CAMPAIGN GUIDELINES

What is the aim of #thecommunitycall?

#thecommunitycall is a campaign to inspire and support communities to respond to the COVID-19 crisis. As healthcare workers and Government lead the way in responding to the unfolding crisis, ChangeX wants to help communities to make sure everyone stays as mentally and physically active and healthy as possible while staying at home and that no-one in Ireland is left alone. The campaign runs initially from April-June 2020. 

#thecommunitycall encourages and supports community members across Ireland to take grassroots action in response to the COVID-19 crisis. There are several ways to get involved and take the call: 

• You can adopt one or more solutions in your neighbourhood or household. 

• As a social innovator, you can submit a solution that meets a defined set of criteria, to get the support needed to scale your idea through changex.org.

• You can donate to our campaign partners, social enterprises and charities, that are working with the most vulnerable in our communities 

How it works

Anyone living in Ireland can start an idea on ChangeX as part of #thecommunitycall campaign. The ChangeX platform provides information, resources and support to individuals, families or community groups who want to start a Community Emergency Response or a Health and Wellbeing project as part of this campaign.

Each idea has a number of onboarding steps you can complete, which help you to access the resources you need to get started, to connect with others and share updates from your project. In the case of ideas where the resources supplied include a pack to be posted out to you, one or more of the onboarding steps may be mandatory, to ensure your commitment to starting.

1. Starting an idea through the ChangeX platform 

Who can apply?

Some ideas that are part of the #thecommunitycall campaign involve a small amount of funding. Those are open to existing groups and individuals (once they form a team) across Ireland to start new projects in their community, from the portfolio of funded ideas on the ChangeX #thecommunity call site (https://changex.com/ie/funds/thecommunitycall). Examples of eligible groups include schools, universities, colleges, daycares, churches or other faith-based organizations, hospitals and hospital rehabilitation centers, mental health facilities, community gardens, neighborhood groups, senior citizen centers, community centers and recognized government entities. 

What can the funding be used for?

#thecommunitycall community fund is for new projects and can be used to cover direct costs relating to the set-up or maintenance of the new project. For example, funds can be used for medical supplies, PPE equipment, communications tools or transport costs; pretty much any materials you might need to start a new project that benefits your community’s response to the COVID-19 crisis. Guides for each idea will include information on financial needs. 

What can the funding not be used for? Funds may not be used to promote or engage in criminal acts of violence, terrorism, hate crimes, the destruction of any state, or discrimination on the basis of race, national origin, religion, military and veteran status, disability, sex, age, gender identity or sexual orientation, or support of any entity that engages in these activities.

Applicants outside of Ireland are not eligible for funding. The fund cannot be used to cover costs of work that has already been carried out and can’t be used for anything that is not related to the set up and maintenance of the new community project. It cannot be used to cover the promotion of religious causes, non- charitable activities, sponsorship or fundraising events. Funds cannot be used as payment to group members for their work on the project.

Reporting Requirements and Funding 

In return for any funding you may receive, you are required to share the outcomes of your new project with ChangeX.

The funding allocated to your new project is, in the cases of most ideas, divided into two stages. The first payment can be accessed upon successful completion of a set of initial onboarding steps on the ChangeX website, within a set timeframe. Examples of these onboarding steps include scheduling a support call; setting up your first virtual team meeting; and providing a narrative on what you will spend the funding on, your next steps as a group, and how you hope the project will ultimately benefit your community. 

If the funding is split across two installments, the second payment will be issued to you after you have completed an impact survey demonstrating the outcomes of your project. You will be asked to answer questions such as the number of beneficiaries impacted by your project, as well as specific questions related to the idea you have started. You will also be asked to share photos that show your project is up and running and having an impact. 

It is very important that you keep all receipts and records of how any funding you might receive is spent. ChangeX will perform random spot checks on these receipts. If receipts cannot be shown, or the funds are found to have been spent on costs other than those relating to the set-up or maintenance of the new community project, no further funds will be allocated to this project and ChangeX reserves the right to retrieve the funds that have already been distributed. The applicant will be indefinitely ineligible to apply for any subsequent grants through ChangeX.

Family

Family and close contacts of ChangeX employees or of Web Summit are not eligible to apply for funding.

Fund Processing

In order to receive the funding, you must have a bank account. Once you’ve successfully completed any mandatory onboarding steps on your ChangeX location page, you will be asked to enter your bank details on the ChangeX website to facilitate the bank transfer. You may also be asked to provide a scanned copy of your driver’s license or passport for additional verification purposes. ChangeX will not share or store any applicant banking or driver’s license/passport data; this process will all be managed by Stripe. Stripe’s privacy policy can be viewed here: https://stripe.com/privacy. 

Once you have completed the mandatory onboarding steps and entered your bank information ChangeX will review your application to make sure all elements of the steps have been completed successfully. Payment will then be made, and the transfer will take an average of 4 working days to reach your bank account. 

In the case where funding for the idea you are starting is split between two installments; the second and final installment will be approved and paid when you have successfully completed a final impact survey and shared an impact photo, demonstrating that the project is active and the second installment of funding is necessary. 

1. Grants to Social Innovations

What type of ideas will be considered for funding?

Initially, ChangeX is looking to help to scale ideas in the following two areas:

1. Building a grassroots emergency response to meet the needs of the most vulnerable in communities including the elderly, those who are isolating, and healthcare workers.

2. Maintaining the physical and mental wellbeing of everyone as we keep our distance.

What criteria will be used to decide which ideas to fund?

1. Your project solves an important problem aligned with one of the two themes detailed above.

2. Your project has the potential to replicate in hundreds of communities across either Ireland or Portugal between April & June 2020 at a household, neighbourhood or community level through the mobilisation of families, volunteers, chapters of volunteers or local community organisations.

3. Your project can deliver measurable impact through the ChangeX platform.

4. Your project has a strong and committed leader and team ready to bring this project to scale.

Where is this funding coming from?

This fund is sponsored by the Web Summit. ChangeX is solely responsible for the management of the fund, including the selection of applicants, starter support, grant distribution and impact tracking.

     3. Donations to Charities 

The campaign includes links to third party fundraising websites where you can donate to the fundraising effort of charities working with those most vulnerable to the COVID-19 crisis. Your donation will be subject to the Terms & Conditions on these third party sites and any data shared with these third party sites is the responsibility of these sites and is not shared with ChangeX.