Grants and funds

When you want to finance an initiative or a project, in many cases there is a possibility to apply for a grant or a fund. This is sometimes mentioned in the same breath because there are many similarities especially in the way of application. We can say with certainty that in order to apply for a grant or fund you must always provide a clear and concrete project plan and a balanced budget.

The distinction is made because subsidies are only provided by a government. This is for example a municipality or the province but the central government or the European Union can also provide subsidies. When we talk about funds, this refers to organizations that are often created to allocate certain (financial) resources. They in turn do so with resources from the government or, for example, the estate of a wealthy person. Grants and funds are generally provided to parties, organizations and people with an idealistic purpose.

You can choose to apply for a grant or fund yourself. On this website we inform you about this. If your project or initiative is very large or if you don't know much about it yourself, you can also hire a fundraiser. Such a person is specialized in raising funds or subsidies and often works on a no-cure, no-pay basis.

Grants

There are opportunities from virtually all governments to financially support initiatives, actually for just about any theme or field of work you can think of. Grants are linked to certain professional groups, types of initiatives and projects or relevant themes. These themes are often linked to current events and developments in society. These can change over the years, depending on what the situation is like. Examples include the environment where more and more governments recognize the importance of operating sustainably. Supporting art and culture is an item that has also been on the agenda for a long time, although this is a perfect example of a topic that is the subject of much debate (should we continue to support culture with taxpayer money?). Other topics include employment, education, healthcare, nature developments, urban development. Almost all topics from the government's perspective ultimately have an economic connotation or are influenced by it. This actually means that a government, when granting a contribution, will always look at whether it contributes to the economic development of a municipality or a region.

If you can demonstrate that your initiative or project has a positive impact on one of the themes on which a government is working, you have a better chance of being awarded the requested contribution. The amount of a contribution differs per theme (and per initiative or project) and can change over the years. The government will always encourage you to show cultural entrepreneurship and most grants also require some form of co-financing.

The method of application differs for each grant, as does the amount of contribution you can apply for. The time it takes the government to process your application also varies by type. In some cases, policy officials can decide on an award themselves. In other cases, a proposal must first be approved by a city council or minister, for example, and the proposal is accompanied by advice from an external committee or policy official.

On this website you can read more about applying for a subsidy and we have made an overview of subsidies for you. In Arnhem and Nijmegen we have special schemes that support young makers and new initiatives in their artistic development without having to go through long application procedures: the Arnhem Stroomversneller and the Nijmegen Growth Spurt Fund.

(Private) funds

There are a lot of (private) funds in the Netherlands (and abroad) whose main purpose is to support a specific area or theme through a financial contribution. These can be, for example, charities or a private fund where wealthy people feel that a particular theme is underexposed. Sometimes funds are (partly) paid from government money because the people at that fund have more knowledge than the government can or wants. There are also certain companies that have set up a separate fund because they feel that contributing to society is very important. Thus, you may find that you can apply to a company for both a sponsorship contribution and a contribution from the fund they initiated.

As with grants, each fund has its own way of allocating the funds, which means, for example, the application deadline or the method of application. On this website you can read more about applying for fund and we have made an overview of funds for you.


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