What is the aim of the Accenture Sustainable Community Challenge?
The aim of the Accenture Sustainable Community Challenge, sponsored by Accenture, is to support existing groups and individuals (once they form a team) in Ireland to start new projects that improve community wellbeing, ultimately improving the quality of life for community members. Communities choose the project they want to start based on their community’s needs, from a portfolio of ideas on the ChangeX site. Once the applicant has demonstrated their commitment and ability to start the community project by successfully completing a 30 Day Challenge on the ChangeX website, ChangeX will provide funding, information guides and support to give the applicant the best chance of success. In addition, once the applicant has demonstrated the impact the new project is having in their community, they will receive a further instalment of funding to support the maintenance of the project. All projects should be managed in an inclusive and welcoming manner and any events organised as part of your project should comply with any relevant public health guidance.
Criteria
The following criteria must be met by all applicants:
Opening date
The challenge opens for applications on January 24th 2023. Registrations will close when the grant funds have been distributed to applicants who have successfully completed the 30 Day Challenge. Please visit our fund website https://www.changex.org/ie/funds/accenture-sustainable-community-challenge-ireland to confirm whether we are still accepting entries.
Who can apply?
The Accenture Sustainable Community Challenge is open to existing groups and individuals (once they form a team) in Ireland to start new projects in their community, from the portfolio of ideas on the ChangeX site (https://www.changex.org/ie/funds/accenture-sustainable-community-challenge-ireland), that improve community wellbeing. Examples of eligible groups include schools, universities, colleges, daycares, churches or other faith-based organisations, hospitals and hospital rehabilitation centres, mental health facilities, community gardens, neighbourhood groups, senior centres, and community centres.
What can the funding be used for?
The Challenge 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 materials, space rental, insurance fees, seeds and planting materials, tools, training fees; pretty much any materials you might need to start a new project that benefits your community.
ChangeX shall not be held liable to reimburse any costs that are incurred by applicants, prior to the release of funds by ChangeX. In exceptional circumstances, applicants may seek written approval from ChangeX to incur costs ahead of the release of funds. Written approval will be granted at the sole discretion of ChangeX. Payments will only be made if ChangeX finds that all relevant requirements are met.
Any potential tax consequences, reporting requirements, and consents from third parties are solely the responsibility and liability of the recipient of the funding.
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.
Community groups 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 divided into two stages. The first payment (70% of total funding amount) can be accessed upon successful completion of a 30 Day Challenge on the ChangeX website and official approval of your project by the ChangeX team. During the 30 Day Challenge, several steps that demonstrate the commitment and ability of you or your community group to start the project are taken. These include scheduling a support call with a ChangeX team member; setting up your first team meeting; sharing a photo of your first 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.
The second payment (30% of total funding amount) will be issued to you after you have completed an impact survey demonstrating the outcomes of your project. The impact survey will be accessible to complete on your page on the ChangeX platform from three months after you applied to start the project. You will be sent email reminders about completing this survey and will have up to six months after you originally applied to complete it. 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 (for example: number of items repaired, or number of trees planted). At this stage, you will also be asked to share photos that show your project is up and running and having an impact. These photos should show your group in action and should ideally be taken at any significant events, for example: planting events, harvesting events, trainings, workshops or planning meetings and should include as many of your organising group and beneficiaries as is safely possible.
It is very important that you keep all receipts and records of how any funding you might receive is spent as ChangeX will collect and review these receipts before releasing the second installment of funding. If receipts cannot be shown, if 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, or if the project has not met the requirements of the initial project plan, 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.
Multiple applications
Each individual is only eligible to submit one application to receive funding. Existing community groups can apply for and receive funding to start up to three different portfolio ideas, once each application and the resulting project is led by a different member of the community organisation's leadership team. Projects taking place at the same location must be different and complementary.
Employees
ChangeX and Accenture employees are not eligible to apply for funding.
How to apply
Once you have ensured that you meet all of the criteria above, you can go to ChangeX.org, select your preferred idea and register to start the project in your community. The amount of funding available for your project depends on which idea you choose to start. Funding amounts generally range from €500 to €5,000. The amount of funding available per idea can be found on the webpage of each idea. Funding amounts align with the cost of starting each project. The full amount of funding will be allocated to you upon registering. You will be able to access this funding in 2 payments; the first payment (70% of your total funding) is unlocked upon completion of the 30 Day Challenge, and the second (30% of your total funding) once your project outcomes have been demonstrated. If you do not complete the 30 Day Challenge within the allocated time period (30 days from registration), your funding will be reallocated to another group and will not be accessible to you any longer. If you do not report your impact in the allocated time (6 months from registration), the second payment will be reallocated and will no longer be accessible to you.
In order to receive the funding, you must have a bank account. Once you’ve successfully unlocked your funding, you will be asked to enter your bank details on the ChangeX website to facilitate the bank transfer. In some cases, you will be asked to provide a scanned copy of your driver’s license or passport for additional verification purposes in addition to your bank details. 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 your Challenge and entered your bank information ChangeX will review your application to make sure all elements of the Challenge have been completed successfully. Payment will then be made, and the transfer will take an average of 4 working days to reach the applicant’s bank account.
When the final impact survey has been completed (between three and six months after the original application was made) it will also be reviewed, to ensure the project is active and the second instalment of funding is necessary. Payment will then be made, and the transfer will take an average of 4 working days to reach the applicant’s bank account.
ChangeX, at its sole discretion, decides which applicants will be accepted, what the funds can be used for, documentation requirements, and whether the relevant criteria for payment have been met, prior to the approval of a project. ChangeX may request further information and documentation as it reasonably deems necessary, and can set further reasonable requirements or criteria during the application process or throughout the project.
Supports Available
In order to give you the best chance of success to get your new project active, ChangeX will provide you with a number of supports, resources and tools. These include a 5-Step Guide relating to the idea you are starting, a general guide to starting projects in your community, a call with a member of the ChangeX team (which is a mandatory step in completing the 30 Day Challenge), email support, a local webpage to manage your team and previous starter stories to provide information and inspiration.
Accessibility
If you require any additional support to complete the application process or access resources please contact [email protected] and we will do everything in our power to help.
Where is this funding coming from?
This fund is sponsored by Accenture. ChangeX is solely responsible for the management of the fund, including the selection of applicants, starter support, fund distribution and impact tracking.
Sharing your project with media or on social
We encourage you to share news about your community project through your local media or on social media in order to find people to join and support your project, or just to share some positive news with your wider community. When talking to media, we kindly ask you to mention the source of the funding for your project. For example, you can say: “The project received funding through the Accenture Sustainable Community Challenge, run by ChangeX.” OR “The project has been made possible thanks to funding from Accenture and support from ChangeX.” On social media, please use the following hashtag when announcing your project: #AccentureUKISustainableCommunity
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