Apply for a grant

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We will make £1.5m available to small charities in our year ending 31st March 2024.

Application windows are as follows:

Themed Grants: 1st – 31st July 2023

Small Grants: 1st – 30th September 2023

We will aim to have grants distributed with three months of the closure date for applications.

We’ll only accept applications that:

  1. Are made by charities registered in England and Wales.
  2. Come through this online application process.
  3. Are made by charities with an income of less than £5m a year in respect of themed grants and £250,000 a year in respect of small grants.

We award grants according to four priorities. Before you apply, review these to make sure your charity’s a good fit:

Improve the quality of life of individuals and families

We will have a broad view of what quality of life means and the range of ways in which quality of life can be improved. We’ll look for interventions in places where people and communities are suffering multiple disadvantages, and target our giving in the gaps between state provision and the commercial sector.

We’ll know we have been successful when the charities we support are improving their beneficiaries’ quality of life and can explain the difference their work has made.

Invest in well run organisations

We will give to charities:

  • That are able to articulate the difference they will make (either through a formal Theory of Change or by answering our application questions)
  • With a track record of doing good work or with a fantastic new idea
  • Who file their accounts on time and can demonstrate good governance

We will know we have been successful when:

  • 8 out of 10 grantees we contact are able to describe the difference they have made through our grants
  • Organisations reporting back to us can demonstrate that they have made a difference

Ensure grant-making rigour

We will:

  • Set clear criteria that are widely communicated, in good time; review these annually

Give with confidence

We will:

  • Use research and acquired understanding to confidently invest
  • Accept that not all grants will have the desired effect and seek to understand the reasons for that
  • Take a measured risk with our limited resources