed new grants
- Timescales
- Length of funding
- Any other key points you would like to be considered
Please provide any feedback by 11 April to: EqualityAndHumanRightsDivision@gov.wales
Proposed new Grants
Two new competitive grants will be established and administered by Welsh Government.
Innovation to tackle inequality and support people (£300k total available)
This funding is intended to provide support for third sector organisations to innovate in response to evolving challenges and support the delivery of the National Equality Objectives. Awards will be at £40,000 and above. Innovative and collaborative bids, which could include pooling of resources or the development of innovative arrangements (e.g. the provision of bespoke intersectional support), would be encouraged.
Awareness and Engagement (£500k total available)
This grant aims to provide funding for activities that raise awareness of minority groups of stakeholders, or support engagement with groups of stakeholders with a protected characteristic. This grant is being designed to complements existing funding such as those allocated to support Pride and Windrush events.
Two levels of grant would be available. This includes a £2k-£10k element (provisionally intended to total £100k) to provide support for smaller community organisations whose activities support people with protected characteristics and who would not normally have access to government funding. The second level is intended to cover £10k-100k to provide support for organisations delivering a number of activities at a larger scale.
Timescales
It is planned to launch both grants by May 2025 with plans for the application window to close in September 2025 and successful applicants to be notified by October 2025. It is also intended that both grants will run for 18 months – 2 years. Feedback and data will be gathered and analysed from the first round to inform future iterations.
