GF is committed to supporting our member organisations to accomplish their goals. We want to work with organisations to help them develop. We have prepared this document to explain how we do that and to help you if you want to apply for assistance. GF can provide financial assistance but also offer to enter into joint projects with member organisations. Other forms of assistance are available such as support from personnel with expertise in areas that would benefit your organisation.
Our focus is on working with organisations so that they become strong and independent with a clear vision for their own future. We have broken down that process into four stages:
Stage 1: Setting Up
At this stage, a member organisation will be seeking to establish itself. It will be trying to recruit and train leaders and to increase the number of young people in membership. We will support you in the early stages of growth. We will not usually invest in capital items (such as offices, vehicles, computers etc.). We will seek to help you to develop training programmes for leaders and activities for young people. We are open to doing this in partnership with a more established member organisation in the same region. The size of our investment would depend on the country and organisational context. We would not usually expect to offer this support for more than three years.
Stage 2: Developing Capacity
At this stage, a member organisation will be forming a national structure and planning for the future. Although the organisation may employ staff, elected volunteers will have overall responsibility for it. They will usually form an executive or management committee. That group will be seeking to develop and implement a plan for the organisation’s future. At this stage, we will support you by coming alongside you and offering advice as well as finance. This may be formalised as joint project with a GF representative involved in the project management or governance. The African Development Manager or GF’s CEO will meet with your national committee. If necessary, they will assist in your planning for the healthy development of the organisation. They will help you to document yours plans. They will also guide you towards stage 3. Mentors will remain in contact with you for the duration of the project. At this stage, we would invest up to £5,000.00 over a period of 12 months. You can apply for further assistance at the end of that period but we would not usually expect to offer this support for more than three years.
Stage 3: Achieving Financial Freedom
At this stage, a member organisation will be seeking to become financially self-sufficient. You will have a genuine commitment to that goal. You will have a realistic plan to achieve it. This may mean income generating projects, or improving contributions from members, or improving your ability to target grant funding from other sources, or some mixture. The SCP for the Region will work with you in developing and achieving that plan. This may be formalised as a joint project with a GF representative involved in the project management or governance. Investment is not likely to exceed £5,000 and GF will only support your proposals if they are likely to succeed and if they offer good value for money. Ordinarily GF will consider projects for a period of up to five years.
Stage 4: Adding Value
At this stage, a member organisation is healthy and independent but wants to do something new which it cannot do by itself. At this stage, GF will consider investments of up to £5,000.00 for a project that is to be completed over a period of 12 months. GF will consider whether your proposals represent value for money and what level of impact they will achieve. You will need to show that the money will make a real difference to the organisation and its work with young people. GF’s investment at this stage is a “one off” event and is unlikely to be repeated.
What sort of projects will Global Fellowship support?
The focus of Global Fellowship’s Strategic Plan is To support our member organisations to provide a positive and engaging experience for their young people and priority will be given to projects which support this and which aim to maximise the impact of the funds provided. Proposals which include significant elements of “self-help” are more likely to succeed. That means that you need to commit your own resources or to raise a proportion of the funding yourself.
The Process
The General Manager is always available to answer any questions that you may have. You can send any application for assistance to him at any time. Please send your application in writing (preferably scanned and emailed to admin@globalfellowship.net. Your application must be signed by (1) the President or Chairman and (2) the Treasurer or another Trustee of the organisation. We have prepared a checklist of the information we will need. You can find the checklist on the next page.
Once we receive your proposals, we will be in touch if we need any further information. The General Manager will work with you to present the application to the GF Executive Committee (ExCo) in the best possible light.
ExCo meets twice a year: usually around March and October. It makes the final decision on any application for assistance.
Outcomes
ExCo can respond to an application in any of the following ways:
- approve the project and offer to invest the full sum
- approve the project and offer to invest some of the money (leaving you to find another source of funding for the rest of the project)
- approve the project as joint project (where a GF representative will form part of the project management or governance arrangements)
- approve the project but decide only to invest in instalments or in arrears
- offer an interest free loan which must be re-paid at a certain point in the future
- suggest that the organisation considers a different project
- reject the application.
Soon after an ExCo meeting, we will tell you what ExCo has decided. When we approve an application, we will enter into a written agreement with you. That agreement will record the terms and conditions of our partnership. These will vary depending on the nature of the project.
Application Checklist
- Please tell us the name of your organisation (or organisations).
- Please give us a brief description of your organisation (number of members and companies or units, number of leaders, whether your members are found throughout the country/region or are mainly in one part of the country/region, which denominations of the Christian Church your organisation works with).
- Names of your officials (employees and trustees).
- Name of the project you are seeking support for.
- Please tell us which stage of development your organisation is at? (choose one)
- Stage 1: setting up
- Stage 2: developing capacity
- Stage 3: achieving financial freedom
- Stage 4: adding value
- Please give us a brief outline of the project. You should not write more than 2 pages of A4 paper. Please tell us in particular:
- What are the objectives of the project?
- Why is the project important for your organisation?
- What are the particular outcomes that you hope to achieve?
- What are the tasks involved to implement the project?
- Who will complete those tasks?
- What is the timeline for the project?
- Who will regularly monitor the project to ensure that it is successful?
- How will they do that?How much will the project cost? (Please provide a full breakdown of the project costs (with documents showing the likely cost or quotations if possible).
- How much money are you seeking from GF?
- Where will the rest of the money required for the project come from?
- What other support are you seeking from GF?
- Please send us a copy of your last annual report and accounts or financial statements.
- Please make sure that your application is signed by (1) the President or Chairman and (2) the Treasurer or one other Trustee of the organisation.
Download the Investing in Members – Grant Application
Global Fellowship of Christian Youth 