Grant Directories

The Hertfordshire Community Foundation is an independent charity that aims to tackle need and deprivation by delivering a range of grants to support local small charities, community and voluntary groups, and individuals on behalf of a wide range of donors. Through the UKCF B.A.M.E. Infrastructure Support Fund, grants of between £5,000 and £20,000 are available for infrastructure organisations that can help B.A.M.E. led organisations to apply for National Emergencies Trust grants through their local Community Foundations. An initial £250,000 has been allocated for this purpose, with more funds anticipated on a rolling basis.

The Oxfordshire Community Foundation exists to benefit disadvantaged communities by making grants to support relevant charitable or voluntary organisations, which make a difference to their local communities. Through the Step-Change-Fund the foundation provides grants of between £10,000 and £50,000 to registered charities and constituted groups to help high-quality social organisations make a step change to their business model that will create a more solid platform from which they can deliver services.

The Buckinghamshire Community Foundation exists to benefit disadvantaged communities by making grants to support relevant charitable or voluntary organisations, which make a difference to their local communities. Through the Rectory Homes Fund the foundation provides grants of up to £5,000 to Voluntary and community groups that are charitable in purpose, formally constituted, based in Buckinghamshire and working for the benefit of Buckinghamshire residents (excluding Milton Keynes),that demonstrate the organisation’s ability to help those most in need within the community and where the grant makes up a minimum of 25% and maximum of 50% of the total cost of the project. 

The Kent Community Foundation exists to benefit disadvantaged communities by making grants to support relevant charitable or voluntary organisations, which make a difference to their local communities. Through the Fidelity Fund the foundation provides funding of up to £18,000 for capital and infrastructure projects that strengthen robust, registered charities. Applicants must show how they will use the investment to achieve significant measurable outcomes in terms of new levels of achievement, efficiency and sustainability i.e. money saved, increased number of beneficiaries, increase in hours of service delivery, quality of intervention increased, additional income generated etc.

The National Lottery Community Fund distributes money raised by the National Lottery to support local communities. The Awards from the UK Portfolio programme supports UK-wide ideas and projects, with the aim of testing and growing bold ideas that put people in the lead to address long term social issues and to improve the quality of life across the UK and internationally. The UK portfolio supports projects that have a UK-wide significance in terms of interest, impact or influence.

The Baring Foundation is an independent grantmaking trust that distributes grants to UK charities. The Strengthening the Voluntary Sector programme supports the effective use of the law and human rights based approaches by the voluntary sector in the United Kingdom. Funding is available through two pilot funds: Training, education and capacity building – seed funding grants of up to £30,000 over six months to two years that support organisations to understand how their objectives can be achieved through use of the law or human rights based approaches; Applied projects – grants of up to £150,000 over three years to create new capacity for work that addresses specific discrimination or disadvantage and safeguards the freedom of purpose, action and voice of the sector.

The Friends Provident Foundation provides financial support to projects that promote a more resilient, sustainable and fairer economic system. The Foundation works on two levels. Systems change which aims to support work that can help to transform corporate behaviour, and to stimulate change in the current financial system; and Building local economic resilience which aims to test and review local or small-scale initiatives that build economic resilience through diversity, flexibility and building capabilities. Trustees will consider applications for grants, loans, underwriting or other forms of financial support. 

Locality is the national network of ambitious and enterprising community-led organisations, working together to help neighbourhoods thrive. Neighbourhood Planning Technical support aims to help groups with more complex issues develop their neighbourhood plan, those complex issues can include: Neighbourhood Forums; Clusters of Parishes; High Growth areas; Deprived areas; Business led neighbourhood plans; Populations of over 25,000; Groups preparing a neighbourhood development order. Technical support is designed to provide organisations with the information (evidence) and advice (professional judgement) which will help to decide priorities & direction, to draft policy, avoid legal challenges and to engage confidently with stakeholders such as developers, councils, local businesses and residents. Organisations will be allocated a lead supporter who will work with them to deliver the package of technical support through to completion.

UnLtd is the leading provider of support to social entrepreneurs in the UK and supports individuals who have their social ventures firmly rooted in delivering positive social change. It operates a unique model by investing directly in individuals and offering a complete package of resources; from awards of funding to ongoing advice, networking and practical support. UnLtd resource community entrepreneurs to start-up; support those with more established social ventures to scale up; and are committed to developing an eco-system of support to make it easier for those who need help to find it. UnLtd offers a number of programmes with varying levels of funding and support. Please refer to the funder's website for details.

The Milton Keynes Community Foundation makes grants to local voluntary and community groups. They seek to invest in projects that will offer a positive impact on the lives of people living in Milton Keynes and have a special interest in projects that are led and driven by local people, as well as projects that utilise partnerships between different organisations. A range of grants are available: Micro grants - funding of up to £200; Small Grants - funding of up to £1,500; Community Grants - funding of up to £5,000; Extraordinary Grants - amounts vary and are at the funder's discretion.

The Buckinghamshire Foundation is an independent registered charity dedicated to promoting charitable activity in the County; since the foundation started in 2000 they have provided grants and loans totalling £5 million to 1600 community groups. The Buckinghamshire Foundation specialises in making awards to organisations which are formally constituted, not for profit and operating for the benefit of Buckinghamshire residents. Support is available for new and existing projects, core running costs and capital expenditure such as equipment and building modifications.

Community Foundations support community and voluntary sector activity through grants to local groups and organisations. There are 48 Community Foundations of different sizes within the UK. Although all Community Foundations operate according to common criteria, they vary in terms of size and nature of grants available. Some Community Foundations will fund both organisations and individuals whilst other foundations will only fund organisations. Each community foundation covers a specific geographic area and will not normally be able to support work outside its area.

The Barrow Cadbury Trust is an independent charitable foundation, committed to supporting vulnerable and marginalised people in society. The Trust promotes social justice through grant making, research, influencing public opinion and policy and supporting local communities.  Their work is divided into three programme areas: Criminal Justice - building evidence of effective interventions, primarily for young adults and women, at all stages of the criminal justice process; Migration - promoting an immigration system that is fair to both migrants and established residents; Economic Justice - supporting effective approaches to reducing economic and social injustice and assisting in building resilient communities. There is a particular focus on projects located in Birmingham and the Black Country.