21 January 2019
Comic Relief’s Children Survive and Thrive Fund Accepting Applications
Funding for charitable organisations in the UK, Kenya or Malawi to support community action for early childhood development that helps children have the best possible start in life and become happy, healthy and confident individuals.
Comic Relief will make investments of up to £150,000 in the UK and up to £300,000 in Kenya and Malawi for three to five years. The investments may be higher for organisations that will both deliver strong community-level efforts and also contribute to strategic changes.
The funding is intended for locally-rooted charitable organisations that directly support families with young children in the UK, Kenya or Malawi.
The aim of this programme is to support child-centred approaches, and to make progress in addressing the comprehensive development needs of children during their early years, up to and including their transition to primary school. These child-centred approaches should be based on recognised good practice.
Comic Relief is interested in work that:
- Adopts the principles of children’s rights to survive and thrive, leaving no child behind, and supporting child-centred and family-centred care and nurturing.
- Uses a participatory approach at all project stages and values the experience and insights of people who are directly affected by factors that impede early childhood development, including parents, family members and other carers, and communities. Depending on the age group, this can also include children’s views, eg. through child-to-child approaches.
Comic Relief wants to work with people who are interested in engaging in shared learning and will support collaboration between funded partners. It is hoped this will contribute to learning about the value of grassroots efforts for early childhood development, and how key stakeholders and funders can provide support that creates long-term change.
The investment can be used to cover specific activities, or a combination of activities and the organisation’s core costs or overheads. If an organisation’s main purpose is to advance early childhood development, and it can demonstrate its impact, Comic Relief may consider funding core costs only.
Starting in January 2019, UK organisations are eligible to apply if their annual income is between £250,000 and £10 million. Comic Relief aims to fund no more than 40% of an organisation’s future income. The funder will consider budgets that have higher amounts in some years, as long as the average annual funding is within the new 40% limit.
There is a two-stage application process.
The deadline for first stage applications is 22 March 2019 (12 noon).