The Rethink Ireland has created the 2020 – 2023 Education Innovation
Fund to improve equal access to education and promote economic empowerment.
The Education Fund is a €4.5 million Fund which will support up to
10 projects. Rethink Ireland created the Education Fund with the support of the
Department of Rural and Community Development. They will match funds raised by
applicants and they will provide cash grants and a variety of business supports.
This Fund has three strands:
- Transitions in Education: The
pandemic affects people making ‘transitions in education’. For example,
students sitting their Leaving Certificate this year experienced increased
anxiety.
- 21st Century Models and Methods
of Education: A 21st-century education gives learners the skills they need
to succeed. It also helps them to grow their confidence in practising
those skills. It teaches skills such as motivation, creativity,
collaboration, critical thinking and social-emotional learning in an
educational setting.
- Reversing the Effects of
Poverty on Educational Outcomes: It is well-documented that poverty
affects educational disadvantage. People living in poverty face more
stress and anxiety during this period of uncertainty and high
unemployment. Educational guidance at this critical time can have a
lasting impact on employment opportunities in the future.
Benefits
Rethink Ireland matches
philanthropic funds raised* by successful applicants to provide:
- A 50% cash ‘uplift’ on funds
raised*
- A strategic non-financial
supports package to help organisations expand and deepen their impact
- A place on Rethink Ireland’s
Accelerator Programme
- Project performance and impact
management
- Access to Rethink Ireland’s
networks.
* Applicants must
provide evidence to verify the private funding has been secured
Funding Information
The minimum commitment
accepted is €20,000 and the maximum commitment accepted is €200,000. The period
for this commitment must be more than 2 years.
Eligibility Criteria
- Rethink Ireland invites
applications from organisations that support children, young people and
adults who are socially excluded, marginalised or living in poverty.
Organisations will also be working to mitigate educational disadvantage in
Ireland.
- Projects that support the
following target age groups are all eligible to apply to this Fund:
- Pre-school population
(0-4 years)
- Primary (5-12 years)
- Secondary (13-18 years)
- Young adults (19-24 years)
- Adults (25-64 years)
- The Fund will especially focus
on projects that:
- work to reduce educational
disadvantage
- encourage innovative ways of
overcoming educational disadvantage
- address systemic obstacles in
education
- fill current gaps in education
support across the lifespan.
- For this reason, they
particularly welcome projects which support:
- members of the Traveller
community
- Roma people
- people experiencing
homelessness.
Criteria
- The project must address a
critical social issue – in this case, educational disadvantage
- The project proposed must be
innovative in an Irish context
- The project must have potential
and a desire to scale or replicate in Ireland (it may also have potential
internationally, but this is not a requirement)
- The project must provide
evidence that it is up and running, or has been tested at least in a
minimal way
- The project must be based on
the island of Ireland and make its main impact in the Republic of Ireland
- Applicants must come from an
entity that has a not-for-profit legal form, e.g. a school, charity,
social enterprise, voluntary organisation or Higher Education Institution
Post Date - 19-Oct-2020