Insight and latest updates from our team

We were pleased to welcome Finance Minister John O’Dowd to NICVA on Wednesday 23 July for a special meeting with participants from our ASCEND Programme. 

This week marks a significant milestone for the voluntary and community sector and its relationship with government—both in Northern Ireland and across the United Kingdom.

NICVA welcomes two major new frameworks that put the voluntary and community sector at the heart of government partnerships in Northern Ireland and across the UK.

The Communications and Engagement Support Placement Student will play a hands-on role supporting day-to-day communications and marketing operations, content development, customer engagement, and membership support.

The Department for Communities has published its response to the registration threshold consultation which closed for responses in August 2024. 

We’re hosting FREE one-hour fundraising advice clinics for NICVA members to discuss their fundraising needs this August.

NICVA was one of 50 + signatories to a recent letter, coordinated by the Northern Ireland Anti-Poverty Network (NIAPN), addressed to NI Executive Ministers. The letter, endorsed by a broad coalition of civil society organisations and groups, calls for the withdrawal of the draft Anti-Poverty Strategy currently out for public consultation.

It outlines that the strategy fails to meet the basic criteria of a reasonable and effective anti-poverty strategy and is therefore not fit for purpose.

To reflect the rising costs of living and the changing funding landscape, The Fore have announced that they will increase their maximum grant size from £30,000 to £45,000 with effect from the Autumn 2025 funding round.  

Starting in September, our new Fundraising Workshop Series aims to support you and your fundraising knowledge, capability, and capacity to successfully navigate the competitive fundraising landscape.

The Northern Ireland Community Infrastructure Fund is a small capital grant scheme for voluntary and community organisations. The Fund is a £4.32 million grant scheme to support voluntary and community sector organisations to improve the internal or external fabric of their existing community buildings. The fund is being delivered by the Department for Communities in partnership with Co-operation Ireland.

The Henry Smith Foundation, formerly known as the Henry Smith Charity, has published its new strategy, Elevate Your Impact (2025-2030) which ‘reaffirms their commitment to backing people and organisations driving change in communities across the UK.’ The first three new programmes under the new funding priorities have also been announced.

The John Ellerman Foundation has launched a new funding strategy for 2025-2030 offering multi-year core costs funding that supports work with a national relevance addressing social justice and the environment. UK charities with an annual income of between £100,000 and £10 million can apply for up to £180,000.

NICVA member The Little Forget Me Nots Trust is dedicated to ensuring no bereaved parent ever feels they have to navigate baby loss alone. Their trauma-informed, community-led support begins where clinical care ends - offering creative, compassionate spaces for families to process grief and begin learning to live with grief.

Do you work with young people? If so, you would not want to miss the new season of the Across Divides podcast! 

After nearly two decades of delays, the long waited draft Anti Poverty Strategy for NI was published this week with Communities Minister Gordon Lyons' statement before the Assembly. 

The Department for Communities has launched a public consultation on the draft strategy which is open from now until 19 September 2025. 

Finance Minister, John O’Dowd and Alison Fraser, Senior Head of Funding at The National Lottery Community Fund, have launched the third phase of Dormant Assets funding in Northern Ireland.  

On Thursday 12 June, we held the second full joint meeting for 2025 of the Joint Government and Voluntary Sector Forum (Joint Forum), which was chaired by Tracy Johnston from the Department for Communities in her last meeting as Joint Forum Joint Chair. 

NICVA has submitted its response to the Charities SORP-making body on The Exposure Draft Statement of Recommended Practice 2026: Accounting and Reporting by Charities (the Exposure Draft SORP). 

The Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action (NICVA) is deeply concerned by the recent events in Ballymena, where an alleged sexual assault involving a young girl has become the catalyst for escalating racially motivated violence and disorder.

NICVA’s Director of Policy and Insight Jonny Currie provides an overview of key details arising from this week’s UK Spending Review.