Grant Directories

The British School Charity provides grants to support the education of children and young people in the Saffron Walden area. The Charity provides funding to support education for young people aged under 25 who are disadvantaged or have special educational needs or a disability, and who live in the Saffron Walden area, or have been to school within it or have parents who live there. The Saffron Walden area includes Linton, Steeple Bumpstead, Great Bardfield, Clavering and Great Chesterford.

The Schroder Charity Trust is an independent grant-making Family Trust that has been supporting the charitable and voluntary sector for over 70 years.   The Trust makes grants in the areas of Arts, Culture and heritage; Environment and Conservation; Strengthening Communities; Education, Training and Employment; Health and Wellbeing.

The Bedfordshire and Luton 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 LuDun programme the foundation provides grants of up to £1,000 to those requiring access to training and education for adults with physical or learning difficulties. Beneficiaries must live in the post code areas of LU5, LU6 and LU7 or be previous employees of the LuDun facility in Liscombe Road, Dunstable, wherever they may reside.

The Newby Trust funds local, regional or national charities registered and operating in the UK within the broad categories of education, health and social welfare.  Through the Education programme the Trust provides grants of up to £10,000 to enable people to benefit from educational opportunities and to support excellence.

The Wolfson Foundation awards grants to support and promote excellence in education, science & medicine, the arts & humanities and health & disability. Through its Funding for Special Schools and Colleges funding stream the Foundation aims to support schools and colleges for children and young people with special educational needs. Grants are awarded for projects focussed on helping pupils to develop skills which would help them to gain employment or live independently after leaving school or college.

The Education Endowment Foundation is an independent charity dedicated to breaking the link between family income and educational achievement. The Improving outcomes for pupils with SEND programme aims to support projects which improve attainment and other educational outcomes, such as social and emotional learning, for children with special educational needs or disability (SEND). To be considered for funding, projects should be informed and supported by evidence of impact on learning outcomes; be practical, cost effective and scalable; be clear how they will support children with SEND; and aim to work with pupils between the ages of 3 and 18

The Foyle Foundation is an independent grantmaking trust that distributes grants to UK charities. It provides grants primarily in the areas of Arts and Learning. The Main Grants Scheme - Learning programme supports charities with projects that facilitate the acquisition of knowledge and which have a long term strategic impact. Key areas for support are: libraries, museums and archives; special educational needs; projects that encourage sustainability by reducing overheads or which help generate additional revenue. Examples of previous funding include: Imperial War Museum - redevelopment of First World War galleries; Lakeland Arts Trust, Kendal - replacement facilities for the Windermere Steamboat Museum and re-open it to the public. The majority of grants will be in the range of £10,000 to £50,000.

The Trust provides grants for projects that support the education, training, care and welfare of people with special educational needs, particularly those under 25 with emotional and behavioural difficulties. Although the Trust operates UK wide, preference is given to organisations and schools in Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire. Examples of eligible expenditure include equipment, playground equipment, music therapy etc as long as the grant will make a difference to special needs pupils

The St James Place Foundation supports projects which fall within the following themes: Supporting Young People with special needs - supporting projects that provide directly for young people (under the age of 25) within the UK who suffer from physical or mental health difficulties or conditions, or a life threatening or degenerative illness, or are disadvantaged; Supporting disadvantaged young people; Supporting people with cancer. Funding of up to £10,000 is available to registered charities and special needs schools

The Skipton Building Society Charitable Foundation makes grants to registered charities that benefit children, through education and/or welfare, or the elderly. The type of activities that the Foundation is likely to fund include: Sensory toys and equipment for children with special needs; items to care for isolated and/or vulnerable elderly people; support of specially adapted equipment to be used by people with physical / mental / communication disabilities; apparatus for children with special needs; items or tangible social activities for Community Centres providing a benefit to many in the local community; and provision of tangible and social interaction activities for the vulnerable and/or isolated.

The RW Mann Trust is a grant making organisation that supports organisations in the North Tyneside, South East Northumberland and in the East Newcastle areas who are locally run and led, help people with the greatest need, involve disadvantaged and minority groups, improve the quality of life in their community and are in the public interest. Grants made have varied between regular annual contributions, small one-off donations and grants for capital projects. . Most of the beneficiaries in recent years have been youth groups (both uniformed and non-uniformed), children, people with disabilities, older people, schools, colleges, councils for voluntary service and other advice agencies. The Trust has made grants of between £500 and £5,000 but the average size of grant awarded is £1000.

The Trust makes revenue grants to small registered charities whose work focuses on one of the Trust’s priority groups.  These are;  elderly people, children and young people aged 5 - 25, people with physical impairments;  learning difficulties or mental health challenges,;  social welfare - people trying to overcome life-limiting problems of a social, rather than medical, origin (such as addiction, relationship difficulties, abuse, offending); and education and learning (with a particular interest in people who are educationally disadvantaged, whether adults or children).  Grants are given for running costs for up to three years. Grants are normally for a maximum of £3,000 per year.

Schools, charities and community organisations can apply for grants for projects that improve the quality and prospect of life for children and young people who are disadvantaged physically, mentally or socially including those Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET). The grants available include capital projects such as medical treatment and recovery centres, sports and activity areas, sensory rooms and gardens, playgrounds and hydrotherapy pools as well as revenue grants to support outreach programmes for children in their communities.

The Trust provides financial assistance to registered or exempt charities of all sizes with proven track records whose activities fall within the following three categories. These categories are; care of and services for blind people, and the prevention and cure of blindness; care of people with learning disabilities in a way that provides lifelong commitment, a family environment and the maximum choice of activities and lifestyle; care of and services for people suffering from cancer, and their families. Grants vary in size and depend on a number of factors including the total funding requirement, charity size, purpose, and the amount available for distribution.  The Trustees prefer new or capital projects and only rarely fund running costs.

Jewish Childs Day helps children who are blind, deaf, suffering from physical, learning or emotional difficulties; children who are abused, neglected, deprived or disadvantaged; children caught up in the ravages of terrorism and war; children caught in the poverty trap and children battling against severe illness or trauma. The grant offers many aspects including: wheelchairs and walking aids, educational and developmental computer equipment, therapy support and rehabilitation programmes, hearing stimulus and communication equipment, holidays, incubators, respirators, after school facilities, hot meals and home teaching for housebound children. Grants range from £500 - £5,000 and completed applications must be submitted by 30th December, 29th April and 26th August accordingly.

The Ironmongers' Company aims to help people who are disadvantaged to improve their ability to make the most of life. Projects funded must focus on children and young people up to the age of 25, consist of educational opportunities that develop learning, motivation and skills and have clear objectives to be met within a planned timetable. The Company is particularly interested in enabling primary age children to develop a strong foundation for the future.  Grants are in the region of a few hundred pounds to £10,000. The appeals committee meets twice a year at the end of March and October. The deadlines for receipt of applications are 15 December and 31 July respectively.

The Sobell Foundation Grant focuses on children, the sick, elderly, needy and disabled. The Trustees aim to achieve a reasonable spread between Jewish charities (operating principally in the U.K. and Israel) and non-Jewish charities operating in the UK. The foundation concentrate their funding on small national or local charities. Funding is restricted to charities working in the following areas: Medical care and treatment, including respite care and hospices, Care for physically and mentally disabled adults and children, Education and training for adults and children with physical and learning disabilities, Care and support of the elderly, Care and support for children and Homelessness. The funding amount is discretionary and applications can be submitted at any time.

The Baily Thomas Charitable Fund is a registered charity which provides funding to voluntary organisations, special schools and PTAs working in the field of learning disability. They consider projects concerning children or adults with severe learning difficulties, together with autism. They do not give grants for research into or care of those with mental illness or dyslexia. Funding is available only to organisations within the UK and grants will not normally be awarded to individuals. Grants are awarded for amounts from £250 and depend on the purpose, the total funding requirement and the potential sources of other funds.  Application for funding is normally considered for capital and revenue costs and for both specific projects and for general running/core costs. 

The Rayne Foundation offers grants to tackle entrenched social issues through the arts, health, wellbeing, and education. The foundation has a particular focus on connecting communities, building bridges between marginalised groups and mainstream society, and enabling individuals to reach their full potential. The annual grant making programme is in the region of £1.5 million and grants typically fall in the range of £10,000 to £20,000 per annum for up to three years. Funding is available both for capital and revenue expenditure.