Money for international rural youth projects

The Youth in Action programme of the European Commission is specifically geared towards a variety of smaller scale youth projects, and focuses on the inclusion of young people with fewer opportunities. Rural youth is certainly one of these inclusion groups, especially if you face the many challenges listed in the section 'Rural & geographically isolated youth'.

• More about European Youth in Action programme & rural youth

Besides this user-friendly Youth in Action programme, other funding opportunities for youth and/or rural projects exist. However, a funder never funds a project 100%, so you will always need to rely on more than once source of funding. Or you could organise your own creative fund-raising activities.

• More about fund-raising activities at www.fund-raising.com/fundraising-ideas.php

Money for international (rural) youth projects

• European Youth Foundation (Council of Europe): www.coe.int/youth/. The EYF funds international youth projects (minimum 4 European partner countries).
• European Mobility Fund (Council of Europe): www.coe.int/youth/. The Mobility Fund pays rail travel for disadvantaged groups participating in international youth projects.
• Leader +: http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/rur/leaderplus/index_en.htm. Leader+ is designed to help rural actors improve the long-term potential of their local region. Projects need to fall within specific priorities granted to specific countries. Sometimes there is a youth focus in these projects.
• Interreg: www.interact-eu.int. Interreg is financed by the European development fund for social cohesion and supports cross border trans-national and interregional cooperation. Maybe your region is part of an Interreg project.
• European Cultural Foundation: www.eurocult.org. ECF is an independent non-profit organisation that promotes cultural cooperation in Europe and gives funding for projects with a strong cultural component e.g. concerts, theatre,...
• World Bank Small Grants Programme for local communities: www.worldbank.org/smallgrants. The Small Grants Programme is one of the few global programmes of the World Bank that directly funds civil society organisations.
• Rotary & Lyons Clubs: www.rotary.org & www.lionsclubs.org. These are associations of professionals that sometimes give money to projects which answer the needs that challenge communities around the world.
• Embassies & Cultural Institutes: Some Embassies and cultural institutes (e.g. Goethe Institut, British Council, Alliance Française,...) are actively involved in supporting local projects in different countries.
• Visegrad Fund: www.visegradfund.org. Provides funding for cooperation projects between the Visegrad countries: Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary.
• Nordic Council: www.norden.org. The Nordic Council funds projects with a Nordic dimension
• Different foundations: Find an overview of foundations at Funders Online www.fundersonline.org. Funders Online is an initiative of the European Foundation Centre www.efc.be/projects/orpheus/. The EFC promotes and supports the work of foundations and corporate funders in Europe.
• E.g. Banks sometimes have foundations that fund projects e.g. la Caixa in Spain
• Corporate social responsibility: www.csreurope.org. Companies supporting social projects or civic society. CSR Europe regroups over 60 multinational corporations as members.
• E.g. Nokia Connection programme: www.nokia.com/A4254327. This is a programme that funds projects for youth development.
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• If you are looking for more about getting and managing money for youth projects, have a look at the T-Kit on Funding & Financial Management at www.youth-partnership.net or www.SALTO-YOUTH.net/Toolbox/
• For more info about European funding, you can also contact Eurodesk in your country www.eurodesk.org

NOTE

You are not allowed to combine two European Union funds (e.g. Youth in Action programme with Leader+ money). You need to find non-European Union money for your co-funding (e.g. from the Council of Europe, from private foundations or other institutions).

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