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Upcoming Deadlines

Peter Harrison Foundation’s Active Lives

Opens: 1st November 2024

Funding for UK charities to support grassroots sports projects which provide opportunities for self-development for people living in the most disadvantaged areas in the UK who encounter physical, mental, social, or economic barriers. The funding is for physical activity initiatives that:

Offer high-impact, life-enhancing opportunities for those who live in the top 10% of areas of deprivation.
Remove barriers to participation for disabled or disadvantaged people.
Focus on grassroots involvement rather than elite participation in physical activity.
Focus on skills development and confidence building for individuals.
Incorporate effective strategies for wider impact, perhaps through training, partnerships and/or dissemination activities.
Demonstrate a high degree of involvement across the organisation from beneficiaries and those with lived experience.
Have a well-developed plan for sustainability and seek to deliver a legacy.
Reflect the Foundation’s values of Excellence, Entrepreneurship, Integrity, Sustainability.

Two levels of funding are available and will cover capital, project or core costs:

Small grants – up to £5,000 (priority given to organisations with annual income under £500,000).
Major grants – £5,001 to £30,000 (priority given to organisations with annual income under £5 million).

Applications are accepted from UK organisations that:

Are either a registered charity or a registered CASC (Community Amateur Sports Club).
Have been registered with the charity regulator for two years or more (charity applicants).
Have been registered as a CASC for two years or more (CASC applicants).
Have produced independently examined or audited accounts for at least one full year of operation.

Community Interest Companies (CICs) and exempt charities may not apply.

Woodward Charitable Trust

Opens: 4th November 2024

The Woodward Charitable Trust, a grant-making trust, is one of the Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts. Twice a year it awards grants to UK registered charities with an annual turnover of less than £200,000 who are making ‘a real difference in their communities and who stand out in the work that they do’.

The funding is for charitable organisations in the UK working in the following areas:

Children and young people (up to 25 years) who are isolated, at risk of exclusion or involved in antisocial behaviour. This covers gang violence and knife crime, education and mentoring, as well as projects that work to raise self-esteem and employment opportunities and encourage an active involvement in and contribution towards the local community.
Disadvantaged families. This covers parenting support and guidance, mental health, food poverty, refuges and domestic violence projects.
Prisoners and ex-offenders and specifically projects that maintain and develop contact with prisoners' families and help with the rehabilitation and resettlement of prisoners and/or ex-offenders after their release.

The majority of an applicant's beneficiaries (more than 50%) must be within at least one of these areas to be eligible.

Although grants of up to £3,000 are available, most grants are for £1,000 or less. The Trustees favour small-scale, locally based initiatives and most grants are only for one year.

The grants are for core costs rather than specific projects and will cover staff salaries, rent, utilities, general office costs, accountancy/audit costs, fundraising, governance and compliance, and costs supporting the core programmes of the organisation.

Rosa - Voices from the Frontline

Opens: 5th November 2024

The women’s charity, Rosa, has announced that their Voices from the Frontline Fund will run for a seventh year. The fund offers grants to women’s and girls’ organisations to support campaigning and influencing work that enables women and girls to use their voice to achieve change. This year, grants have increased from £7,000 to £10,000 and will cover an 18-month period.

Applications will be accepted from not-for-profit women's sector voluntary and community organisations in the UK that have been active for at least one year and can produce annual accounts for an entire year.

They must meet Rosa’s definition of a women’s and girls’ organisation as those which are run by, for and with women and girls:

Their organisation will be governed and led by women.
They will have a Board of Trustees (or similar) where the Chair is a woman, and the majority of members are women.
The majority of their organisation’s employee leadership team will be women.
Their organisation will have the principal objective of working with women and/or girls and the majority of their organisation’s beneficiaries are, and will always be, women and/or girls.

Ofgem Energy Redress Scheme

Deadline: 15th January 2025

The Ofgem Energy Industry Voluntary Redress Scheme, known as the Energy Redress Scheme, is funded through payments from energy companies that may have breached rules. The Energy Saving Trust has been appointed by Ofgem to distribute the funding to charities.

Since 2018, a total of £128 million has been awarded, with more than 611 projects funded across England, Scotland and Wales.

In Round 10, the Main Fund contains £27 million, and the Small Project Fund contains £1 million. Registered charities in Great Britain can now apply for Energy Saving Trust’s Main and Small Project Funds, which aim to:

Support energy consumers in vulnerable situations.
Deliver benefits to the types of consumers negatively impacted by the specific issues that triggered redress payments.

Funding for Round 10 is as follows:

Main Fund offers grants of between £50,000 and £2 million.
Small Project Fund offers grants of between £20,000 and £49,999.

The grants can be used for capital or revenue funding and can provide up to 100% of the project cost.

Steel Charitable Trust

Deadline: 15th January 2025

Following a review of their strategic policy in August 2024 and the decision to temporarily suspend new applications, Steel Charitable Trust has announced a new funding strategy which is expected to be in effect for the next five years.

The Trust will support charities working with or on behalf of children and young people under 26, with an emphasis on creating educational and/or access opportunities for those in circumstances, groups, or locations that face economic challenges, social marginalisation or poor outcomes in later life.

Through the UK Under 26 Fund, project-restricted grants starting from £10,000 are available for not-for-profit organisations with an annual income of at least £50,000 in the previous financial year.

Applications for the UK Under 26 are taken and reviewed on a rolling basis. The trustees meet quarterly to consider applications.

Arts Council England Creative People and Places Programme

Deadline: 16th January 2025

Grants of between £750,000 and £1 million will be available over three years. The funding is for programmes in 142 eligible locations (Chesterfield & North East Derbyshire are included) that support the public in shaping local arts and cultural provision and, in so doing, increase attendance and participation in excellent art and culture. Activities must be delivered over three years and take place, starting on 1 April 2026 and ending by 31 March 2029.

It is expected that at least 15% of the total project costs should come from other sources.

Both existing and new Creative People and Places programmes can apply. The group must include representatives from community groups and cultural organisations. This can consist of arts organisations, museums, libraries, amateur groups and voluntary and community sector groups.

Lead applicants must have an initial conversation with an Arts Council England Relationship Manager before applying. This must be done before 19 December 2024.

Army Benevolent Fund

Deadline: 17th January 2025

The funding is intended to support charities and organisations with projects and activities that directly benefit the Army community in six key areas: independent living, elderly care, education and employability, mental fitness, families and housing.

Applications from organisations with which the charity has no established relationship are likely to be below £15,000.

Typically grants are made for a single year; however, the Charity’s Trustees may consider making a grant spread over a number of years at their discretion if they feel this would be appropriate. The charity will not fund the full cost recovery of any project, but will contribute to the overall costs. Applicants will need to evidence as to how the remaining funds will be found or covered by reserves.

When appropriate, applications will be considered on a case-by-case basis from:

Not-for-profit organisations & Community Interest Companies (CICs)
Community Projects
Housing Associations

The Charity prefers to support those organisations working directly with beneficiaries at a grassroots level.

Provide Community Grants

Deadline: 19th January 2025

Unrestricted grants are available for charitable organisations who are working to improve health and wellbeing in local communities.

The funding is for registered charities, charitable incorporated organisations (CIOs) and community interest companies (CICs) with a focus on health and social care support in their local communities.

Their work must align with at least one of the following themes:

To help people stay healthy in their community.
To provide health education in the community.
To provide technological solutions that support community health and wellbeing.

The funder offers two levels of grants. Please note groups may apply for only one grant in any 12-month period:

Grants of up to £5,000 for one year. Applications will be accepted from 2 December 2024.
Grants of up to £30,000. Applications are expected to open in 2025.

The funding can be used for both new and continuing projects or ongoing running costs

Lloyds Bank Foundation

Deadline: 23rd January 2025

The Foundation has announced that it will be awarding 83 unrestricted grants of £75,000 over three years, alongside tailored development support, to small, local, specialist charities supporting people to overcome complex issues in England and Wales.

Applications will be considered from charities and charitable incorporated organisations (CIOs) with an annual income between £25,000 and £500,000 who are working with people facing complex issues in England and Wales. They must have a track record of delivering services for at least one year, mainly to people aged 18 and older, and they must also be delivering these services currently.

Applicants must be providing in-depth services in one of the following eight themes:

Addiction
Asylum Seekers and Refugees
Care Leavers
Domestic Abuse
Homelessness
Offending
Sexual Abuse and Exploitation
Trafficking and Modern Day Slavery

Grants of up to £500 are also available for groups who need accessibility support to apply for this programme. The grant will help fund the cost of support, such as a scribe or BSL interpreter.

7Stars Foundation

Deadline: 2nd February 2025

7Stars Foundation is offering grants of up to £2,500 for registered charities with an annual turnover of less than £1.5 million across the UK to deliver projects and activities that support young people aged 16 years and under across the priority themes of abuse, addiction, child carers, and homelessness.

Funding for offered across the following streams:

Project grants to cover the costs of projects that respond to one or more of the funding priorities of the 7stars Foundation.
Shine Bright funding for groups to purchase educational, wellbeing, or recreational items for young people, aligned to funding priorities of the Foundation.
Direct grants funding to individuals affected by the Foundation's priorities, supported by outreach/social/care workers or legal professionals.
Social Impact funding for three charities across the year for projects that align with awareness days across the year.

The trustees typically meet three times a year to review grant applications.

Esmée Fairbairn Communities and Collections Fund

Deadline: 5th February 2025 (EOI)

Esmée Fairbairn Foundation has recently relaunched its Collection Fund as the Communities and Collections Fund to better represent its dual focus on collections and inclusion.

Although the overall purpose of the Communities and Collections Fund has not changed, the fund will place more emphasis on equitable working, supporting wellbeing and legacy planning.

The fund offers:

Core grants to museums that have established strategic aims for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), and that are ready to use their collections and the funding to support social and climate justice, in ways that are relevant to local contexts and relationships.
Partnership project grants to museums and community organisations that work equitably together and share aims for DEI, and which have ambitious and compelling ideas for inclusive project work with collections.

Grants of £40,000 to £100,000 are available over a period of up to three years. It is expected that around 12 grants will be awarded across the two funding rounds in 2025.

Leeds Building Society Foundation

Deadline: 10th February 2025

The Leeds Building Society Foundation offers grants to UK registered charities for projects which address one or more of the following themes:

Financial stress - projects that help with bills or debt stress.
Security and refuge - projects that support emergency accommodation.
Quality and suitability of housing.
Health and wellbeing support for those experiencing homelessness if it is part of wraparound support and the application also meets at least one of the other themes.

Applications are welcome from those who take a Housing First and/or relationship-based approach. Applications should show evidence of:

Strength-based practice
Trauma-informed care
Psychologically informed environments.

UK registered charities can apply for small Grants of between £250 and £1,000 to charities that have a turnover of less than £1 million. The funding is to be used for projects that support those in need of a safe and secure home. Grants are only for capital expenditure (that is, to purchase items used to directly help those in need).

Screwfix Foundation

Deadline: 10th February 2025

The trade retailers Screwfix established the Screwfix Foundation in 2013 to support local projects that improve, repair and maintain homes and community facilities used by those in need in the UK.

More than a decade later, the Foundation continues to offer grants with money raised through staff fundraising and customer donations.

Local registered charities and not-for-profit organisations can apply for grants of up to £5,000 for projects which improve a physical building (or land attached to it) that is used by people in need.

The funding is to be used for the following types of projects:

Improved energy efficient lighting and heating.
Installation of new kitchen, bathroom etc.
Installation of a sensory room.
General painting and decorating.
Improving safety and security of a building.

Registered charities, Community Benefit Societies, Cooperative Societies and Community Interest Companies can apply as long as they have suitable governance to manage the fund and are supporting people in need whether by reason of financial hardship, sickness, disability or other disadvantage or distress.

Grow Wild Community Programme

Deadline: 13th February 2025

The Grow Wild Community Programme is offering around 20 grants of up to £2,000 to not-for-profit groups across the UK to transform urban spaces for the benefit of people and wildlife through planting and championing UK native plants or fungi.

Projects should enhance the biodiversity of the urban space with planting and growing as a core activity, be led by groups who care about the environment and will use sustainable materials and practices and have the potential to reach at least 300 people.

In addition, projects need to work with one or more of Grow Wild’s target audience:

Young people aged 12-25.
People experiencing some disadvantage or reduced access to services.
People who are less engaged with others in their local community.
People who face barriers to connecting with nature.
Disabled people.

The grant can cover 100% of project specific costs, including seeds plants, soil, materials, events, workshop charges, specialist experts and contractor costs.

Applications will be accepted from:

Voluntary, youth and community groups.
Resident's groups.
Community associations.
Health authorities and health boards.

Grants of £2,000 will be awarded in April 2025 and need to be spent by the end of October 2025. New for 2025 is the opportunity for groups to apply for a £500 follow-on grant for spring 2026, to help support ongoing activities.

Idlewild Trust

Deadline: 14th February 2025

The Idlewild Trust was established in 1974 to support the arts, culture and conservation in the national arena. It was founded to recognise the importance of conserving aspects of the United Kingdom's common cultural heritage for future generations.

The Trust offers grants of up to £7,000 to registered charities working in the following two areas:

Arts Grants: Nurturing Early-Stage Professionals - grants support training opportunities for emerging professionals, working creatively and backstage, within the performing and visual arts, post-training, and at an early stage in their career.
Conservation Grants: Objects and Works of Art - grants support the conservation of cultural heritage of recognised national and international importance in museums, libraries, galleries, historic buildings, or landscapes accessible to the public (also available to museums that are exempt charities).

Latest News

Naturesave Trust

Naturesave Trust is currently accepting applications to its Spring 2025 round.

This small, registered charity is the charitable arm of Naturesave Insurance, an ethical insurance provider, and provides funding three times a year to support specific UK-based environmental, conservation and community renewable energy projects.

The Trust offers funding for a different theme each year.

This year, grants of up to £5,000 are for projects that actively promote sustainable and eco-friendly approaches to travel and transport.

NatureSave is looking to support the following types of projects:

Vehicles – clean fuel, batteries or both. This can include electric vehicles, hybrid power systems and fuel cells.
Infrastructure – such as public transportation systems.
Energy source – using renewable energy sources instead of fossil fuels like coal.
Activity – walking, cycling or using a scooter instead of driving.

Applications are accepted from a range of UK based organisations, including charities, social enterprises, voluntary organisations, small grassroots community groups and businesses.

To be eligible, the organisation and/or project must be entirely based in the UK and have a website or social media presence.

Tesco Stronger Starts Programme

Schools and other not-for-profit organisations can apply for grants of up to £1,500 for projects and activities that help children across the UK have a stronger start in life. Priority is given to initiatives that provide food and support to young people.

These grants assist schools and organisations in offering nutritious food, healthy activities that promote physical and mental wellbeing—such as breakfast clubs or snacks—and equipment for healthy pursuits.

Every three months, three local good causes or projects are selected for the blue token customer vote in Tesco stores throughout the UK, with grants awarded based on the number of votes each project receives. The funding is being made available through the Tesco Stronger Starts Programme, which is managed by Groundwork across the UK.

The Fore

The Fore offers unrestricted funding to small charities across the UK that are making a big impact and who want to significantly grow, strengthen, become more efficient or resilient. The national funding programme is open to any sector and region within the UK with particular interest in grassroots organisations working with underserved communities.

Unrestricted grants of up to £30,000 spread over one to three years are available. In addition, non-financial support such as access to a network of skilled, pro-bono volunteers, online training workshops and seminars are available to successful charities for life.

The unrestricted funding can be used for any purpose, including core costs and capital funding as long as the grants will help strengthen the organisation internally and help it to take the next step forwards in its growth or sustainability.

Applications will be considered from registered charities (including those constituted as charitable trusts, charitable unincorporated associations, charitable incorporated organisations and charitable companies limited by guarantee), Charitable Incorporated Organisations (CIOs), Community Interest Companies (CICs) limited by guarantee, or Community Benefit Societies and social enterprises that are charitable companies limited by guarantee or CICs limited by guarantee.

To apply for funding, organisations must first register some basic contact details at the start of the funding round. Once their place on the funding round has been confirmed by email, they have three to four weeks to submit an application. Only organisations that have registered with the Fore and are allocated a place may submit an application for the specific funding round.

The Spring 2025 round will open at 12pm (midday) on 4 December 2024 and close at 12pm (midday) on 11 December 2024.

Royal Countryside Fund - Supporting Rural Communities

The new Supporting Rural Communities grant programme will open to applications from across the UK on 10 January 2025.

The Royal Countryside Fund has announced that this ‘new differentiated funding will support transformative, community-led initiatives across the UK, unlocking the huge potential for positive change in rural communities’. The aim is to support innovative solutions that will ‘power up, not prop up’ communities, inspiring change and encouraging economic vibrancy.

Not-for-profit community organisations with an income of less than £500,000 a year can apply for grants of up to £25,000 over a period of 24 months to deliver activities along the themes of:

Keeping young people in the countryside
Powering up rural communities
Increasing environmental sustainability
Building emergency resilience in rural areas.

Support will be focused on isolated rural areas where the activity is required due to a lack of alternative services. Projects must be community led and show that they actively listen to, understand and respond to the needs of their local community.

The funding is for communities to create tangible change. This could be a project that generates a new income stream for the local community, or the delivery of training to develop skills opportunities for young people. It could also be activities to increase community awareness and engagement in the local environment, or an initiative to bring the community together to plan for the impacts of climate change.

A webinar for prospective applicants will be held on 17 December 2024 (18:00). Registration is required and can be done on Zoom.

Memorial Grant Scheme

Grants are available to help with VAT on the construction, repair and maintenance of public memorial structures in the UK for work which took place on or after 16 March 2005.

The funding is intended to cover the costs of VAT already paid. The maximum grant available is the full rate of VAT (20% of project costs).

Applications will be accepted from registered charities and faith groups excepted from registering as a charity to help with the cost of works like repairing and cleaning public memorials or installing a new memorial.

The memorial can commemorate a person/people, an animal/s or event/s.

The funding can only be provided for works that have already taken place. It cannot be used for future works. Part-funding is available for ongoing work for parts of the work which have been completed.

Energy Resilience Fund

Charities and social enterprises that are looking to install energy-saving measures or generation technology to buildings/land (including new builds), and/or to purchase energy efficient or environmentally friendly vehicles or equipment can apply now for a blended funding package of loan and grant to improve their energy resilience.

They may need this support for many different reasons, for example, reduced carbon emissions, energy cost savings, upgrading energy efficiency ratings to meet future regulations, increased use or comfort of buildings, replacing older vehicles and equipment with modern energy efficient versions.

Funding of £25,000 to £250,000 is available via a blend of grants (40%) and loans (60%). The loan repayment term is one to ten years. Loans have a 2.5% arrangement fee and an interest rate of 8.5% fixed per annum. Loans will generally be provided unsecured.

Paul Hamlyn Foundation - Arts Fund

Grants are available to support the core costs of not-for-profit cultural organisations working at the intersection of art and social change within the UK. The Fund provides long-term, core funding to organisations who work at the intersection of art and social change so they can continue the work they are already doing and for programmes which are central to their mission.

The Arts Fund supports organisations to do the following:

Build capacity and resources for culture within historically underfunded communities
Explore the role that artists can play in addressing issues of social justice
Create the infrastructure for a more equitable cultural sector.

The support is for not-for-profit cultural organisations who:

Use their creative practice to help us engage with the complexity of the world around us.
Centre the lived experience of those affected by injustice in their programmes, leadership and governance.
Are exploring how values of care, equity and justice can be embedded in their own organisational culture.
Have a clear sense of their own role in supporting change as part of a wider ecosystem.
Are generous with their learning and working with other organisations towards mutual aims.
Use their creative practice to challenge traditional cultural hierarchies of genre and art form.

The Arts Fund supports the long-term development and transformation of these organisations as a route towards social justice and sustainability. Grants of between £90,000 and £300,000 for activity lasting up to three years.

One Stop Community Partnership Programme

Community groups and other not for profit organisations within a two mile radius of a One Stop shop can apply for grants of up to £1,000 through the One Stop Community Partnership programme. The programme, administered by the environmental charity Groundwork, is designed to support community groups or organisations operating within two miles of a One Stop store and which are;

Tackling food poverty
Supporting the vulnerable
Supporting the elderly
Supporting low-income families
Supporting local sports teams
Improving the local environment
Reducing Waste in the community.

Community Automated External Defibrillators Fund

The Department of Health and Social Care is currently running a £1 million match funded Community Automated External Defibrillators Fund, aimed at increasing the number of AEDs in public places where they are most needed and to help save lives.

All types of organisations may apply.

To be eligible, applicants must:

Be based in England.
Not be an organisation that is eligible for the Department of Education scheme, eg, a school or an academy.
Locate the secure defibrillator on an external wall in an area that is accessible to members of the public 24 hours per day. (The equipment must be installed and registered on The Circuit within 4 weeks).
Be able to provide an electrical power source to ensure the defibrillator cabinet light and heater operate to keep the device at the right temperature
Provide match funding for their application (c. £750).

The funding is based on a 'first come first served basis'.

Applications will be accepted until all the funding has been allocated.

There are about 400 units left, and it is expected that the scheme will close to applications within four to six weeks from 1 November 2024 (by the end of November or mid December 2024) though it could be sooner.

B&Q Foundation

B&Q Foundation offers grants to charities who are using the funds to provide, maintain, repair or improve housing or community space. A wide range of UK registered charities based and working in the UK can apply for one-off grants of up to £5,000 for garden projects or up to £10,000 for building or indoor projects.

The funding is for registered charities working with people most in need because of homelessness, financial hardship, sickness, disability or other disadvantage.

Charities can use the grants to decorate, renovate or create spaces (indoors and outdoors) with the aim of making people feel at home and having a sense of belonging. Projects could include creating community gardens, redecorating properties, installing new boilers, and creating new buildings or rooms. The funding will cover the full cost for the completion of the project, including staff time required.

Please note CICs and unregistered community groups are not eligible for this funding.

Youth Endowment Fund

The Youth Endowment Fund (YEF) invites proposals from delivery organisations across England and/or Wales that work to reduce young people’s involvement in violence and are ready for rigorous evaluation.

The aim of this open call is to fund and evaluate projects that will help YEF build strong evidence for practices and approaches in areas where clear gaps exist.

The funding is for projects which are ready for an impact evaluation with an experimental design (ie, randomised control trial) or a quasi-experimental design.

The funding can be for both the delivery of the intervention and the evaluation itself.

Projects need to primarily support children and young people (aged 10 to 18 years) who are either:

At risk of crime or violence (‘secondary prevention’), or
Already affected by violence, offending or exploitation (‘tertiary prevention’).

Foyle Foundation Small Grants Scheme

Earlier this year, the Foyle Foundation announced that it will complete its grant giving programme in 2025 and it will stop accepting new applications to the Small Grants Scheme at the end of January 2025.

The Foundation was established in 2000 with unrestricted charitable objectives and no request or need to maintain a permanent endowment. The Trustees decided to spend down its funds over 25 years, enabling more charitable causes to receive more support, more quickly, than would have been possible if the Foundation had maintained a permanent endowment.

The scheme is open to UK charities that have an annual turnover of less than £150,000. Priority is given to local charities still active in their communities that are currently delivering services to the young, vulnerable, elderly, disadvantaged or the general community. Applicants must show how any grant will make a significant difference to their current work and must be able to demonstrate ongoing financial viability over the next 12 months.

Grants of between £2,000 and £10,000 are available for 12 months. The funding can be used for core costs (including salaries), projects, essential equipment, or building projects as long as they can be completed before the end of 2025.

The Foundation has indicated that competition for the funding is ‘intense’ as they are receiving an unprecedented number of applications, many more than can be funded.

Leathersellers' Foundation

The foundation operates two grant programmes for UK registered charities:

Small Grants Programme – one-off grants for small projects up to £5,000.
Main Grants Programme – targeted funding rounds, with grants available towards core costs to support charities working within the focus area of the active round of between £20,000 and £25,000 unrestricted funding per year for a period of up to four years.

There are 8 application windows throughout the year for the Small Grants Programme. Submissions are accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. As soon as 40 applications have been received, applications will close for the round. During the last round max. submissions were reached in 40 minutes.

Garfield Weston Foundation

Grants are available to charitable organisations in the UK who are working in the areas of arts, community, education, environment, faith, health, museums and heritage, welfare and youth.

The Foundation offers two levels of funding, which can be used towards capital, revenue or project costs:

Regular Grants of up to £100,000.
Major Grants of £100,000 and above. (When awarding major grants, the Foundation typically expects the project and organisation's overall annual income to be in excess of £1 million.)

Applications will be accepted from:

UK registered charities.
Charitable Incorporated Organisations.
Exempt and excepted under Charity Commission guidance.

To be eligible, applicants must have at least one year’s worth of annual accounts and submit one of the following:

Their annual accounts, independently audited or examined.
A copy of their Charity Commission annual return.

The DWF Foundation

The DWF Foundation supports registered charities with an impact in one or more of the following areas:

Homelessness
Health and wellbeing
Employability
Education
Environment and Sustainability

The Foundation has been set up to help with initiatives that develop and improve local communities by:

Tackling a specific community issue.
Helping voluntary and community groups become more effective and efficient.
Encouraging the involvement in the community of those too often excluded.
Enabling young people to develop skills for the benefit of the community.

Funding is usually at the discretion of the Foundation but the majority of grants are under £5,000.

COSARAF – Hardship Grants

COSARAF is offering grants of up to £2,000 to organisations that support families and individuals from across the UK who are in financial need and struggling with everyday costs such as basic expenses, utilities, or rent arrears.

Through the Hardship Grants Programme, recognised third-party social organisations, such as charities, housing associations, schools, and social services which are acting on behalf of a family or individual in need, can apply for funding to support vulnerable individuals with costs such as:

Household items, such as white goods, and occasionally furniture such as sofas or wardrobes.
Basic living expenses, such as utilities and food.
Work or education-related expenses.
Rent or Council tax arrears where there is a clear risk of homelessness.
Immigration-related costs, where a person’s current immigration status is causing financial hardship.

Priority will be given to:

The most financially excluded people.
Families over individuals.
Those with caring responsibilities.
Items that will make the most difference to the individual/family’s long-term future.

Most grants are typically around £500. Applications are assessed every six weeks and groups can expect to receive a response within eight weeks of their application.

npower Business Solutions Foundation

Grants are available for not-for-profit and educational institutions within 50 miles of nBS’ offices in Solihull and Leeds to support projects that have a positive impact on local communities, improve places and spaces, and provide opportunities for individuals to reach their potential.

Three levels of funding are available depending on the size and turnover of the applicant organisation:

Level 1 grants of up to £19,999.
Level 2 grants of up to £39,999.
Level 3 grants of up to £100,000.

Woodland Trust - Free Trees for Schools and Communities

Hundreds of thousands of trees are being given away to help the UK reach its 2050 carbon net-zero target. Schools, nurseries, colleges, universities, outdoor learning centres, and other groups such as resident associations, sports clubs, parish councils, scouts and guides from across the UK are among the organisations eligible to apply for up to 420 saplings to improve their local environment. Tree packs include hedging, copse, wild harvest, year-round colour, working wood, wild wood, wildlife, and urban trees. Applications are expected to close in January 2025 or sooner depending on stock availability.

The Toy Trust

Grants of up to £5,000 are available to registered charities to fund equipment and services to support disabled and disadvantaged children under 13 across the UK. The Toy Trust fund helps disadvantaged children and their families to:

alleviate suffering;
support children through awful experiences;
encourage achievement through adversity;
purchase vital equipment;
provide care;
bolster existing initiatives;
initiate brand new projects;
satisfy basic needs.

Groups that have carried out some form of effective fundraising by themselves are particularly encouraged to apply. The next deadline to apply is mid-November 2024 for the December meeting of Trustees.

CDS Action Charitable Trust

A community dental service with its head office in Beds, delivering services across the East of England and the Midlands, including in prisons. Donations from the CDS Action Charitable Trust to community organisations who operate in the same communities as CDS to promote health and well-being. So far over £475k has been shared with local organisations supporting causes as varied as canoes for scouts to sign language groups.

Applications are invited from charities, social enterprises and community groups in Norfolk and Waveney (Suffolk), Leicestershire, Essex, Oxfordshire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire with grants ranging in scale from £500 to £5,000. Applications are reviewed every three months by a group of trustees made up of CDS employees.

Severn Trent Community Fund - The NeighbourGOOD Scheme

Severn Trent Community Fund are to launch the NeighbourGOOD Scheme initiative to give communities a helping hand on existing or new schemes/projects, through funding and hands-on volunteering. They are looking to work with local projects that aim to improve the quality of life in our communities. They would love to help with any community-driven project be that enhancing a public space or supporting a local event, from coaching for vulnerable young people to a garden refurb in a care home.

They want to ask customers across the region to apply for up to £2.5k funding and 20-30 Severn Trent volunteers across 2 days to support with the delivery of their projects. The money can be used towards materials for the project and our staff will come to deliver the work.

The idea is that they will be able to deliver 10 projects in total, one in each county of their region. To decide which projects they will deliver we are going to be setting up a panel of judges from each county to shortlist the projects to 3 per county, which will then go to public vote.

They are looking to open applications in the first week of September for a 4–6-week window with the shortlisted projects for each county being announced mid-end October. The public vote will open mid-November with winners being announced before Christmas and all works completed before end March 2025.

Chesterfield Rotary Community Fund

The Chesterfield Rotary Community Awards Fund is open to applications from small community organisations, groups or projects based within, and supporting residents of, the Chesterfield Borough area. It is intended to provide funds which will support projects or activities which would not be possible without this award and which will benefit local people.

The maximum sum which can be awarded for a project or activity is £500.

In the past they have supported:

A group looking to make improvements to a play area in their local park
A para ice-hockey player needing support to participate in an international event
A young man with cerebral palsy needing equipment to participate in wheelchair football
Some scouts wanting to take part in an international jamboree

Priority will be given to:

Projects supporting people clearly in need of that support
Smaller organisations for whom the grant would be of more significance
Applications for sums smaller than the maximum allowable

Henry Smith Charity - Holiday Grants for Children

The Henry Smith Charity’s Holiday Grants programme supports recreational trips or holidays for groups of children aged 13 or younger who experience disadvantage or who have disabilities. There is particular interest in contributing to trips that would not take place without the Charity’s funding.

Applications are currently being accepted for holidays taken between 1 September and 31 December 2024.

Schools, youth groups, not for profit organisations and charities in the UK can apply for a one-off grant of between £500 and £2,750 to support a day trip or a longer residential of up to a week for groups of children aged 13 years or younger. The trip could be to a countryside or city location but must be outside of the children’s immediate locality. Day trips should not involve a disproportionate amount of time spent travelling. Consideration will be given to trips which are more local but these should have an emphasis on providing a new experience for the children and broadening their horizons.

Priority will be given to projects level that will benefit disadvantaged and disabled children in the most deprived areas in the UK.

Grants are made on a first come, first served basis until the available funding for that round has been fully allocated. All applications should be received at least six weeks before the date of the trip to allow for administrative processing and decision making.

Stobart Sustainability Fund

Funding is available to UK non-profit organisations, community groups and educational institutions for projects that address climate change, reduce carbon emissions or protect the environment.

Rugby-based Stobart, part of the Culina Group, has launched its new Stobart Sustainability Fund to support not-for-profit organisations, community groups, schools and colleges involved in sustainability initiatives.

Funding will be provided to projects which tackle climate change, reduce carbon emissions, or protect and enhance the environment.

Organisations are invited to set out their level of funding requirement in their application.