15 April 2003
BROWNE LAUNCHES GUIDE TO GRANTS FOR VOLUNTARY AND COMMUNITY GROUPS
A guide to inform voluntary and community organisations who are seeking funding from Government Departments and Agencies was launched today by Des Browne MP, the Minister with responsibility for Social Development.
The Minister was speaking at the first meeting of the Funders’ Forum for Northern Ireland, which aims to bring together the main statutory and independent funders of the voluntary and community sector and make more efficient use of the limited resources that are available to the sector. He also referred to an ongoing initiative by the Department to review, using an external body, its procedures for the funding of community projects including particular requirements relating to funded posts.
He welcomed the new leaflet, ‘A Guide to Government Grants’ and said he hoped that people would find it a useful signpost to government grant information.
"Accessibility to information equals opportunity. I have learned through my day-to-day work as a Minister and, indeed, as an MP, that it is vitally important to have information at your fingertips.
"Knowing who to contact and where to obtain the right information is often half the battle. Government and the way we are organised can sometimes act as a barrier to good communication, however as gatekeepers to public information we are working hard to break these barriers down."
NOTES TO EDITORS:
www.dsdni.gov.uk
- The Funders’ Forum was established to bring together statutory and private funders to agree a programme of work, to share information and to explore ways of making funding programmes more complementary to each other.
- Copies of ‘A Guide to Government Grants’ are available from Voluntary and Community Unit, Department for Social Development, Churchill House, Victoria Square, Belfast, BT1 4SD. The leaflet is also accessible on the Department’s web-site:
For further information on the forum, contact Simon Stuart in the Task Force Secretariat on 028 9091 0092.
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