Trinity University of Sanctuary Community Fund Application Guidelines

Universities of Sanctuary is in an initiative that recognises and celebrates the efforts of universities and colleges that welcome and support sanctuary seekers – internationally displaced persons, refugees and asylum seekers within their academic communities.

Administered by the Trinity Global, the Trinity Sanctuary Fund is derived from two separate sources of funding:

Funds raised through alumni appeals co-ordinated by TDA; and
Trinity Global annual allocation.

A total fund of €50,000 is available for the academic year (AY) 2024-2025 for community initiatives related to Sanctuary work. The maximum amount of funding available per project is €5,000-€7,500, lower amounts may also be sought.

Proposals will be assessed by the Trinity Sanctuary Fund Advisory Committee.

Purpose and criteria

The Trinity University of Sanctuary Community Fund is intended to support staff- and student-led community projects which promote the University of Sanctuary principles in College. Collaborative applications between students and staff are strongly encouraged.

The University of Sanctuary principles are:

Principle 1: To learn: learning about what it means to seek sanctuary, in general and in relation to higher education institutions, in particular. It encompasses any activities that involve training staff, teaching students, or holding events to raise awareness on what it means to seek sanctuary.

Principle 2: To embed - embedding concepts of welcome, safety and inclusion within College and the wider community. A sustainable culture of welcome should be established within the institution.

Principle 3: To share - sharing our vision, achievements, what we have learned and our good practice with other education institutions, the local community and as far as we can reach.

Oversight of the Fund is the function of the Trinity Sanctuary Fund Advisory Committee and is managed by Trinity Global.

The Sanctuary Fund aims to support a range of proposals each year, with consideration of the impact, relevance, practicality, and representation across the University of Sanctuary principles demonstrated by each potential activity.

Proposed activities:

must be sponsored by a recognised group within the Trinity community e.g. a School/Department/Discipline, professional services unit or, a student society (CSC) or sports club (Trinity Sport Union), OR applications from communities/individuals outside the College must have a professional or academic staff sponsor;
cannot normally charge an admission cost or other fee to participate in their activity, if a charge is being made, it must be justified in the proposal;
cannot have fundraising and/or charitable donations as their primary purpose;
should not normally relate to activities which can reasonably be expected to be funded under the remit of existing funding sources or capitated bodies, such as the Central Societies Committee, TCD Students’ Union, Trinity Sport, or College Publications.

This funding is not intended to fund individual research or academic projects.

Terms and conditions of funding for organisers

All activities must comply fully with all relevant and applicable policies including:

College policies and regulations
Financial Services Division (FSD) requirements (including procurement, payroll, and reimbursement rules)
The statutory public body legal requirements as defined by the Revenue Commissioners
Any additional conditions of funding as specified by the Trinity Sanctuary Fund advisory committee.

Additional requirements of project organisers are:

Your project must be implemented in line with your project proposal – any changes to this plan must be notified to the chair of the Trinity Sanctuary Fund Advisory Committee immediately.
You must share any publicity material relating to your project with Trinity Global, for future promotion of the Sanctuary Fund.
Once awarded, the proposer/applicant will be contacted outlining the terms and conditions of the Fund. Once these have been accepted, funding will be transferred in one disbursement to an eligible account designated by the applicant.
To be eligible, an account must be an internal Trinity departmental account under the remit of the FSD. Applications will normally require a valid Trinity Cost Centre Code and Activity Code for the transfer.
Once transferred the funding must be used locally to organise purchasing and reimbursement in a prompt manner.

Organisers are directly responsible for ensuring:

All project related receipts are retained for inspection.
Unspent funds at project completion are returned to the Trinity Sanctuary Fund.
A Final Project Report is completed in a timely fashion.

The Organiser will be required to report to Trinity Global on the progress and outcome of funded projects within a maximum of 9 months’ time from the approval of funding. A Final Trinity Sanctuary Fund Report must be submitted by email to tcdglobal@tcd.ie for the attention of the Operations Manager using the template provided and including any other supporting information, resources, media, or outputs from the project. Overspending of the allocated amount will not be supported by the Fund.

In the event that the Trinity Sanctuary Fund Advisory Committee determines that funding terms and conditions have not been satisfactorily adhered to, organisers may be required to reimburse part or all of the provided funding, or in the event of serious issues arising the matter may be referred to the university disciplinary procedures.

Final reports and supporting photographs may be used to demonstrate the impact of the project with donors and future supporters of the Sanctuary Fund. Permission will be sought to use photographs in advance of any publication.

Application Assessment Criteria

Funding applications are considered by the Trinity College Dublin University of Sanctuary Community Fund review panel, which is a panel drawn from and/or nominated by the Trinity Sanctuary Fund Advisory Committee. The review panel includes the Trinity Global Operations Manager, a representative from Financial Services Division, and three general members. No panel member will have submitted an application in the year being reviewed.

The panel will consider in their review the objectives of the Trinity Sanctuary Fund, applicable College policy, and any other relevant factors specific to the application. As the review panel draws on staff with relevant expertise from across Trinity, they will be asked to advise the chair of any applications which they are indirectly supporting. The decision of the panel will be provided to the Trinity Sanctuary Fund Advisory Committee for final approval.

The decision of the Trinity Sanctuary Fund Advisory Committee is final.

The assessment criteria are as follows:

How the project proposal supports and aligns with at least one of the principles of the University of Sanctuary. Is this clearly described in the proposal?
Relevance of the project purpose & objectives to University of Sanctuary principles
Clarity of the proposed operations and implementation plan to ensure the project outcomes/outputs are delivered in the proposed timeframe.
Evidence the proposer has considered potential challenges/barriers and proposed solutions.
Proposed budget and financial management. Is the budget realistic? Can the proposed payments be made within FSD policies?
Sustainability: If the project is planned to continue beyond the funding period, how will it be funded? Has this been considered? Are there other potential sources of future funding?
Potential for replication or transferability of the project. How the project proposal demonstrates potential for further impact in Trinity or in the sector beyond the specific activity proposed, such as future scale-up, replication, or future recurrence?

The review panel may request further information to fully consider the application or apply certain criteria to approved funding for example the panel can adjust funding criteria in case there is an outside source of funding.

Proposals which are assessed at 70% or more will be considered for funding. Applications which are incomplete or do not display sufficient planning, clear budgeting, consideration of risk, or lack attention to detail may be rejected.