Who can apply?

You can apply if:

• You are a registered charity or properly constituted organisation. The purpose for which you are applying must be legally charitable and your constitution must allow you to carry out that work.
• Your proposal falls within our funding priorities.
• The work for which you want funding has not already taken place.
• The work will benefit an individual.

The Trust does not support:

• Organisations whose administrative expenses form more than 15% of their annual income.
• Individuals.
• Animal welfare.
• Heritage.

The Trust prefers to support projects which:

• Are pump-priming – helping to get an organisation up and running, or make a significant step forward.

How to apply

• Download and read the guidelines, (also contains the application form).
• If you would like to submit an application, complete the application form.

What happens next

If your application is largely ineligible under our guidelines, we will tell you within a few weeks of your application being received. Others will be assessed by our Trustees, which may involve asking for further information, or meeting you.

Applications are considered at Trustee meetings which are held in April and October. You will hear shortly after these meetings whether your application has been successful or not.

Each year we receive many more applications than we can fund. We have to reject many applications which are eligible under our guidelines but are of a lower priority.

Information to help you apply

• We make grants towards project costs – we prefer capital rather than running costs
• It is not usual to make more than one grant to any organisation, preferring to help many new projects get started.
• Grants are made in the range of £2,000 to £10,000, and in exceptional cases only, up to £20,000.

The diversity of appeals made to the Trustees make it difficult to provide specific guidelines in order to achieve selection. The Trustees are flexible in their approach, and take the following into account when considering an application:

• The ability to evaluate plays a crucial part.
• Involvement with a third party (eg NGOs) Whether the project is basic or palliative.
• The financial situation of the organisation (85% of income should be directly applied to advancing the applicants’ charitable objectives).
• Whether the project is one-off or ongoing.
• The extent to which organisations have helped themselves.