The Fibrus 2025 Community Fund is now live for community groups across Northern Ireland and Cumbria!

Today we’ve launched the 2025 Fibrus Broadband Community Fund, with £120,000 available for community groups across Northern Ireland and Cumbria.

Since launching the programme in 2021, we’ve donated £175,000 to local groups across Northern Ireland and £120,000 to 68 local groups across Cumbria, with a focus on addressing digital poverty and fostering inclusivity within rural communities.

We’re committed to supporting rural communities, whether it’s through our Full Fibre broadband rollout in rural towns and villages across Northern Ireland and Northern England, or through our sponsorship packages to groups and clubs around the country.

Linda McMillan, Chief People Officer at Fibrus said: “The local community is at the heart of everything we do at Fibrus, from our day-to-day work to our sponsorships and community engagement. The Fibrus Community Fund 2025 will see another £60,000 go to deserving clubs and organisations, helping us bridge the gap in becoming a fully digital inclusive society.

“We are delighted to bring Full Fibre broadband to areas that have been notoriously hard to reach and are extremely proud to continue working with Community Foundation NI to expand our rural community’s digital literacy and connectivity through this fund.”

Previous beneficiary of the fund, Craft Collective based just outside Limavady, received £500 from the Fibrus Community Fund in 2024 to educate its members about digital cutting to support their creative skills. A volunteer-led team, Craft Collective is a solace for the community where people of all ages and abilities come together to learn new skills in sewing, quilting, crocheting, knitting and more as well as to meet new people and build new connections.

Angela Miller from Craft Collective said: “At Craft Collective we wanted to step up the services for the creative minds in our local community and get them involved with state-of-the-art, digital cutting equipment and the Fibrus Community Fund helped us do just that.  The money enabled us to bring in a tutor to open opportunities to use computer applications in conjunction with crafting projects. Our local residents really embraced these classes, enjoyed meeting new people and learning new skills.”

Orla Black, Grants Director at Community Foundation NI said: “Digital exclusion continues to be a priority for us at Community Foundation NI and so we are thrilled to partner with Fibrus again to get vital funds out into the community.

“Year on year the number of applications for the Fibrus Community Fund continues to grow and we are seeing real-world benefits from those who are successful in their application. To date there has been £175,000 allocated with a further £60,000 coming in 2025.  This is a huge amount of support that gives an ever-growing amount of people and organisations throughout our communities the chance to develop digital skills and stay connected in the ever-changing world.”

If you are part of, or know of, a club or organisation that could benefit from funding, the next round of the Fibrus Community Fund is now open and will close on Friday, 9 May.

Learn more about the Community Fund Northern Ireland here.

Learn more about the Community Fund Cumbria here.