CPG branches out to Community Small Grants

CPG BRANCHES OUT TO COMMUNITY SMALL GRANTS

Community Participation Guarantee (CPG) introduces Community Credit Facility (CCF) for non-profit organisations (NGOs).

The modern American anthropologist Margaret Mead is often quoted for her saying “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

This simple mindset captures the philosophy of CPG’s latest public campaign of extending unconditional cash transfers to non-profit organisations.

In the four years since CPG commenced operations in the Sydney Metropolitan Area, Q Base Trust via CPG Projects has decided to press ahead with their new tactical deployment initiative of active direct-marketing rather than reverse-marketing their community action platform.

A CPG spokesperson says that from their point of view, “many times, and in many ways, cash transfers are the simplest and most direct way to assist community groups.”

Running up the flagpole of CPG's latest initiative that critics would consider an ‘unorthodox’ form of microfinance, he commented, “certainly, microfinance itself is a relatively new market practice, and so too are ‘untied’ provisionings. Therefore, the Community Credit Facility (CCF) does indeed signify a very bold political statement in public advocacy.”

Presently, non-profit organisations have to vie for the myriad of funding opportunities that they anticipate will help to bring their great ambition to reality. Based on merit and past achievements and their likelihood of success, a small grant can help to bridge the resources gap and assist with the day to day management of their organisation.

Enterprising non-profit organisations with a mission and or a project idea will now be able to apply for CPG’s Community Credit Facility (CCF), which will be available by open tender in amounts of $500 to $10,000 per quarter year.

Citing one example, he related, “recently, CPG staff recall that while working with a client group, as they were busy assisting with regular shipments of useful supplies and even getting down to the nitty gritty of helping to design and manufacture T-Shirts for the crew, they found that the client would also require financial assistance in order to fulfil their other day to day needs and also for some of the more expensive purchase orders that they wanted.”

CPG opened in 1998 with their signature suite of four ‘social inclusion’ projects (Support-1, LanguageWorks (now LearningWorks), DiscoveryZone and WorkReady). They have also extended their social action portfolio to include a Citizenship (CZP) Project and the Community Credit Facility (CCF) which has recently also enlarged to international sector clients via the auspices of Community Credit Facility International (CCFI).

The CPG pilot projects premised on market testing of CPG’s trademark ‘guarantee’ concept has become synonymous with ‘new’ social activism, and is steadily gaining ground in Australia and abroad in all the protocol modus operandi of global civil society (GSC) networks and ‘grassroots’ non-profit organisations (NPOs).

While CPG CCF and CCFI has done the utmost to simplify the application process, nonetheless there is still paperwork to be completed, however, he says, “we have streamlined the process with Fast-Tender, and the availability of dedicated Client Liaison Officers on standby to help with any queries.” Applicants should be satisfied that CPG has left no stone unturned to ensure they receive personalised attention and client care.

On the face of it, CPG’s CCF and CCFI appears to be a relatively plain vanilla market offering, quoting the CPG office, “the small grants are ‘unconditional’ cash transfers, so long as the applicant can prove capacity to allocate funds and if successful, they should also provide some newsletter or promotional material showing how their organisation is progressing.” Hence, it will remain an open book to learn how CPG clients can carry through their NGO dreams to fruition.

Parent company Q Base Trust’s decision to enlarge business operations into the international arena was in tacit recognition that the organisation is operating in a globalised environment and contending with issues rooted in international institutions and power politics.

The use of cash transfers which are reprehended as the primary tool for maintaining positions of political influence and control is at cross-sections with CPG’s CCF and CCFI which unapologetically approaches things from the bottom-up, serving to directly empower grassroots organisations so as to give them political voice and more room for manoeuvre. On the other hand, CPG’s CCF and CCFI venture may also be interpreted in the essence of public action campaigns which always seeks to address the larger global issues.

CCF and CCFI were truly borne of CPG staff working closely with their clients and staying in alignment to the pulse of what is going on for their clients, and what directions forward in the cause of their social action campaign.

At the frontlines, CPG staff readily conform to the rigours of being ‘en location’ and doing everything required to accomplish project outcomes. In another case in point, CPG staff were in a position to coordinate internal resourcing to help with logo design for a CPG client in the start-up phase of their venture. This cross-leveraging of stylistic and technical design is an example of flexibility and capacity to help, yet without regard to the necessaries of organisational funding, the CPG client may otherwise be undermined in their objectives.

Even Microsoft billionaire, Bill Gates recognises the challenges of ‘getting off the ground’. The co-founder of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is popularly quoted for saying, “Giving money effectively is almost as hard as earning it in the first place.”

The CPG spokesperson explained, “CPG Projects seek to ‘fill in the gaps’ of concepts in substantive equality and systematically addresses market access for disadvantaged groups. Our programme governance is underwritten by a corporate parent serving as the responsible patron and willing to trial the CCF and CCFI in parcel with other CPG ‘guarantee’ pilots currently in progress.”

“CCF and CCFI for non-profit organisations is of inherent value to the life of the organisation and its people, that they have a collective objective and key milestones on their journey. In essence, CCF and CCFI applicants can obtain a boost to start-up or project funding to help make their idea a reality.”

International good practice and experience affirm that while either conditional cash transfers or unconditional cash transfers may be generally beneficent, conditionality cannot overcome the obstacles of market access, where the obstacle relates to inadequacy of supply. In any case, CPG's programme office say they remain predisposed to pushing forward with their tactical deployment of CCF and CCFI. 

He annotated, “The consolidating ethos and institutional approach of cash transfers is applicable where it may be of more relevant and immediate impact, and where it is simpler and easier to do so. CPG is confident about our market approach and our matching principle of remitting small social accountabilities with small grants."

“CCF and CCFI are radical new CPG initiatives that will provide greater insight to comparative social protection systems and the complexities of conditional cash transfers versus unconditional cash transfers. CCF and CCFI also embody public value principles of investment, production, employment and empowerment in the logic of CPG and we are optimistic for positive outcomes.”

(CCF and CCFI are available by open tender. For further information or to request a CCF/CCFI InfoKit, contact CPG Public Liaison Officer 10am to 4pm Monday to Friday, 10am to 1pm Saturday.)

CPG Newsroom

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