Publication
Youth Services Grant Scheme (YSGS) Pilot 2024-2025
From Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
Published on
Last updated on
Following review of the Youth Services Grant Scheme (YSGS), the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth is now seeking applications for YSGS funding from eligible organisations that have not previously received funding under the YSGS from DCEDIY.
This pilot process is only for applicant organisations that have not previously received funding. Existing organisations receiving funding under the YSGS will continue to use the existing application process for the year 2025.
The YSGS will be administered by the Youth Affairs Unit of DCEDIY.
For all details of the scheme please refer to the Guidance Note available below.
The objective of the YSGS is to fund high-quality youth services that provide for and respond to the interests and needs of children and young people, that are open and accessible to all, and that involve participants in service planning and decision-making.
To this end the YSGS provides funding for the effective delivery by youth organisations, operating with appropriate governance and oversight, of quality youth services to young people that support their social and personal development. The Scheme also provides funding to organisations that provide the necessary sectoral supports to facilitate the delivery of such services, including through such activities as:
• Representing the shared interests of voluntary youth organisations
• Promoting the development of evidence-informed, high-quality specialist youth work practice
• Capacity building and professional development for youth workers and volunteers, including specialist training for working with particular cohorts of young people, and
• Providing a platform to educate and inform young people about the importance of holistic well-being.
Funding awarded under the pilot scheme will cover the last 3 months of 2024 and the entirety of 2025.
Accordingly, the objectives and associated outputs to be achieved with YSGS funding will encompass a period of 15 months. All applicants applying for YSGS funding will be applying for funding from the Department to cover this period and on that basis.
Grant funding be made available to successful applicants subject to the terms of set out in the Grant Funding Agreement (to be published on the Department’s website no later than 31 August 2024).
In line with the Department’s current policy objectives and aims for this funding stream, the Department expects that any funding allocated to a successful applicant under the YSGS will be within the following thresholds for the period of this Grant Funding Agreement (i.e. Q4 2024 and all of 2025) unless the Department decides for policy reasons that the minimum allocation should be reduced based on the applications received during this pilot application process:
• Minimum grant allocation: €125,000 per applicant, and
• Maximum grant allocation: €437,500 per applicant.
Any allocation offered by the Department below the minimum sought by an applicant will be done so in the manner detailed in Section 4.3 of this Guidance Note, following the assessment phase of this pilot application process.
The total funding available under the YSGS pilot application process for the Q4 2024 period and all of 2025 is €1,250,000. For the avoidance of doubt, only one application must be submitted by an applicant for this funding stream, which covers part of 2024 and all of 2025. The annual grant allocation awarded to organisations for 2025 following the assessment of the applications received will be pro-rated for the remainder of 2024.
In the event of available funding being oversubscribed, it may not be possible for the Department to award successful applicants the full amount of funding they have applied for. In this instance, the amount of funding awarded following this competition will be calculated in the manner set out in the Guidance Note. The specific amount to be received by an applicant will be signalled to the applicant at the post-assessment notification stage.
A full guide to the application process is provided in the Guidance Note below.
Only applications submitted using the template YSGS Application Form (attached at Appendix 1 of the Guidance Note) will be considered for YSGS funding under this current pilot application process.
Applications must be submitted by email to YSGS@equality.gov.ie by 6pm on 16 September 2024.
An applicant’s application will be considered in two stages:
1. Eligibility to apply and the provision of key documents, and
2. Assessment of the applicant’s responses to the questions outlined in the YSGS Application Form and detailed in Section 4 of the Guidance Note.
All communications, including the completed application form, should be sent by email to YSGS@equality.gov.ie .
Organisations that are interested in making an application are invited to register their interest by email to the above address for inclusion in any further information or correspondence relating to the scheme.
