Guidelines for Applicants
[ Step 2 ] Our Criteria
Please look carefully at each part of this section to ensure you fit our criteria. If in doubt, do give us a call.
Your Organisation
Your organisation needs to work with one (or more) of the beneficiary groups we list as our priorities for funding (see Step 1 - Who can apply).
Your organisation does not need to be a registered charity - the Foundation also funds other organisations which are not charities but which seek funding for a charitable project.
The Foundation does not make grants to individuals.
Geographical limits - The Foundation makes grants for work all over the United Kingdom but not where the beneficiaries of the work all live in London. Organisations which have their offices in London are eligible provided the people who benefit from their work are not only in London.
Size of applicant organisation - To make sure that our relatively small grants have an impact the Foundation will not fund large organisations. If an organisation works in a local area such as a village, estate or small town, to be eligible it will have an income of less than about £100,000. At the other end of the spectrum, an organisation which works across the whole of the UK will be eligible if it has an income of not more than about £250,000.
Types of work the Foundation wishes to fund
The Foundation focuses on work which:
- will make a lasting difference to people’s lives rather than simply alleviating the symptoms or current problems
- is aimed at reducing isolation, stigma and discrimination, and
- encourages or enables unpopular groups to share in the life of the whole community.
While recognising (and being willing to support) on-going, tried and tested projects, the Foundation is particularly interested in unusual, imaginative or pioneering projects which have perhaps not yet caught the public imagination.
Activities -
Some examples of the kind of activities which might be suitable for funding follow and more can be found on the pages where our annual reports list all previous grants
• Provision of advice or information
• Advocacy
• Arts activities where the primary purpose is therapeutic or social
• Befriending or mentoring
• Mediation or conflict resolution
• Practical work, such as gardening or recycling, which benefits both the provider and the recipient
• Self-help groups
• Social activities or drop-in centres
• Strengthening the rights of particular groups and enabling their views and experiences to be heard by policy-makers
• Research and education aimed at changing public attitudes or policy
• Work aimed at combating stigma or discrimination
• Work developing practical alternatives to violence
Grants
The grants are relatively modest. Single, one-off grants range from as little as £500 up to £15,000. Grants repeated for more than one year vary from about £500 per annum up to £5,000 per annum, for a maximum of three years.
The Foundation makes single grants, or grants for two or three years.
Type of Grants -
The Foundation makes grants for start-up, core or project costs. These grants are relatively small. Examples of types of grants we make could be• Volunteers or participants expenses
• Venue hire
• Part-time or sessional staffing costs
• Work aimed at strengthening the organisation such as trustee or staff training