General eligibility notes

Who and what we fund:

  • Charitable organisations (including social enterprises, not-for-profit registered companies and voluntary organisations) in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
  • UK based small to medium sized local organisations with a demonstrable track record of success working to address local issues in communities of extreme urban deprivation  and deprived rural districts
  • Revenue costs including core costs, salaries,  running and project costs

Organisations we do not fund:

  • Organisations whose postcode is not within the IMD deprivation limits set out in our funding guidelines
  • Newly established organisations with no previous annual accounts
  • Individuals, whether direct or through a third party
  • Charities or NGOs registered outside the UK
  • Community Interest Companies (CICs)
  • Statutory services including state schools, local or national authorities, prisons, NHS hospitals or services
  • Universities, further education colleges and independent schools
  • Organisations with an annual income over £500,000
  • Hospices
  • Organisations with primarily an environmental aim
  • Grant making organisations or umbrella organisations
  • Organisations that have applied to us unsuccessfully within the previous 12 months
  • Organisations which have made their annual returns to the Charity Commission or Companies House late within the past three years
  • Organisations which have not reviewed their safeguarding policy and/or held formal safeguarding training/refresher sessions within the past 12 months
  • Trustees are unlikely to fund organisations holding more than twelve months operating costs in reserves. 
  • For Major Grants: Adventure Playgrounds, Baby Banks and Disability charities

Please see ‘Who and What We Fund’ for a full list of exclusions.

We run an on-line application process and you can make applications at any time of the year. There are no deadlines Small Grants will usually receive a final decision within 8 weeks of the receipt of your application.  Major Grants will be decided at our Grants Committee meetings which  take place in January, April, July and October. If you are applying for a Major Grant, please allow 12-15 weeks for the entire two-stage process. 

We strongly advise you to  check the IMD deprivation rank of your organisation’s postcode as you will need this information to know whether you are eligible. Please see our FAQs for directions on how to do this.

You can only apply for one grant at a time i.e. you cannot apply for two different costs at the same time, whether to the same or different grants programmes.

Please do not apply too far in advance of the time when you need the funding, as your application is likely to be unsuccessful. We expect grant recipients to start spending the grant within three months of the award being made.