Berkshire Community Foundation
About Us: A registered local charity in the UK that raises money from philanthropists, businesses, and trusts, and distributes it as grants to vital grassroots and voluntary causes across the Royal County of Berkshire.
Criteria: Must benefit Berkshire residents; constituted non‑profits; 12 months’ accounts; appropriate safeguarding; cannot apply if holding >12 months’ unrestricted reserves or if annual budget >£2m. This round focuses on urgent local needs including domestic abuse, safeguarding, trauma‑informed support, homelessness, poverty, essential goods, crisis intervention, and family and youth wellbeing.
Grant Size: Up to £10,000
Deadline for Applications: Opens 29th June 2026; closes 13th August 2026.
The Matthew Good Foundation
About Us: Grants for Good is funded by the John Good Group and is designed to direct funding only to small and growing local charities, voluntary groups or social enterprises that are making a big impact on communities, people or the environment.
Criteria: Small charities, not-for-profit groups, and social entrepreneurs.
Grant Size: Share £15,000 between five shortlisted projects – maximum grant £5,000
Deadline for Applications: 15th September 2026
The Ancaster Trust
About Us: A grant-making micro-charity awarding small grants to registered charities across the UK and overseas.
Criteria: UK‑registered charities delivering mental health and wellbeing support, with a strong preference for small, community‑based organisations.
Grant Size: £500–£1,000
Deadline for Applications: Rolling programme
Alec Dickson Trust
About Us: We support young people who, through volunteering or community service, aim to enhance the lives of others, particularly those most marginalised by society.
Criteria: Grants to support youth‑led volunteering projects run by young people aged 14–30 across the UK.
Grant Size: up to £500
Deadline for Applications: Rolling programme
Website: https://www.alecdicksontrust.org.uk/
The Woodroffe Benton Foundation
Small grants for UK‑registered charities; typically £500–£2,500. Funding Themes: Relief of hardship; care for the elderly; education; environmental conservation. Eligibility: UK charities with annual income under £1 million; must provide services within the UK. Deadlines — Trustees meet quarterly; deadlines usually 1 February, 1 May, 1 August, 1 November.
What They Fund — Core costs, project costs, and capital items; preference for small, local charities with clear impact.
What They Do Not Fund — Individuals, CICs, large national charities, overseas work, animal welfare, medical research.
Application Process — Simple online form; decisions communicated after trustee meetings.
The Woodroffe Benton Foundation offers small grants of £500–£2,500 to UK‑registered charities with annual income under £1 million, supporting work in hardship relief, care for the elderly, education, and environmental conservation. Funding can cover core costs, project delivery, or capital items, with a strong preference for small, local organisations demonstrating clear community impact. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis and reviewed at quarterly trustee meetings, with typical deadlines of 1 February, 1 May, 1 August, and 1 November. The Foundation does not fund individuals, CICs, large national charities, overseas work, or medical research, focusing instead on grassroots organisations delivering practical, measurable support within the UK.
Get Berkshire Active- Workforce Development Grant
Eligibility
Berkshire‑based deliverers — Must live or work in Berkshire and be delivering or planning to deliver physical activity locally.
Age requirement — Applicants must be 16+.
Course identified — Must have a confirmed course/qualification with dates.
Impact reporting — Must agree to share a short update on the grant’s impact.
Funding Priorities
Inclusive workforce growth — Increasing the number of people delivering sport/physical activity across Berkshire.
Under‑represented groups — Priority for delivery aimed at:
Women & girls
Older adults
People with disabilities or long‑term conditions
Ethnically diverse communities
Low‑income or high‑need areas
Grant Amounts
Maximum award — Up to £300 per applicant.
Eligible courses — Only Level 1 and Level 2 equivalent courses are funded.
The Berkshire Get Active Workforce Development Grant supports coaches, leaders and activators across Berkshire with up to £300 toward Level 1 or Level 2 training courses that enhance their ability to deliver inclusive physical activity. The fund prioritises applicants working with under‑represented groups—including women and girls, older adults, disabled people, ethnically diverse communities, and residents in low‑income areas—and assesses applications based on impact, need, inclusion, and how learning will be applied. Open to anyone aged 16+ who lives or works in Berkshire and has a confirmed course booked, the grant aims to strengthen the local physical‑activity workforce and expand opportunities for those least likely to be active
The Card Factory Foundation
About Us: We ensure essential support is distributed and delivered directly when and where it matters most, enabling people and communities to navigate crisis and build a more stable future.
Criteria: UK‑based charities, CICs, community groups, and not‑for‑profits; must demonstrate clear local benefit. Projects that improve wellbeing, reduce isolation, support families, enhance community spaces, or help people facing hardship.
Grant Size: £250–£2,500
Deadline for Applications: Rolling programme
The Adint Charitable Trust
About Us: The Trust offers funding to UK registered charities for a range of general charitable work.
Criteria: Registered charities for general charitable purposes, but has a preference for education, training, disability, sport and/or recreation.
Grant Size: £5,000 to £10,000
Deadline for Applications: Rolling programme
Website: https://www.actiontogether.org.uk/adint-charitable-trust
New Grassroots Grants
Groundwork is delivering grants programme for small community and voluntary organisations with an annual income of £25,000 or less, providing unrestricted grants of up to £2,000.
They are looking to support organisations that are making a positive difference in their local communities, particularly those working with vulnerable people. They will need to be delivering work in at least one of the following areas:
Enabling participation in the arts
Improving green spaces and increasing access to the outdoors
Preventing or reducing the impact of poverty
Providing support to improve mental health
Supporting marginalised groups and/or tackling inequality
Application deadline – 30 September 2026
Ernest Cook Trust – Communities Grant
Grants are available to support charities and non-profit organisations who encourage young people from underserved communities to enjoy the outdoors and connect with nature.
Applications are currently open
Barchester Healthcare Foundation
Grants are available for small local groups and small local charities to improve the quality of life and combat loneliness in older people as well as adults with a physical or mental disability in England, Scotland, and Wales.
Applications deadline: 31 July 2026.
Randal Foundation
Eligibility
Small grassroots charities — UK organisations with turnover under £50,000 can receive unrestricted small grants, usually via partner Community Foundations rather than direct application.
Project‑based applicants — UK or international charities with turnover under £500,000 may apply during specific funding calls.
Invitation‑only programmes — Large organisations may be funded only through trustee‑identified partnerships (not open to general applications).
Funding Priorities
Saving lives — Healthcare for vulnerable people, crisis medical interventions, suicide prevention, emergency response.
Improving lives — Poverty alleviation, mental‑health support, women and children at risk, prisoner rehabilitation, education access.
Grassroots impact — Strengthening small local charities delivering essential community support.
Grant Amounts
Small grants — Unrestricted grants via Community Foundations; typically £3,000 (up to £10% of annual revenue for many groups).
Main project grants — £5,000–£30,000, completed within 12 months; offered only during fixed calls.
Large strategic partnerships — Multi‑year, high‑value investments identified by trustees; not open for application.
Application Notes
No rolling applications — All grants are through fixed calls published on the website; applicants must demonstrate measurable life‑saving or life‑improving impact.
Due diligence — Strong focus on evidence, attribution, and clear demonstration of impact.
Decision time — Up to 12 weeks for project‑grant calls.
What the Foundation Typically Funds
Healthcare interventions — Surgical care in crisis settings, hospital partnerships, maternal health.
Mental‑health programmes — Trauma‑informed peer support, suicide‑prevention research.
Community poverty support — Grassroots charities providing essential local services.
Women & children at risk — Anti‑trafficking, domestic‑violence support.
The Randal Charitable Foundation funds work that saves and significantly improves lives in the UK and globally, offering small unrestricted grants for grassroots charities, £5,000–£30,000 project grants through fixed calls, and large multi‑year strategic partnerships by invitation. Priority areas include healthcare for vulnerable people, mental‑health support, poverty alleviation, women and children at risk, and prisoner rehabilitation. Most programmes are not open year‑round; instead, the Foundation releases specific calls aligned with its strategic pillars. Applicants must demonstrate clear, evidence‑based impact, with decisions typically made within 12 weeks.
Rewilding Britain- Rewilding Innovation Fund
Eligibility
Eligible applicants — Community groups, charities, landowners, farmers, and local partnerships across Britain.
Rewilding focus — Projects must align with Rewilding Britain’s principles: restoring natural processes, boosting biodiversity, and enabling nature‑led recovery.
Innovation requirement — Must test a new idea, method, or approach that advances rewilding practice.
Network membership — Applicants must be part of the Rewilding Network (free to join).
Funding Priorities
Nature recovery — Projects that restore ecosystems, habitats, species, or natural processes.
Community‑led rewilding — Local groups trialling new ways to involve communities in nature restoration.
Landscape innovation — Tools, techniques or pilots that can be replicated across Britain.
Climate resilience — Nature‑based solutions that reduce flooding, improve soils, or store carbon.
Grant Amounts
Typical awards — £2,000–£15,000.
Eligible costs — Equipment, mapping, feasibility studies, specialist advice, pilot projects, community engagement tools.
Ineligible costs — Core salaries, long‑term delivery, land purchase, major capital works.
Application Notes
Two rounds per year — Spring and Autumn.
Short application form — Online form + supporting documents.
Decision time — Usually within 6–8 weeks.
Reporting — Short learning report to share insights with the Rewilding Network.
What the Fund Typically Supports
Pilot rewilding trials — Beaver feasibility studies, natural flood management pilots, species reintroductions.
Community engagement tools — Citizen science, mapping, storytelling, volunteer training.
Technical innovation — Habitat monitoring tech, new grazing systems, ecological modelling.
Rewilding Britain’s Rewilding Innovation Fund supports bold, experimental rewilding projects that restore nature and test new approaches to ecological recovery. Grants of £2,000–£15,000 help community groups, landowners and organisations pilot innovative ideas—from natural flood management and species reintroduction feasibility studies to new community engagement tools and ecological monitoring techniques. Applicants must be part of the Rewilding Network and demonstrate clear innovation, strong rewilding principles, and potential for wider learning. With two rounds per year and a focus on practical, replicable solutions, the fund aims to accelerate nature recovery and climate resilience across Britain.
Apply for up to £1,000 through Veolia’s Sustainability Fund
Veolia’s Sustainability Fund is now open for 2026, offering grants of up to £1,000 to support environmental and community projects across West Berkshire.
Open to not-for-profit organisations, community groups and individuals, the fund supports projects that:
- Enhance biodiversity
- Promote sustainable waste behaviours
- Use recycled, reused or reclaimed materials
- Strengthen and connect local communities
Applicants can also request in-kind support or volunteers to help deliver their project.
Since launching in 2022, the fund has awarded £21,000 to 21 local projects, including a community hub at Mapledurham Lock, Carbon Literacy education programmes, and the Bucklebury Repair Café.
Applications are open until 30 September 2026.
Thank you to Berkshire CVS’s for the information contained in this article – Volunteer Centre West Berkshire, Slough CVS and Wokingham & Bracknell Involve.
Connecting Communities in Berkshire 