Small Grants Competition as Part of the “Impulse” Project

The competition is being implemented as part of the three-year “Impulse” project, which is being carried out by the International Renaissance Foundation and the Eastern Europe Foundation with support from the Norwegian Agency for Development and Cooperation (Norad) in partnership with Sweden (Sida). The project’s goal is to strengthen the capacity of Ukrainian civil society organizations to achieve development goals, early recovery, and democratic reforms. The competition aims to engage CSOs from the most affected regions in planning Ukraine’s recovery and promoting the principles of sustainable development, human rights, non-discrimination, gender equality, and transparent governance. Winners will receive a training program, consultations, networking opportunities, and organizational development support. The project provides for over 100 small grants.

The grant competition is open to local and regional non-governmental organisations, public unions, charitable foundations and community-based organisations that actively contribute to recovery processes in their communities or regions and engage relevant target groups.

Target beneficiaries include:

• veterans;
• internally displaced persons (IDPs);
• persons with disabilities;
• other vulnerable population groups.

Applicant organisations must be registered in one of the following regions of Ukraine: Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Zhytomyr, Kyiv, Luhansk, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Sumy, Kharkiv, Kherson, Chernihiv, Kirovohrad, Poltava or Cherkasy oblasts.

Eligible applicants include organisations registered in government-controlled areas of these regions as of 24 February 2022, as well as organisations that have relocated due to war-related circumstances, provided that all programme requirements are met.

Key eligibility requirements include:

• at least one year of operational experience from the date of registration;
• demonstrated involvement in civic initiatives and activities related to the relevant region;
• organisation team members must be physically located in Ukraine;
• willingness to participate in in-person organisational development activities.

Within the grant programme, the recommended project budget ranges from UAH 1,000,000 to UAH 1,500,000.

Eligible costs include expenditures that:

• are necessary for the implementation of project activities;
• are actually incurred during the project implementation period;
• comply with the principles of cost-effectiveness, efficiency and value for money;
• can be properly documented and supported by financial and accounting records.

At the same time, several categories of expenditures are considered ineligible. These include costs related to proposal preparation, establishment or registration of an organisation, debt repayment, compensation for currency fluctuations, political activities, or religious advocacy.

The programme also does not support projects or expenditures related to construction and renovation works, procurement of humanitarian aid or military equipment, purchase of vehicles and luxury items, or the provision of financial support to third parties (regranting).

In addition, expenditures on equipment procurement may not exceed 15% of the total project budget.

The grant programme supports projects aimed at strengthening civic participation, community recovery and the institutional development of civil society organisations. The list of activities provided is not exhaustive.

Supported activities include:

• raising awareness and encouraging community engagement in inclusive, people-centred and nature-based approaches to Ukraine’s recovery;
• active involvement of local residents in recovery planning and advocacy activities, including internally displaced persons, veterans, persons with disabilities and other vulnerable groups;
• development of local and regional civil society networks and participation in networking initiatives and public campaigns;
• analysis of key community challenges, followed by the preparation of recommendations, conclusions and related advocacy actions;
• communication activities accompanying project implementation and based on the organisation’s own research, observations, studies or analyses;
• initiatives aimed at strengthening organisational capacity, including strategic planning based on the principles of sustainable development, non-discrimination and gender equality.

The programme also welcomes the involvement of partner civil society organisations and individual experts working in the civic, academic or educational sectors.

The grant programme establishes key stages for the submission and review of project proposals.

Key dates include:

• Project proposal submission deadline: 27 August 2026.
• Competition closing date: 27 August 2026.
• Announcement of competition results: 19 October 2026.

For supported initiatives, the programme foresees that the overall project duration may be up to 12 months.

Accordingly, the programme roadmap includes the application submission stage, completion of the selection process, announcement of results, and subsequent project implementation within the approved timeframe.

To participate in the grant programme, applicants are required to complete the following steps:

1. Register the project proposal together with all supporting attachments through the International Renaissance Foundation’s “Electronic Competition” system.
2. Prepare and upload all required documents in one of the accepted formats:
   • .doc;
   • .docs;
   • .xls;
   • .xlsx;
   • .pdf.
3. Ensure that each attachment does not exceed 8 MB in size.
4. Submit the application before the relevant deadline. Project proposals submitted after 3:00 PM Kyiv time on a submission date will be considered during the next application round (except for the final round).
5. Please note that project proposals registered after 3:00 PM Kyiv time on 27 August 2026 will not be considered.

Project proposals will be assessed based on their alignment with the objectives and requirements of the grant competition.

The evaluation will focus on the following criteria:

• relevance of the project proposal to the competition objectives and a clear connection to recovery plans in specific communities;
• coherence and consistency across all sections of the application;
• feasibility of project implementation and clarity of expected results;
• anticipated positive impact of the project on the applicant organisation and the communities it serves;
• the presence of a structured communication component;
• integration of sustainable development, inclusion, non-discrimination and gender equality principles;
• justification of the proposed budget and consistency between planned expenditures and activities;
• involvement of partners in project implementation, including representatives of local communities.

The provided materials outline the evaluation criteria; however, no scoring methodology or allocation of points among the criteria is specified.

To participate in the grant competition, applicants are required to prepare and submit the following documents:

• Application Form;
• Project Budget Template;
• Annex 1. Conflict of Interest Policy;
• Annex 2. Organisational Transparency Requirements.

All of the above documents form part of the application package and must be submitted together with the project proposal in accordance with the programme requirements.

The grant programme provides several application rounds for submitting project proposals. The submission deadline is set for 3:00 PM Kyiv time on the specified application dates.

The announced submission deadlines are:

• 2 April 2025;
• 26 August 2025;
• 25 November 2025;
• 3 April 2026;
• 27 August 2026.

The results of each selection round are expected to be announced approximately one and a half months after the corresponding submission deadline.

The organisers also note that beneficiaries should plan the implementation of supported projects to start around two months after the relevant proposal submission deadline.

• The International Renaissance Foundation does not award grants to political parties, religious organizations, local communities, private individuals, or for-profit entities.
• Project proposals submitted by any means other than those specified above will not be considered.
• Materials submitted for the competition will not be returned or reviewed.
• All participants will be notified of the competition results via email.
• The final decision regarding a project proposal is not subject to review.
• Reasons for rejecting a project proposal will not be disclosed.