NFP Resource recently received an enquiry regarding COGS funding criteria changes.
Although NFP Resource is not primarily focussed on fundraising, it was not a change that we were aware of, and our correspondent suggested that the changes seem to have been treated as an administrative matter and not something that required, or received, consultation with the NFP sector. The correspondent suggested that there would be some charities out there that weren’t aware of the changes and would appreciate being brought up to date.
We are pleased to oblige.
The Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector has advised that the COGS funding criteria were updated in 2019 “to ensure that funding practice by the [local committees] is aligned with the fund as intended by Cabinet. COGS was set up to support small community organisations that are delivering programmes and services of community benefit but have with [sic] limited access to other sources of funding.”
The minister’s letter goes on to point out that large organisations that were previously eligible for funding were (apparently) advised individually of the changes and pointed towards other sources of funding (including lottery grants).
Current criteria for The Community Organisation Grants Scheme or COGS funding are located here and a summary of last year’s changes are here.