Our Small Grants Scheme is designed to support charities registered and operating in the United Kingdom, especially those working at grass roots and local community level, in any field, across a wide range of activities.
Applications can be accepted from charities that have an annual turnover of less than £150,000. Larger or national charities will normally not be considered under this scheme.
We make single grants only (no multi-year grants) towards core costs (including supporting salaries), projects, essential equipment or building projects.
Our priority will be to support local charities still active in their communities which are currently delivering services to the young, vulnerable, elderly, disadvantaged or the general community.
If applying for funding towards a capital project please apply towards the end of your fundraising campaign, when the majority of funding has been raised and you have an estimated start date for the works. If your application is successful, the pledged grant offer is only valid for 12 months.
Charities can apply for between £2,000 and £10,000. Please note that if successful, the Trustees may award less than the amount requested.
Deadline: Rolling
The Hodge Foundation’s aim is to support projects that have effective solutions to helping those most in need:
Welfare – The Foundation supports charities working with people who may be vulnerable or disadvantaged and who need assistance to improve their lives. This includes a variety of causes and groups including the elderly, homeless, disabled, special needs and those with mental health issues.
Education – Importance is placed on support for education and learning, both within formal school settings and practical approaches to learning which support young people to fulfil their potential and thrive including those with special needs. The Foundation continues to support arts projects for education that encourage and inspire audiences across the UK and bring a range of benefits to people of all ages and backgrounds.
Medical – The Foundation supports medical related charities specialising in the treatment and support for specific illnesses and research. The main focus has been on local hospices, children’s care and university-based research in the fields of cancer and mental health.
Religion – The Foundation supports communities by providing funds towards projects such as facilities in church buildings and inclusive activities for the wider community.
No max or min grant size listed.
Deadline: Rolling
We want everyone to be able to take part in the Action Day, but we know it can often be easier for some people than others to find the time and money to be able to do so. We also know that people across the country are experiencing ageism in different ways. Each of us has different ideas on how we raise awareness of and tackle ageism that work for us and our communities. We want to support this creativity across the day through offering micro-grants.
Grants of up to £500 are available, with an additional up to £150 to cover anything needed to make the event or activity more accessible. The lower limit for applications is £75.
Ageism Action Day: Micro-grants for Age-friendly Communities | Centre for Ageing Better (ageing-better.org.uk)
Deadline: The deadline for applications is 10th January 2024 but we may have to close early if we receive a high level of demand so we encourage you to submit as early as possible.
We want everyone to be able to take part in the Action Day, but we know it can often be easier for some people than others to find the time and money to be able to do so. We also know that people across the country are experiencing ageism in different ways. Each of us has different ideas on how we raise awareness of and tackle ageism that work for us and our communities. We want to support this creativity across the day through offering micro-grants.
Grants of up to £500 are available, with an additional up to £150 to cover anything needed to make the event or activity more accessible. The lower limit for applications is £75.
With the cost of living crisis a stark reality, we understand that charities and organisations need more help than ever before to keep going through the winter months. With this in mind, we have reopened the grant for further applications. If you have already received funding via our previous grant round from Surviving Winter then you ARE eligible to re-apply however, you will need to provide clear evidence that further funding is required.
Applications are invited for grants of up to £2,500 to enable groups to fund their essential resources in order to secure services for their beneficiaries through the winter. Resources such as energy bills, heating costs and increased rent prices will be considered.
Priority will be given to those groups who are supporting the very vulnerable, including:
• Babies
• Children
• Young people
• Elderly people
• Those with disabilities and life limiting illnesses
As part of this funding round we will be providing grants from our Wokingham Surviving Winter fund which has been made possible by generous donations through a Crowdfunder appeal which was match funded by Wokingham United Charities and Wokingham Borough Council.
If you’re already in receipt of a Berkshire Community Foundation grant, you can still apply.
Deadline: Monday 4th December 2023 – 10am on Tuesday 23rd January 2024
Alpkit only exists because of our wild places and the people that make them. Alpkit Foundation is our payback, our social dividend to protect the places we love for everyone to enjoy. We make small awards that help work to remove barriers in getting outdoors and experience wild places.
Projects driven by real activists among our communities and those deeply passionate about the benefits of time outdoors. Snippets of joy. Often we will hear first hand of the small steps that are driving big change. It’s really humbling to see this in action and it’s these stories that build our impact review. As it should be.
We particularly like to support projects that:
• Encourage responsible outdoor activity
• Have long-lasting benefits Introduce new people to get outdoors
• Demonstrate value for money
• Diversity and Inclusion Projects that engage individual and groups from a diverse range of background.
• Environmental Projects that seek to support, conserve, or generate understanding of our environment and wild places
• Health Projects enabling people to gain physical and mental wellbeing from the Great Outdoors
• Education Projects such as First Aid, D of E, Forest Schools and Mountain Leader
• Participation Projects that get more people experiencing the Great Outdoors
No maximum or minimum grant size listed.
Deadline: Our trustees meet every 2 months to consider applications. There’s no limit to the number of times you can recieve an award. If possible, please apply at least 3 months before the start of a project so that the trustees have time to consider it at their next meeting.
Our grants are offered as a contribution to your overall project costs as we do not fully fund projects.
We offer three levels of grants. These are large grants of £20,000 and above; medium grants of up to £20,000 and small grants of £5,000 and under. Our large and medium grants are considered and agreed upon at our Trustees’ meetings. Our small grants are agreed by Trustees on a monthly basis and form the majority of our grants.
Small grants are normally awarded to projects costing £100,000 and under.
• Community – We give grants towards the building or refurbishment of scout huts, village halls, community centres, youth clubs, boxing clubs, outdoor activity centres, farm and outdoor learning centres, sports centres and pavilions, playing fields and playgrounds. We also fund the purchase of new minibuses that assist those most in need in their local communities.
• Education – The Foundation supports improvements and new facilities at special needs schools and the purchase of new, adapted minibuses that benefit children with special needs and disabilities. We also award grants to educational nature centres and to new education and learning centres at museums, galleries and other arts organisations.
• Health – The Foundation supports building and refurbishment projects, specialist new transport and the creation of outdoor or recreational spaces for care homes, hospices, day centres and other facilities that provide relief and sanctuary for patients, their families and those with special needs. The emphasis is on helping charities that are providing an excellent standard of care and support within their communities.
• Social Welfare – We support projects for veterans, the elderly, ex-offenders and those in prison and schemes that enable people with mental and physical disabilities to live fuller lives in the community.
Our Trustees decide on the amount to be given so do not specify an amount unless there is a good reason for doing so – for example, you may only need a specific amount to meet your fundraising target.
Deadline: Rolling
The Coronation Food Project grants
In this funding round, the Coronation Food Project is offering grants from £300 up to a maximum of £30,000 over a 3 year period for eligible organisations.
Applications will open on 8th January 2024 for the Coronation Food Project’s first grants round. Please review all the guidance below before you apply.
Application deadline – 5.30pm on 22nd January 2024. Please click here for more details.
Applications to the grants programme must demonstrate how the funding would be used to address one or more of the following:
Reduce levels of food waste
Improve mechanisms to deliver surplus food to re-distribution charities
Address underlying causes of food poverty
Improve access to nutritious food for the most at need groups
Grants are available to public sector bodies, registered charities and other not-for-profit organisations to conduct outreach and engagement projects that will connect archives with their communities in places across England and Wales.
Application deadline: 26 January 2024
One-off annual grants are available for not-for-profit literary organisations in the UK that empower writers, helping them create, publish, learn, teach, experiment and thrive.
Application deadline: 31 January 2024
Grants are available for charities and other not-for-profit organisations that are supporting people in fuel and food poverty in England, Scotland or Wales.
Application deadline: N/A
About Us: The grants will support small capital improvements to theatres run by charities and not-for-profit groups that will make a big impact to a theatre’s resilience, sustainability or accessibility, or to improving the diversity of audiences.
Criteria: For essential works to not-for-profit theatres that will enable them to be viable and thrive in the future.
Grant Size: up to £5,000
Deadline for applications: noon on 12 January and 7 June 2024
About Us: We believe the best ideas often come from the people who know and live in our communities and we’re committed to supporting and investing in our communities.
Criteria: To support a project in one of our communities across the south of England. We know that the rising cost of living is having a big impact on our customers and communities, which is why we’re prioritising projects that focus on this type of support.
Grant Size: up to £3,000
Deadline for applications: 31 January 2024
About Us: We support charitable organisations that access the benefits of the countryside to pursue the health and wellbeing of people and to provide opportunities for education about the countryside.
Criteria: For small to medium UK registered charities and not for profit organisation with a clear social purpose within our priority area of children and young people who are disadvantaged financially, physically, mentally, or from areas of deprivation.
Grant Size: under £5,500
Deadline for applications: 6 February 2024
With thanks to Berkshire CVS’s for the information contained in this article – Wokingham & Bracknell InVOLve, West Berkshire Volunteer Centre and Slough CVS
Connecting Communities in Berkshire 