Grants & support for London’s charitable sector

Funding for small specialist charities working with people facing complex issues

Lloyds Bank Foundation are welcoming applications from small specialist charities with an annual income between £25,000 and £500,000 working with people facing complex issues. 

They have eight priorities under this programme: 

1. Addiction
2. Asylum Seekers and Refugees
3. Care Leavers
4. Domestic Abuse
5. Homelessness
6. Offending
7. Sexual Abuse and Exploitation
8. Trafficking and Modern Day Slavery

Successful applicants will receive an unrestricted grant of £75,000 alongside a breadth of tailored support aimed at helping strengthen charities and building the knowledge, skills and capabilities of their staff and trustees.

Deadline for applications is 5pm on Thursday, 23 January 2024. 

See: www.lloydsbankfoundation.org.uk/funding

The Leathersellers’ Foundation Small Grants Programme

One-off grants of up to £5,000 to support work delivering activities to meet an identified need for vulnerable members of the community.

There are eight application windows throughout the year, with the next opening at 10am on Monday, 2 December 2024. Each window closes when 40 applications have been received. That can take just fifteen minutes.

It is recommended that applicants draft their applications using the offline Word version of the form, available on the Foundation’s website.

These grants are available to charities and charitable incorporated organisations (CIOs) with at least one year’s published accounts, and a planned expenditure of under £200,000 during the financial year in which you’re applying for funding.

Learn more: www.leathersellers.co.uk/grant/small-grants-programme

Grants to support waste prevention initiatives in North London

The North London Community Fund is offering small and medium grants of up to £15,000, for projects that will be delivered within one year.

Proposals must focus on reducing household waste in one or more of the London boroughs of Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey, Islington, and Waltham Forest. 

Any legally constituted organisation that operates as a community-based (non-profit making) organisation is eligible to apply.

Applications must be received by 5pm on Wednesday, 18 December 2024.

Learn more: www.nlwa.gov.uk

Our Space Awards from Groundwork

The Our Space Award aims to help Londoners clean and green the city through active community engagement and participation, increasing a sense of community ownership over shared spaces. 

Support is available for projects across all types of open space – in parks, housing estates, town centres, woodlands, and school grounds. They will prioritise applications where their funding will form a substantial part of the project and will truly enable the project to happen.

The fund aims to reach groups who do not necessarily have a track record of fundraising. Non-constituted groups are able to apply – these are community groups of three or more people who meet regularly, are not formally arranged or constituted, but do put energy and enthusiasm into their projects.

Funding consists of small grants of £500 to £2,000, and standard grants of £2,000 to £5,000.

Deadline for application is midday on Monday, 9 December 2024.

Find out more: www.groundwork.org.uk/london/our-space-award

Albert Hunt Trust

The Albert Hunt Trust can provide core and project funding for charities working on health, wellbeing and homelessness projects.

Grants are typically between around £1,000 to £7,000. Applications are reviewed on a rolling, monthly basis subject to trustee availability.

Applicants providing support for the homeless should have a total annual income of below £1m. 

Charities promoting health and wellbeing could be working in areas such as family support eg Home Start, children and young people counselling services, suicide prevention, specific carers support, cancer support, prisoner support and rehabilitation, community centres, food banks and debt advice. Total annual income should be below £150,000. 

Learn more: www.alberthunttrust.org.uk/philosophy

Small grants for small charities

Grants for Good is funded by the John Good Group and is designed to direct funding only to small and growing local charities, voluntary groups or social enterprises that are making a big impact on communities, people or the environment. 

To be eligible, applicants must:

• Be a local community group, charity, voluntary group or social enterprise that has a positive impact on communities, people or the environment
• Have an average income of less than £50,000 in the last 12 months.

Grants for Good offers unrestricted funds that you can use for any of your organisation’s costs, including core running costs. 

The funding application cycle runs quarterly. Every three months five shortlisted projects will share £15,000 between them, from £2,000 to £5,000. 

The next deadline is Sunday, 15 December 2024. 

Learn more: www.matthewgoodfoundation.org

Do you have an exciting vision for your high street or town centre you’re trying to make a reality?

Power to Change are seeking to collaborate with a small number of community businesses that are working on innovative ways to renew their local high streets and town centres.

They want to test and learn how community-led high street regeneration projects can be a model for communities everywhere.

They are particularly interested in innovators who are working to:

• enable communities to take space on the high street or town centre, whether through meanwhile use, lease or community ownership, or
   
• enable communities to have a greater say in the governance of their high street or town centre

Power to Change can offer investment of £25,000 – £50,000 along with other support opportunities. Investments will be made on a 12-month term as grant funding and can cover revenue and project-based expenditure.

Submit an expression of interest by Friday, 20 December 2024. 

Learn more: www.powertochange.org.uk/what-we-do/projects

Young Gamechangers Fund

Funding of between £1,000 — £20,000 for young gamechangers, either working individually or as part of a group or organisation. 

Applicants must be 10–25 and living in the UK. Projects or activities should be led by young people – although they can be supported by adults. Eligible organisations must have an annual income of less than £100,000.

Eligibility Quiz deadline – 12pm on Wednesday, 4 December 2024

Applications close – 5pm on Friday, 6 December 2024

Learn more: www.restlessdevelopment.org/young-gamechangers-fund

Baobab Community Fund

The Baobab Community Fund will open for applications on Friday, 29 November 2024. 

This second found of funding, worth approximately £3m, is dedicated to supporting, sustaining and strengthening Black and Global Majority communities resisting racial injustice in the UK. 

The Baobab Community Fund will operate as an oasis of financial self-empowerment by providing multi-year funding for By-And-For groups and individuals. 

Learn more: www.baobabfoundation.org.uk/baobab-community-fund

Funding for women’s and girls’ organisations

Rosa has launched a seventh round of its Voices from the Frontline Fund. The fund offers grants of up to £10,000 over an 18-month period to women’s and girls’ organisations to support campaigning and influencing work, enabling women and girls to use their voice to achieve change.

This funding will support women’s and girls’ organisations to deliver activism and campaigning to raise awareness of the issues women and girls face.

The deadline for applications is 4pm on Monday, 9 December 2024.

See: www.rosauk.org/our-programmes/voices-from-the-frontline

Match Trading grants to support young people access sports and physical activity

‘Go! London Match. Trade. Grow’ is aimed at London-based, not-for-profit organisations and social enterprises dedicated to helping young people, aged 4–24, access sports and physical activity, especially in underserved communities.

Delivered by the School for Social Entrepreneurs, this support will challenge your organisation to grow its trading base, so you can invest in youth sports and physical activity now and for the future. 

The School for Social Entrepreneurs want to invest in organisations, supporting the creation of opportunities for young people that will lead to better social outcomes for them. Match. Trade. Grow is a combination of 12 months of learning support worth over £11,000, and a Match Trading™ grant of up to:

• £15,000 for Trade Up Level
• £25,000 for Scale Up level

Application deadline is 1pm on Tuesday, 14 January 2025.

Learn more at www.the-sse.org/go-london/go-london-match-trade-grow

Make it Big Round 2 with Pathway Fund

Do it Now Now are offering £25,000 grant funding, tailored support, and expert training to help Global Majority charities and social enterprises grow sustainably and create a lasting impact.

Make It Big is designed to support Black and Global Majority-led charities and social enterprises, helping you strengthen your foundation and prepare for social investment. The aim is to help your organisation build resilience, tackle systemic challenges, and amplify your mission for greater change.

Make It Big with Pathway Fund will provide eight selected charities and social enterprises with £25,000 in grant funding, along with tailored support and capacity-building resources.

Applications close on Tuesday, 14 January 2025.

See www.doitnownow.com/make-it-big-with-pathway-fund

Do it Now Now also have three other tailored support programs and funding opportunities designed to help Black and Global Majority-led organisations thrive.

• Innovate Now Round 3 with City Bridge Foundation: Join forces with Do it Now Now to drive innovation in your community!
  
• Innovate Now Round 4 with Impact on Urban Health: Develop solutions to improve health outcomes in urban communities
  
• Side Hustle Support: Get practical advice and support to grow your impactful side hustle into a sustainable income stream

Learn more at www.doitnownow.com/our-programmes-overview

Free business support for your organisation

Every organisation funded by City Bridge Foundation can apply for free, additional support that goes beyond funding. We call this offer the Bridge Programme.

For instance, we can support your organisation’s development and governance, fundraising or business planning.

The Bridge Programme can include free access to training courses, attendance at conferences, or peer-to-peer learning. Many more support options are available. City Bridge Foundation offers all of this at no financial cost to your organisation.

Find out more at www.citybridgefoundation.org.uk/funder-plus

National Lottery Community Fund seeks partners for funding development 

National Lottery Community Fund will be making changes across all their funding in England from spring 2025. They’ll be putting community support, agency, power and control at the heart of their funding, with the aim of distributing funding of £3 billion by 2030.

They are currently looking for partners for the development phases of three new approaches:

• Community Power Fund
• You Decide funding
• Grant Holder Support

These approaches will focus on increasing the voice and resilience of communities and the organisations that support them. If you are interested in being a partner for these approaches, you can submit an expression of interest from Wednesday, 8 January 2025.

Learn more: www.tnlcommunityfund.org.uk/funding/programmes

Charity Governance Awards: celebrating trusteeship and rewarding good governance

The Charity Governance Awards celebrate outstanding governance and trusteeship in charities across the UK, allowing not-for-profit organisations of all sizes to inspire and learn from one another. 

The awards are free to enter (with a free awards ceremony), and do not generate profit for the sponsors or partners. Their mission is simply to celebrate and reward exceptional charity governance, while sharing exemplary work that inspires and informs boards and trustees across the country.

For the 10th anniversary of the awards, the grand prize for winners has risen to £6,000, with £1,500 for runners-up.

Entries for this tenth and final year of the awards are open until 12 February 2025. The shortlist will be announced in April 2025, with winners revealed during a live ceremony on Tuesday, 3 June 2025. 

Learn more: www.charitygovernanceawards.co.uk

16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence

Monday, 25 November 2024 marks the start of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, a global campaign calling for the prevention and elimination of violence against women and girls (VAWG).

The campaign runs for 16 days until Tuesday 10 December 2024, Human Rights Day. 

London boroughs and local VAWG organisations are marking the 16 days with a number of events across the capital. 

For more information about events across London, see: www.londoncouncils.gov.uk

Social welfare advice in London – new report

Social welfare advice is crucial for creating a just, safe, and healthy London. Each year, thousands of Londoners receive support to address financial, social, and legal issues, often preventing problems reaching crisis point. 

In collaboration with 360Giving and the Greater London Authority, London Funders have mapped the funding landscape of social welfare advice in London. Key findings include: 

• Only 26% of known grants were for longer than one year
• Around 40% of income in the cohort is from government sources, representing £42.7m in grants and £66.9m in contracts
• 20 funders are responsible for at least 77% of known grant funding received by advice organisations
• Funders are finding it increasingly difficult to meet demand amid increasing need from communities 

The findings indicate longer-term funding is needed to address the increasingly complex and interconnected needs of those seeking help and why collaboration among funders is necessary to meet a shared ambition of challenging poverty in the capital. 

See the full report here: www.londonfunders.org.uk/resources-publications

Survey of Advice Sector Organisations

The Advice Workforce Development Fund is exploring ways to improve pay, benefits and working conditions across the advice sector. 

To help them understand the current situation they are asking London-based organisations employing staff who provide free advice to the public to complete a short survey.

The survey should take around 10–15 minutes to complete and should be completed by the Human Resources lead, or CEO for smaller organisations without a dedicated HR role.

This work will be used to provide resources to advice organisations on their approaches to pay and conditions, and also to provide evidence with which organisations can encourage funders and commissioning bodies to recognise the need for additional funds to address workforce challenges. 

Participants in the survey will be entered into a prize draw for one of three hampers which you can share with colleagues. Respondents will also be provided with a summary of the survey findings. Respond by Friday, 13 December 2024 to be included in the prize draw.

Access the survey here: www.app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/myriad/advice-organisations

Free domestic abuse training for youth charities

if you you work for a youth charity based in London you’re eligible for Tender Education & Arts’ free, three-hour Domestic Abuse & Disclosures training, running from January 2025.

Exploring domestic abuse, coercive control and practical approaches to contextual safeguarding, this training is intended to support pre-existing safeguarding knowledge and support participants in a whole community approach to ending gender-based violence.

To sign up, visit Eventbrite: www.eventbrite.com/cc/domestic-abuse-disclosure-training-for-charities

They can also organise organisation-specific sessions, still free of charge. Email via www.tender.org.uk/get-in-touch/#contactform

Supported by City Bridge Foundation 

How to do a Risk Assessment of your Charity Building

A free property webinar for voluntary organisations on Tuesday, 10 December between 12–1pm.

Join Ethical Property Foundation for an engaging and informative session that will empower you and your team and help ensure in your building is safe for everyone who uses it.

In this informative, accessible webinar, they will cover the basics of how to do a risk assessment on charity premises so that you understand what risks you need to look at, and how ignoring could affect the volunteers, staff and service users in your organisation.

The webinar will help you:

• Understand what risk is, what it isn’t, and why it matters.
• Work your way through a risk assessment calmly, understanding with confidence the different section, common words and phrases used.
• Understand the background to Health and Safety Legislation.
• Recognise the importance of conducting and documenting risk assessments to fulfil your Health and Safety responsibilities, and consider their impact on employees, visitors, and clients.
• Learn how Health and Safety practices are interconnected with your insurance policies.
• Evaluate and prioritise your timetable for the most urgent changes, easiest improvements and affordable items to be purchased.

Supported by City Bridge Foundation.

For more information see Eventbrite www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/how-to-do-a-risk-assessment-of-your-charity-building-tickets