Belfast Harbour Community Awards Fund (CLOSED)

Belfast Harbour has launched its 2021 Belfast Harbour Community Awards Fund, a new £50,000 programme designed to help support the work of grass-roots community organisations and charities.

The Fund will provide individual grants of up to £2,500 and will be open to eligible community organisations, not for profit groups, and charities which are registered in Northern Ireland.

The Belfast Harbour Community Awards Fund will open for applications twice this year, with the first round between 16 March 2021 and 16 April 2021 and the second in Autumn 2021.

The Fund is open to projects and initiatives that align with Belfast Harbour’s responsible business priorities of supporting employability and skills, the environment and communities.

To be eligible, projects must positively impact their local community, for example, removing barriers to work, protecting the environment in which we live or improving communities.

David Dobbin, Chair of Belfast Harbour, said:

“We are delighted to launch the Belfast Harbour Community Awards Fund and to open this first round of applications to organisations.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted all sections of our society. As a Trust Port, Belfast Harbour reinvests every penny of its net profits back into the development of our Port and Harbour Estate. We do this primarily for the benefit of our customers but also for our local communities and the whole region. As we respond to the social and economic impacts of the last year, we are committed to supporting projects that can help our local communities to recover.”

He added: “We have a well established track record of supporting our local communities and charitable, training/employment and environmental initiatives.  This new fund will supplement our ongoing work with our existing charity and delivery partners and will enable Belfast Harbour to support new grass-roots community based activities at this especially challenging time.”

In order to be considered, organisations should complete the Belfast Harbour Community Awards application form, and include details and costs about the proposed project.  Application forms and guidelines are available on Belfast Harbour’s website along with details of entry and assessment criteria.