Empower to Plan Small Grants Programme
About Population Matters
Population Matters is a UK-based environmental non-profit organisation working globally to
create a sustainable future for both people and the planet. Our vision is simple: a future
with a good quality of life for all, a healthy and biodiverse environment, and a stable, sustainable population size. We campaign for ethical, voluntary, and positive solutions to encourage smaller families, reduce excessive consumption, and help us to live within our planet’s natural limits.
Our mission is to drive large-scale action by promoting choices that support a sustainable human
population and foster environmental regeneration.
At the heart of our mission is empowering women with the knowledge and freedom to choose their family size. This ultimately leads to a reduction in birth rates, easing the pressure on natural resources, enhancing climate resilience, and protecting our planet and its ecosystems.
Empower to Plan Programme
Empower to Plan (E2P) is our small grants programme, partnering with local organisations
globally to back grassroots projects on family planning, sexual and reproductive health, gender equality, and environmental sustainability. E2P aims to amplify voices, promote choice, safeguard our natural world, and foster positive change right at the grassroots level.
Grant Details
Grant Amount
We award grants of a maximum of £7,000 per application. Typical grant amounts fall within the range of £4,000 to £6,000.
We provide the full grant amount at the beginning of the funding period.
Number of grants:
We award 3 grants under the Empower to Plan Programme each year.
We disburse grants in the following months: July October February.
The application form includes the option to select, in order of preference, the month in which you would like us to disburse the grant to enable appropriate project planning, if your application is successful.
We will discuss the options with you if too many applicants have selected the same month, to ensure fairness and feasibility.
We are open to considering other grant disbursement periods, which can be specified in the application form.
Grant Duration
We typically support projects with durations between 4 and 12 months.
We can consider longer projects if they fall within the grant amount limit specified in Point 1.
Thematic Focus
We collaborate with organisations dedicated to enhancing the lives of girls and women and protecting the environment.
We support projects that incorporate two or more of the following thematic areas in their project design:
Sexual and reproductive health and education
Gender justice
Environmental justice
Family planning
Youth, girls’, and women’s empowerment
Environmental education and climate adaptation, resilience, and mitigation
Species and/or habitat conservation.
We encourage projects that adopt the Population/People, Health, and Environment (PHE) approach, which integrates these three key aspects for comprehensive impact.
Additionally, we recognise, support, and welcome applications from projects working with boys and men to achieve gender equality.
Types of Projects:
We consider applications for various types of projects, including but not limited to:
Implementation of specific projects run by the organisation.
Scaling up of existing projects to reach a wider audience.
Seed funding for innovative solutions and/or new projects.
Covering operational costs of ongoing initiatives.
Eligibility
Essential criteria:
Organisations should align with Population Matters’ mission and vision share our commitment to human rights, women’s empowerment, and global justice.
Organisations should incorporate two or more of the Empower to Plan thematic areas specified in our Thematic Focus.
Organisations must be registered as a grassroot/non-profit/nongovernmental/trust/civil society organisation/ community-based organisation in their country of operation.
Organisations should have an annual income between £5,000 and £250,000, with preference given to those at the lower end of this range.
To receive funds, organisations must have an internationally registered bank account.
Organisations must be legally capable of receiving funds from an international organisation.
Organisations must be able to provide a set of annual and/or management accounts and, ideally, audited accounts, when requested.
Organisations must either possess or express a willingness to implement safeguarding, financial management, and anti-fraud, bribery, and corruption policies. Population Matters is happy to provide assistance to those organisations that do not currently have these policies in place.
Desirable Criteria:
Organisations governed, directed, or led by members of the communities they serve.
Organisations led by and representing women and those with lived experience of the issues the organisation seeks to address.
Emerging and longstanding grassroots organisations, particularly those with little
or no access to funding from larger donors.
How to Apply
For more information and job application details, see; Empower to Plan Small Grants Programme
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