Survey Monkey Apply are the providers of the online platform we are using for grant applications. We will only consider completed applications that have been submitted using the online application system.

Before applying, you need to set up a SurveyMonkey Apply account. To set up your account, click ‘register’ on the website here.

To apply, you will first need to log in to your SurveyMonkey Apply account and complete and submit an online application form on the website here.

The application and supporting documents cannot be emailed to the Foundation.

Applications open at 12pm GMT on 23 September 2026 and close at 12pm GMT on 26 October 2026.

All applicants must submit a completed online application form. All applications must include the following additional documentation:

1. A logic model (using the template provided here).
2. A clear copy of the applicant’s or lead applicant’s registration certificate. If it does not state that the entity is not-for-profit, include other evidence such as articles of association. Shortlisted applicants whose original documents are not in English will be expected to provide a certified translation.
3. A document listing the names, roles, responsibilities and contact details of the applicant’s or lead applicant’s board members or trustees. If there is no board or trustee structure, upload the relevant governance structure, including roles and responsibilities.
4. Applicants based in India should comply with the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), or have preparations in place to obtain valid FCRA registration to receive charitable funding from outside India.
5. For grants of exactly £15,000 per year, the applicant may choose to submit either the latest audited accounts or the most recent annual accounts. Annual accounts must include a balance sheet, profit and loss statement and notes, and be signed off by the Board or principal executive officer. The accounts must not be older than December 2024.
6. Grants exceeding £15,000 per year, the applicant must submit the most recent audited accounts, including the accounts and the external auditor’s opinion. They must be signed by the auditor and the Board or principal executive officer and must not be older than December 2024.
7. Collective Action Grant applicants must also provide the collective’s structure, governance, secretariat organisation where applicable, and a full list of current members.
8. Creative applicants should submit a small selection of previous or current work that demonstrates your creative practice and its relevance to the project. You are permitted to share a maxiumum of:
   1. Six images
   2. Five minutes of video or audio
   3. Five pages of writing or relevant digital material
9. All organisational and financial documents must relate to the same legal entity named as the lead applicant.

Additional information on accounts is provided below. Note that incomplete applications will not be considered.

Filling in the application form does not automatically submit it. Please make sure that after you fill in the application form you go back to the main application screen and click on the submit button to submit your application.

You will receive an email from noreply@mail.smapply.io, the email address from SurveyMonkey Apply, acknowledging receipt of your application soon after it is submitted. If you do not receive this acknowledgement email one of three things may have happened:

• Your application was not successfully submitted
• The email was sent to a different email that was provided in the form
• Your email is in your spam inbox

Please check out all these options and if you are still experiencing problems contact the grants team at cfgrants@commonwealth.int

No. An organisation, network or collective may only be included in one application under this open call, whether as a lead applicant or partner.

Yes. Partnerships are welcome where they enhance the scale, depth, reach, or impact of the proposed work. For a Collective Action Grant, partners are defined as those directly involved in delivering the work; you do not need to list every member of the network or collective.

No. While the applicant or lead applicant must meet the relevant registration requirements and be registered in an eligible Commonwealth Foundation member country, partners may be registered civil society or creative organisations, grassroots or community-based groups, informal groups, social movements, networks, artists, storytellers, creative practitioners or advocates. An Individual Organisation Grant may be delivered by the applicant organisation alone or in partnership. The lead applicant should explain each partner’s role and contribution.

Yes. However, the grant agreement will be with the registered applicant or lead applicant, which will be responsible for the funding and delivery of the project.

If you are a member of a registered organisation, non-for-profit organisation, you can apply to either type of grant as long as you meet the eligibility criteria. You can also be a partner in a proposal that uses creative advocacy to advance one or more of the Foundation’s strategic impact areas.

Creative advocacy is the intentional use of creative practices to influence public discourse, policy, behaviours or decision-making in pursuit of positive social, cultural or political change.

Submit a small selection of previous or current work that demonstrates your creative practice and its relevance to the project. Use one or a combination of the following: up to six images, up to five minutes of video or audio, up to five pages of writing or other relevant material, or links to digital, interactive or web-based work. For each example, provide the title, date, your role and a short description of no more than 75 words.

You do not need to create a new portfolio for this application. Existing documentation is welcome, and production quality will not be assessed. If the work was collaborative, briefly explain your contribution.

You may include a link to a wider portfolio, but assessors will only be expected to review the material submitted within these limits.

All applicants must submit a completed online application form. All applications must include the following additional documentation:

1. A logic model (using the template provided).
2. A clear copy of the applicant’s or lead applicant’s registration certificate. If it does not state that the entity is not-for-profit, include other evidence such as articles of association. Shortlisted applicants whose original documents are not in English will be expected to provide a certified translation.
3. A document listing the names, roles, responsibilities and contact details of the applicant’s or lead applicant’s board members or trustees. If there is no board or trustee structure, upload the relevant governance structure, including roles and responsibilities.
4. Applicants based in India should comply with the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), or have preparations in place to obtain valid FCRA registration to receive charitable funding from outside India.
5. For grants of exactly £15,000 per year, the applicant may choose to submit either the latest audited accounts or the most recent annual accounts. Annual accounts must include a balance sheet, profit and loss statement and notes, and be signed off by the Board or principal executive officer. The accounts must not be older than December 2024.
6. Grants exceeding £15,000 per year, the applicant must submit the most recent audited accounts, including the accounts and the external auditor’s opinion. They must be signed by the auditor and the Board or principal executive officer and must not be older than December 2024.
7. Collective Action Grant applicants must also provide the collective’s structure, governance, secretariat organisation where applicable, and a full list of current members. Creative organisations and collectives must provide the required portfolio or equivalent digital evidence.
8. All organisational and financial documents must relate to the same legal entity named as the lead applicant.

Additional information on accounts is provided below. Note that incomplete applications will not be considered.

The Foundation will support projects advancing one or more of three strategic impact areas: freedom of expression; economic inclusion; and climate and environmental justice. Priority will be given to applications that facilitate constructive engagement between civic actors, governments and other decision-makers and/or use creative advocacy. All projects must integrate gender and intersectionality into their design and implementation.

The Foundation may support work that is not entirely new but builds on, extends or adds a component to an existing initiative that meets the open call grants criteria. Applicants should identify existing work in the application and explain the value and expected impact of the proposed extension. If the applicant is not a creative organisation or collective, a creative advocacy component added to an existing project will not be considered for funding.

For grants exceeding £15,000 per year, applicants must submit their most recent audited accounts, including the accounts and the external auditor’s opinion. They must be signed by the auditor and the Board or principal executive officer and must not be older than December 2024.

Project audits and independently verified accounts will not be accepted in place of the organisation’s audited accounts. Audited accounts for an affiliated organisation registered in a different country will not be accepted.

For grants of exactly £15,000 per year, applicants may submit audited accounts or their most recent annual accounts. Annual accounts must include a balance sheet, profit and loss statement and notes, be signed off by the Board or principal executive officer, and must not be older than December 2024.

No. The required financial documentation must be submitted together with the application form. Incomplete applications will not be considered.

The project must be implemented in the applicant’s or lead applicant’s country of registration, but may also include activities in other eligible Commonwealth Foundation member countries. Strong local participation is required in each country of implementation (please refer to the full list of eligible countries above).

Partnerships are not compulsory, but the Foundation welcomes grant applications for partnerships that aim to enhance the scale, depth, reach or impact of the proposed work. Please note that partners do not have to be registered organisations. They may include not-for-profit community-based organisations/groups, informal alliances, social movements, individual activists or creatives such as artists, musicians, writers, poets or performers’ activities.

Applicants should clearly explain each partner’s role and contribution. If a proposed partner is a registered organisation in a country of implementation, its registration certificate should be submitted with an Individual Organisation Grant application; for Collective Action Grants, certificates for registered partners will be requested if the application is shortlisted.

Partners may include registered civil society or creative organisations, grassroots or community-based groups, informal groups, social movements, networks, artists, storytellers, creative practitioners or advocates whose contribution will strengthen the project.

Yes. One eligible organisation must be nominated as lead applicant and the others identified as partners. For an unregistered network or collective, the lead applicant must be an eligible registered member organisation.

The lead applicant will enter into the grant agreement with the Commonwealth Foundation and will hold the relevant rights and responsibilities under that agreement.

No. An organisation/partner can only be included in one application.

No. An organisation can only apply for one grant under this call.

Organisations that have previously received a Foundation grant may apply only after that earlier grant has ended and the final payment has been received. Applicants currently implementing a grant, or awaiting final payment, are not eligible.

No. The income requirement applies only to the applicant or lead applicant.

No. Partners nominated by an applicant should not be government or business entities. However, the Foundation does welcome informal collaborations–including with government and the private sector–that might enhance the project’s effectiveness and impact.

No. While the Foundation is seeking to support constructive engagement with government, project funds cannot be used to provide training to government officials. If such training is considered necessary for project aims, an alternative source of funding for those costs should be secured and this should be explained clearly in the application.

Successful applicants will be required to develop a monitoring plan for their project. The Foundation will provide guidance for grant partners, including through the use of simplified versions of the Results Based Management and Outcome Harvesting methodologies that we use for all our work.

For projects of one year duration, grant partners are required to provide an end of project report and a corresponding financial report. For projects of more than one year duration, grant partners are required to provide an annual report including a financial report and, at the end of the project, an end of project report and corresponding financial report.

Reporting schedules will be agreed between the grant partner and the Foundation and set out in the grant agreement.

The Foundation’s arrears policy restricts eligibility for the open call to organisations from member countries that are in good financial standing with the Foundation. As in previous years, this excludes applications from several countries that are in serious arrears with respect to their contributions.

See our map of eligible countries for more information. 

No. Open call grants are awarded for specific projects and do not cover core organisational costs.

The Foundation does appreciate the importance of strengthening organisational capacity. For Individual Organisation Grants, shortlisted applicants will be invited to propose capacity strengthening initiatives as part of their project budget, costed at up to 5% of the grant amount requested. These funds may be used to cover organisational needs that are broader than the project that enhance organisational effectiveness. For Collective Action grants, shortlisted applicants are welcome to suggest capacity strengthening initiatives that support collective action work. There is no need to include capacity-strengthening proposals in the first-stage application.

Past and current projects funded by the Commonwealth Foundation can be found on our website: commonwealthfoundation.com/projects  

While these provide an overview, applicants should note that requirements and focus areas differ from year to year. Please also note that collective action grants are new for 2026-2027, so you will not find examples of projects funded under this grants stream.

Login and create your Survey Monkey Apply account to complete and submit an online application. Only applications submitted through the online application system will be considered.

No. Only applications submitted using the online application system will be considered.

SurveyMonkey Apply is the provider of the online platform used for Commonwealth Foundation grant applications.

You can find out how to register for an account here.

No. You should already have an account. Please log in using your email address and password. If you have forgotten your password, follow the guidance provided on screen to set a new one.

If you have login problems, please send an email to: cfgrants@commonwealth.int.

This is the email address from SurveyMonkey Apply, the providers of the grants online application system. All emails relating to the submission of your grant application will be sent from this email address. Please do not reply to this email address as it’s not monitored. Send any queries to cfgrants@commonwealth.int and a staff member of the Foundation will get back to you.

If you have problems with your application, please contact cfgrants@commonwealth.int and a staff member of the Foundation will assist you.

We strongly advise that applicants requiring help reach out to us as soon as possible. We receive a large volume of last-minute requests for help and we cannot guarantee responding to them all in time; you could miss the deadline. Submission after the deadline is not possible, and you should not rely on people being available to assist in the final days.

Please ensure that after you fill in the application form you return to the main application screen and click on the submit button to submit your application. Filling in the application form does not automatically submit it.

You will receive an email from noreply@mail.smapply.io acknowledging receipt of your application soon after it is submitted. If you do not receive this acknowledgement email one of three things may have happened:

1. your application was not successfully submitted
2. the email was sent to a different email that was provided in the form
3. your email is in your spam box

Please check out all these options and if you are still experiencing problems contact the grants team at cfgrants@commonwealth.int.

Shortlisted applicants will be contacted by the end of February 2027 and invited to provide further information, including a detailed project budget. If you have not been contacted by then, it means that your application has not been shortlisted.

Shortlisted applicants will be informed of the outcome by the end of June 2027. Grant agreements are expected to be concluded soon afterwards, allowing implementation to begin between August and September 2027.

The Foundation receives a large number of applications each year and is therefore unable to provide individual feedback for unsuccessful applicants.

If you have not been contacted by the end of February 2027, it means your application has not been shortlisted.

You can find out more information by downloading our application guidance documents which include:

• Frequently Asked Questions
• Grant Application Form
• Guidlines for Applicants
• Logic Model Template
• How to Submit an Online Application
• What is Constructive Engagement?

Organisations may email cfgrants@commonwealth.int with any queries that are not covered within these documents.

The Foundation’s grants programme exists to support civil society and creative voices to constructively engage in policy processes; to help people to participate in and transform the policies and systems that shape their lives. We are conscious that many potential applicants are drawn to these tools to prepare applications more quickly and with less effort.

The Foundation would like to advise prospective applicants to use AI merely as a support tool for editing, grammar, research, improving readability, and summarising.

The Foundation values proposals that are grounded in the knowledge, experience and perspectives of the communities affected, not generic narratives. Consequently, applications must still demonstrate organisational understanding of the problem being addressed, institutional knowledge of the community being served as well as the organisational journey to grow and create change for beneficiaries.

The Foundations assessment process remains centred on human judgement, expertise, and decision-making, to preserve the integrity of the process. The use of AI tools will neither disadvantage nor advantage applicants in our assessment process.

Good applications are grounded in verifiable evidence, real lived experience in the thematic area, genuine community engagement, realistic planning, and the insight that only comes from the organisation’s direct experience, learning and knowledge.

Shortlisted applicants will be contacted by Foundation staff by the end of February 2027. These applicants will be invited to provide further information in support of their application, including a detailed project budget.

If you have not been contacted by the end of February 2027, it means that your application has not been shortlisted.

Shortlisted applicants will be informed of the result of their application by the end of June 2027, and it is expected that grant agreements will be concluded soon thereafter, allowing for implementation to begin in the third quarter of 2027 (August- September).

Successful applicants will be required to develop a monitoring plan for their project. The Foundation will provide guidance and support to grant partners as required.

Reporting schedules will be agreed between the grant partner and the Foundation and set out in the grant agreement.

Grant partners who are implementing a one-year project will be asked to provide an end of project narrative report, along with a financial report. Grant partners who are implementing a two-year project will submit a narrative and financial report at the end of the first year as well as an end-of-project narrative and financial report. Reporting schedules will be agreed between the grant partner and the Foundation and set out in the grant agreement.