Northern Ireland Community Infrastructure Fund
The Northern Ireland Community Infrastructure Fund is a small capital grant scheme for voluntary and community organisations. The fund was launched in September 2025 to support voluntary and community sector organisations to improve the internal or external fabric of their existing community buildings
Background
The original funding allocation of £4.32m from the Department for Communities was increased to £8.32m in April 2026 boosted by an additional £4m contribution jointly by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) and the Department for Communities (DfC).
The fund is being delivered by the Department for Communities in partnership with Co-operation Ireland
The aim is to enable community organisations to better meet the needs of their community and/or improve the quality and range of activities delivered in community buildings.
The scheme will provide funding towards:
- repairs to existing community buildings (for example, refurbishment or structural repairs, roof work, repairs to meet health and safety or building regulations)
- small scale refurbishment or renovation works to improve communal facilities, for example kitchen and toilets or changes to enable multi-use of premises
- capital works for accessibility improvements (upgrades such as ramps or lifts)
- energy efficiency measures (such as boiler replacement, window upgrades, insulation, heating systems, or solar panels).
The scheme opened for Expressions of Interest on 1 October 2025 and closed on 29 October 2025. Successful applicant organisations progressed to Full Application stage, which ran from 1 December 2025 to 23 January 2026.
Guidance notes
For more information, the guidance notes are available:
Stage Two application outcomes
A list of recipients of the Northern Ireland Community Infrastructure Fund is available.
Funding is subject to acceptance of grant terms and compliance with all relevant conditions.
Successful applicant organisations will progress to the delivery phase of the programme, which will run from the start of May 2026 until 31 March 2027.
Next steps
The NICIF is currently closed for applications.
The Department for Communities is developing proposals for a longer-term programme. Should a decision be taken to open another programme for applications, the Department will make details publicly available at that time.