Commonwealth Foundation Grant 2023

A not-for-profit civil society organization registered in an eligible Commonwealth Foundation member country must fulfill the following criteria:

• Newly registered organizations cannot apply.
• The organization must implement the proposed project in the country of registration. In multi-country projects, the organization must ensure strong local participation in project implementation.
• The applicant organization must possess a minimum of two years of demonstrable experience in working on participatory governance and advocacy within the area/theme(s) of the proposed project.
• The applicant organization’s total annual income averaged over the past two years, should not exceed 70% of the requested grant amount.
• The applicant organization’s annual income averaged over the past two years, must be less than £2.5m.
• The project proposal must address at least one of the Foundation’s priority themes.

Eligible Country’s civil society organizations are from Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe and some are also from the Pacific. Please note that If your organization is registered in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand cannot apply for a grant as a lead applicant but you can participate in a project as partners, so long as the lead applicant is from another eligible country.

There are some Funding Priorities: 

• Health Justice
• Freedom of Expression
• Climate Justice
• Other Important Funding Consideration: Gender as a cross-cutting theme, Partnerships Participation of young people, Small and vulnerable Member States, Capacity Strengthening

Before developing your project, please read about exclusions in our Guidelines for Applicants 2023. This describes activities that are not eligible for funding.

Note: If your organization is registered in a country that has an asterisk (*) next to it in the list, you are ineligible to apply for a grant as a lead applicant.