6.1 Primary institutional donors with direct relationships with CARE Members

Checklist

To access funding from CARE’s primary donors:

  • Establish good coordination between the CO and the relevant CARE International Member. The CARE Member should provide advice about how to access the funds, help with the proposal development and submission process, and will manage donor relations at the headquarters level.
  • Establish good relationships with the donor representatives on the ground. They will often be responsible for funding decisions. Ensure you share CARE’s strategy and other relevant information (assessment data, concepts) with donors on the ground, so that they are aware of CARE’s capacity and ability to respond. Meetings to present CARE’s programme may be required.
  • Find out about available funding cycles of key donors, including proposal requirements, funding amounts, submission deadlines, and likely phasing of funding rounds for response and rehabilitation.
  • Prepare and submit high-quality proposals. For guidelines, refer to Chapter 7 Proposal writing.
  • A CO must never apply for funding from a primary donor of a CARE Member without coordinating with the Member.
  • For ECHO funding: Be quick, because ECHO will often allocate initial funding within 48 hours. Country Offices will need to partner with a European member to access ECHO funding. If there is doubt about who is the appropriate partner for ECHO contracts is, seek advice from the CI Secretariat/ Brussels office.
  • Country Offices should also note that, increasingly, many bilateral donors will only consider funding those NGOs who are seen to be coordinating their emergency response activities with the UN-led cluster system.