Grant Directories

Sirius Minerals Foundation receives an annual donation from the Woodsmith Mine through Anglo American plc. From April 2021 to May 2022 the Foundation plans to award grants totaling approximately £1.5m. Through the Small Capital and Training Grants programme the foundation provide grants of between £500 and £5,000 to support voluntary and community organisations based in the Foundation’s area of benefit which is the Borough of Scarborough, the Borough of Redcar and Cleveland, and the North York Moors National Park. Your project must benefit people living in this area. The funding is aimed at projects that will support: Venues and facilities to make repairs or purchases, refurbishments or extensions which will enable them to re-open existing spaces or create new space that will allow additional services to be run or new beneficiaries groups to be supported; Organisations to purchase equipment or fund coaching qualifications, essential staff training or similar that will allo...

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.

County Durham Community Foundation (CDCF) is one of 48 community foundations across the UK. The Foundation's aim is dedicated to helping communities across County Durham to grow by creating opportunities and tackling issues of disadvantage and exclusion. Support generally falls under the broad heading of social welfare with grants specifically targeted in ways that will enable people and communities to fulfil their potential. The community projects supported will be working at a grassroots level to improve the vitality of their neighbourhoods. Projects might include training and skills development for the unemployed, environmental improvements, activities for children and young people or reducing the isolation of rural communities. Grants to individuals and families who are in need of some help are also available.

The Community Foundation for Tyne & Wear and Northumberland is one of 48 community foundations across the UK. The Foundation's aim is to provide grants and other support to groups and individuals by matching applications to donors' interests. The Foundation supports a wide range of people and causes across three broad themes: supporting people to overcome disadvantage, creating stronger communities and making the area a good place to live. The Foundation is particularly keen to help grassroots community groups and small-to-medium-sized voluntary organisations. Grants to large UK-wide charities are not normally made but may be considered where there are strong relationships in the Tyne & Wear and Northumberland area and the proposal has potential to achieve a substantial impact.

The 1989 Willan Charitable Trust aims to distribute approximately £500,000 each year to good causes, primarily in the North East of England. Priority will be given to projects that ease social deprivation and/or enrich the fabric of the local community and the quality of life of individuals within that community. Projects funded include those that: Meet the needs of communities experiencing high levels of deprivation; involve self-help initiatives to improve quality of life; provide services for young people to address educational needs or offer diversion from crime and anti-social behaviour; assist communities affected by crime and anti-social behaviour; involve art projects to tackle deprivation or improve local quality of life; youth organisations i.e. Sea Cadets, Scouts, Guides; projects that draw on the region's rich maritime tradition to deliver improvements in local quality of life or address deprivation.

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.

County Durham Community Foundation is one of 48 community foundations across the UK. It's aim is to provide funding that will directly address the needs of County Durham's most vulnerable people and communities. Support generally falls under the broad heading of social welfare and applications must demonstrate a strong case for support, clear aims and objectives, wherever possible the organisation or project is user led and the grant will make a real difference to people within their community. Grants for projects include health, children and young people, arts and culture, the elderly, people with disabilities, and projects providing services in the community or improving the local environment. Grants available for set up costs, capital items (including IT), training, transport costs

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.