Activities covered by a grant

What activities are covered by grants from trusts and foundations?

Trusts and foundations are huge contributors to the charitable sector, with a reported £2billion of grants being given to charities every year. This makes them a really important potential way to support local groups, districts or counties to support young people to learn skills for life.

What are trusts and foundations?

Trusts and foundations are themselves charities which have a sustainable source of income, usually from the private sector (corporate organisations, assets, high net-worth individuals) who provide grants to other charities and organisations to support them to achieve their goals. They each do largely the same work, and the difference between the two is down to their legal status.

They are independent in their decision-making, so what they choose to fund will largely be down to what is important to them. They usually aren’t led by political influence, but many will provide funding to benefit communities where there may be a lack of statutory funding.

What do trusts and foundations fund?

This all depends on the size of the trust or foundation, and what their charitable aims are. Some only offer small amounts of funding (£100-£1000), while others offer several hundreds of thousands of pounds. Some only offer one-off grants, while others offer grants over a number of years. The amount of work you will have to put into an application will usually depend on the amount you are applying for, with many of the smaller grants being a bit easier and quicker to apply for.

The best way to know what a trust or foundation will fund is to check out their website, and see what their charitable objectives are. They’ll often have guidance for anyone looking to apply, so this will give you a better idea of how much you can apply for and what it will cover.

Although every trust and foundation is different, a few ideas of the kinds of things you may be able to get funding for are;

• Start-up funding to get a new project started (e.g. setting up a new group or section)
• Revenue funding to cover running costs (e.g. utilities costs)
• Building costs (e.g. repairs to your Scout hut)
• Equipment costs (e.g. buying new sports equipment or cooking equipment)
• Trip costs (e.g. for young people in financial hardship who could not afford to attend a camp without funding)

Many trusts and foundations will only fund projects that support certain groups of people (e.g. disabled, unemployed, from deprived communities etc.) or those living in specific geographical areas (e.g. only London or only the North East), so be sure to check this early on before progressing with your application.

How to apply

You will usually find an application form, or details of how to apply on the trust or foundation’s website. If there is no information on the website, try contacting them by phone or email to ask whether they are accepting applications. Some trusts and foundations have funding rounds where they only accept applications in a specific time-frame, so you may need to plan your application to fit in with these times.