How to Apply for the Heart of the Community Fund 

If you have read the application guidelines and have confirmed that your organisation is eligible to apply and meets all listed criteria, the first step is to access the grant application. 

The Ireland Funds are using SMApply to facilitate applications to the Heart of the Community Fund and all information relating to your application for funding will be submitted through and stored on SMApply.  

The application can be accessed through our website: irelandfunds.org/grants or you can go directly to the portal: https://irelandfunds.smapply.org/  

• Once you have successfully verified your email address with SMApply (new users) or logged in with existing user details, you will be directed to The Ireland Funds SMApply portal 
• You will need to switch the ‘user view’ to access the Heart of the Community Fund application form. SMApply will automatically revert to the primary administrator user profile, which is registered as an individual.  
  • You can switch to your organisation user by locating the username in the top left–hand corner of the page. 
  • Select the small drop–down arrow to the right of the username and a list will appear.  
  • Select your organisation name (this will be denoted by a small building icon to the left) 
• Once you are on the organisation user view, select ‘View Programs’ located at the bottom of the page. 
• You will then see the Heart of the Community Fund listed as a program open for applications. 
• Select the ‘More’ button. 
• You will then be redirected to the program overview for the Heart of the Community Fund. 
• On the right-hand-side, select the ‘Apply’ button to begin your application. 
  • If the ‘Apply’ button is not appearing or you cannot select, please follow step 2 to access the organisation user view which will then allow you to apply. 

Cannot See the Application – Toggling Between Individual User & Organisations

As The Ireland Funds only accepts applications from organisations and not individuals, SMApply is designed to only allow a user, logged into their organisation profile, to access the application form.

The reason that you are not able to access the apply functionality is that you are currently on the individual user profile and need to switch to your organisation user.

This can be done by doing the following:

• You can switch to your organisation user by locating the username in the top left-hand corner of the page
• Select the small drop-down arrow to the right of the username and a list will appear
• Select your organisation name (this will be denoted by a small building icon to the left)

How to Login as an Existing User on The Ireland Funds’ SMApply Portal 

• For organisations who previously submitted an application to The Ireland Funds’ Small Grant Round 2019, you will already have an existing organisation account on SMApply which you can log back into 
  • If you are unsure of whether there is an existing organisation account on SMApply, please get in touch with grantsinfo@irelandfunds.org and a member of the Grants Team will be able to confirm. 
• On the homepage of The Ireland Funds SMApply portal, please select ‘Log In’ in the top right-hand corner of the page. 
• Enter in the email address and password that was originally used to create the SMApply organisation account. 
  • If you have forgotten the password associated with the account, this can be reset by selecting the ‘Forgot your password’ option. 
  • An email link to reset the password will be sent by SMApply to your email address. This email will be sent from the following address: noreply@mail.smapply.net
• Once logged in, you will be redirected back to The Ireland Funds SMApply portal and will be able to begin your application to the Heart of the Community Fund 
• If the primary administrator (who originally created the organisation user on SMApply) has since left your organisation and whose details cannot be used to access SMApply, you will need to send an email to the Grants Team at grantsinfo@irelandfunds.org  

How to Register as a New User on The Ireland Funds’ SMApply Portal

To access the application form for the Heart of the Community Fund, you must first register as a user on SMApply.

• When you click the Apply button on the Grants Section of our website, you will be directed to the homepage of The Ireland Funds SMApply portal.
• Select the blue ‘Register’ button in the top right-hand corner.
• Please note: the page will automatically select the ‘Register as an individual’ option. You must change this selection yourself by clicking on the ‘Register as an organisation’
• It is imperative that you select the ‘Register as an organisation’ option as you will not have access to the application form if registered as an individual only.
• Select ‘Create Account’ at the bottom of the page once all details have been correctly entered.
• You will now be requested to fill out the details of the organisation that you are applying on behalf of
• We would encourage all users to complete their organisation’s information at this stage rather than at a later date.
• The final step in successfully registering with SMApply is to verify the email address you submitted in the earlier registration steps.
• SMApply will automatically generate an email request to verify your email address. This email will be sent from the following address: noreply@mail.smapply.net

*Please note that depending on your email server, this email may be flagged as ‘Spam’/’Junk’ so if you have not received the email 5-10 minutes after registering the email may be found by checking either of these folders.

How to Reset Your Password on The Ireland Funds’ SMApply Portal 

If you have forgotten your password:  

• Go to The Ireland Funds’ SMApply Portal: https://irelandfunds.smapply.org/  
• Click ‘Log In’ on the top right corner 
• Click ‘Forgot Your Password’ 
• Enter your email and ensure you have access to the inbox. Please note that depending on your email server, this email may be flagged as ‘Spam’/’Junk’ so if you have not received the email 5-10 minutes after registering the email may be found by checking either of these folders.  
• The reset email will have a green button that says ‘Reset Password’. Click this and it will redirect you to the reset password process. 
• Your password will need consist of 8 characters. Of these, there must be:  
  • One uppercase letter 
  • One lowercase letter 
  • One special character (i.e., *, $, %, !)   
  • One number 
• Once it has been reset, you should be able to log in as a registered individual user.