Where to apply for funding externally
Finding the right places for funding can be tricky, but don't worry! We've gathered some helpful ideas to make your search easier.
Check out funding opportunities below from trusts and foundations that could be perfect for your project! When applying, ensure your project aligns with their objectives, as funders often receive many applications and may disregard those that don't match their goals, potentially affecting future funding chances.
The Andy Fanshawe Trust run projects that give disadvantaged young people the chance to develop an existing interest in the great outdoors. There is no application form, but you need to send an email covering off the questions outlined on their website.
Alkpit Foundation particularly like to support projects that:
- Encourage responsible outdoor activity
- Have long-lasting benefits
- Introduce new people to get outdoors
- Demonstrate value for money
Trustees meet every 2 months to consider applications. There's no limit to the number of times you can receive. If possible, please apply for Alpkit Foundation at least 3 months before the start of a project so that the trustees have time to consider it at their next meeting.
The Asda Foundation supports small, grass roots organisations in several ways throughout the year. Working with Asda’s Community Champions in store, they are able to work with a range of organisations and groups on a variety of local community projects. Below are the different ways they support communities.
- Empowering Local Communities Grant
- U18 Better Starts Grant
- Cost of Living Grant
- Investing in Spaces and Places Grant
- Colleague Match Funding for Local Causes
- Local Community Emergency Donations
- Partnerships
- Green Token Giving
Grant Rounds 1 and 2 - The Arts: Improving Access
The focus will be on performing arts projects that improve audience access and participation. We won’t consider applications from non-performing arts projects, or projects focussing on performers.
Grant Rounds 3 and 4 - Refugees and Asylum Seekers
Priorities will be published early 2025
They fund projects that’ll do at least one of these things:
- Bring people together to build strong relationships in and across communities
- Improve the places and spaces that matter to communities
- Help more people to reach their potential, by supporting them at the earliest possible stage
- Support people, communities and organisations facing more demands and challenges because of the cost-of-living crisis.
Bupa Foundation and Groundwork have announced a new round of funding to make a positive difference to the health of local communities.
The scheme, which is open to schools, registered charities and not-for-profit organisations, will award grants of up to £2,000 for practical projects which help with both people and planet health.
They award grants to UK registered charities, CICs, and other registered UK not-for-profit organisations (including special schools). Grants are awarded towards capital projects, which they define as:
- Buildings: Purchase, construction, renovation or refurbishment.
- Fittings, Fixtures, and Equipment: Not limited to office equipment/furniture, sports/gym equipment, digital/audio visual equipment, software and websites, garden equipment, specialist therapeutic (excluding medical) equipment. It does not include equipment for one-off use, or which will be given to service users for personal use on a permanent basis.
- Vehicles: This includes (but is not exclusive to) minibuses, cars, caravans, people carriers, 4x4 and boats. We are unlikely to fund the total cost of a new vehicle or award funding to an organisation that already owns a large number of vehicles. They do not provide grants towards vehicle leasing or award funding to organisations whose core activity is community transport.
They fund both large and small projects. The size of grant awarded will depend on a number of factors including the size of your organisation and the cost and scale of your capital project.
Groups will be able to apply for funding from the Local Community Fund. They will support projects that:
- Bring people together to access food
- Help improve people’s mental wellbeing
- Create opportunities for young people to be heard and make a difference
- Help people protect local biodiversity or tackle climate change by reducing carbon emissions
Applications are currently closed.
Entrust is the national distributor of the landfill tax to local distributors. Its emphasis is on developing a good local environment, including buildings and land. Section D of its priorities includes grant support to public amenities
Small Grants - Up to £3,000, Medium Grants - £3,000 - £10,000, Large Grants - £10,000+
Ernest Kleinwort Charitable Trust fund charitable work in the County of Sussex. The organisations they give funding to are listed below.
- Care of the elderly
- Disability
- General welfare
- Hospices
- Youth
- Wildlife & environmental conservation
£2,000 - £100,000
The FCC Community Action Fund provides grants of between £2,000 and £100,000 to not-for-profit organisations for amenity projects eligible under Object D of the Landfill Communities Fund (LCF).
Only applications for projects sited within 10 miles of an eligible FCC Environment waste facility can be accepted.
There are 4 categories that the trust is awarding grants to.
- Supporting charities which focus primarily on providing support and opportunities for deaf people.
- Welcome applications from Charities offering safe accommodation as a direct response to homelessness or an immediate risk of homelessness.
- They always look to move swiftly in the event of natural disasters and offer support where they feel they are able to assist.
- They aim to award grants to charities who rely on volunteer support and make an impact in their communities.
£1,000 - £10,000
The objective of the Green Hall Foundation is to sustainably improve lives among the sick, the elderly, the disabled and the disadvantaged particularly in the UK.
Up to £5,000
For open grants they support charities that improve the quality of life for people and communities. They fund core costs and new or existing projects or programmes.
This Trust makes grants to individuals and organisations.
Organisations - Provide grants to organisations that support academic educational gaps or make more widely available a particular aspect of education or learning.
Individuals - Grants are provided to those who have made proper provision to fund a degree or higher education course but find themselves facing unexpected financial difficulties which may prevent completion of it.
£300 - £3,000
Applications are welcome from any voluntary or community organisation that is based, or works in, our trading area across the south of England, from Devon to Kent and north to Bristol, Swindon, Bracknell and London. Groups can apply for grants or fundraising support ranging from £300 and £3,000 to help achieve their aims.
Applications are currently closed.
The Harold and Alice Bridges Charity provide grants for capital projects to grants for village halls in the Lancashire and South Cumbria areas.
When considering whether to apply for a grant from the Harold and Alice Bridges Charity, applicants should consider the following criteria which the Trustees use to help assess the applications:
- Grants awarded by the Charity are mainly for capital projects and not usually for running expenses. For example, an application from a village hall for a grant towards the re-roofing of the building is likely to be more favourably considered than an application to pay for the hall to be regularly cleaned.
- The Trustees favour applications which show a good degree of self help and local support.
- The area of benefit should, if possible, be shown to be in Lancashire and South Cumbria, particularly the area north of the River Ribble, eastwards towards the Blackburn area and into South Lakes.
- It is helpful if the applicant is itself a charity registered with the Charity Commission. You will be asked to quote your registered charity number.
International Day of Play Community Fund supported by the LEGO foundation currently have applications open to support the community.
J P Morgan assists clients with philanthropic interests who are looking to give back to their communities, foster a charitable legacy and make a difference in the world. Their areas of focus include animal welfare, arts and culture, civic activities, community development, education, environment, health and medical research, human and social services, international and religious causes.
As part of its Build Well, Live Well, Act Well Sustainability Strategy, Landsec has made a commitment of £20 million over the next 10 years to support improving social mobility within the Real Estate Sector, whilst addressing local need, through its Social Mobility Fund.
To apply, charities and CIOs must meet the following criteria:
- Operate in a geographical area of deprivation in the UK. They recognise all relative measures of deprivation as tracked by the Indices of Deprivation or similar tools. The map tool provided by the CDRC very helpful.
- Deliver activities to meet an identified need for vulnerable members of the community
- Have a planned expenditure of under £200,000
£50-£500
This independent Trust Fund makes small grants to Scout Groups to help with the cost of making repairs, or purchasing sundry items of equipment. The LSCT also gives assistance to groups and individuals when they make trips in the UK or overseas.
Making a Difference Locally (MADL)
Local independently-owned stores that are partnered with Nisa, can nominate local charities to receive a donation. MADL is designed so the local stores can specifically support charities that are in their local communities.
The Trust focus is support of organisations for young adults with learning disability after leaving school, with the aim of giving them practical skills to prepare them to be able to lead independent lives. Whilst your project may also benefit others without a learning disability, it needs to serve more with a learning disability than without.
Mountain Training
Mountain Training's Skills & Training Fund supports the delivery of skills and leadership courses to people who face barriers to participation and are under-represented in the adventure activities sector.
Their funding offer includes a percentage of the course cost, a contribution towards personal assistance support (capped at £150 per candidate per course) and a contribution towards learning /teaching support (capped at £150 per candidate per course).
This foundation offers grants to three different areas.
- Hardship relief
- Housing
- Work and Education
Plas y Brenin
Through a number of memorial trusts, Plas y Brenin offer funding to support young people access Mountain Training.
This Trust concentrates on charities where they can have maximum impact and focus on smaller, local charities or charities working in developing countries where every £1 goes a little further. Supporting financial education is another area they centre on.
RDC Foundation
£1000
The RDC Foundation awards grants to support young people under the age of 21 in recreational and leisure activities to develop their mental, physical and moral capabilities so that they grow to full maturity as individuals and members of society.
Robert Hall Foundation
The Robert Hall Foundation provides grants to charitable causes, with a particular focus on supporting scouting and youth projects.
Up to £25,000
Supporting Rural Communities is their flagship grant programme, awarding £500,000 each year to power community-led solutions that enhance the viability and sustainability of rural communities. Grants are for a maximum of £25,000 over two years, and applicants must be from properly constituted, not for profit organisations with an income of less than £500,000.
They support projects taking places in villages and towns in rurally isolated areas, where access to services is limited. They are looking to fund projects with the aim of:
- Reduced isolation for those living in rural areas through improved and extended services
- Improved wellbeing for residents through an increase in community activity
- Greater resilience for rural communities to weather future outbreaks of Covid-19 or similar events through having tried and tested mechanisms of support in place.
Applications are currently closed.
RYA Foundation
The RYA Foundation gives out grants and supports projects that enable organisations to have the facilities and training they need to open their doors to more people from a broader range of backgrounds.
Save Our Wild Isles Community Fund
£500
This organisation has the power to make a real difference and help bring nature back to life. That’s why WWF, the RSPB and Aviva has come together to launch the 'Save Our Wild Isles Community Fund' to make it easier for communities to take action for nature.
Find out more about Save Our Wild Isles Community Fund
Sport England
£300-£15,000
The Small Grants programme from Sport England, offers funding to projects involving adults and young people aged 14 or over, which meet one or more of the aims of our ‘Towards an Active Nation’ strategy:
- Getting inactive people to become more active.
- Developing lasting sporting habits.
- Creating more positive attitudes among young people
- Developing more diverse volunteers.
- Improving progression and inclusion among the most talented. Projects working with young people should be predominantly aged 14 and above but we are happy to consider projects where a proportion of under 14s will benefit.
Sport England - Queens Platinum Jubilee Activity Fund
Between £300 and £10,000
Sport England have launched a new £5 million fund to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee that aims to use sport and physical activity to bring communities together and tackle inequalities.
Using money from the National Lottery, the fund will make awards of between £300 and £10,000 to community organisations in support of new projects providing opportunities to become more physically active.
Find out more about the Queens Platinum Jubilee Activity Fund
Sport England - Return to Play
Up to £50,000
Sport England has launched a new fund that will support groups, clubs and organisations that have been impacted by restrictions brought in to tackle Covid-19. The Return to Play Fund, is made up of three parts: a £10m small grants which will provide grants of between £300 and £10,000 to help sport and activity groups, clubs and organisations respond to the immediate challenges of returning to play in a Covid-19-safe environment; a £5m Community Asset Fund that will provide grants ranging in value from £10,001 to £50,000 to help local sports clubs and organisations to adapt and open important places and spaces that can help them welcome back their local community safely; and a £1.5m Active Together fund which is a crowdfunding initiative will help sports clubs and organisations set up their own campaigns to help sustain them through the crisis. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.
Sports England Foundation
£300 - £10,000
The Sports England funding opportunity is committed to supporting projects that bring communities together and provide sport and physical activities for people who may be less physically active. Applications should consider how the project adds value to services currently available in your local community, and work collaboratively with other groups to maximise the impact of the project.
This fund is now closed.
Find out more information about Sports England Foundation
Tesco Bags of Help
£500-£2,000
Bags of Help is always open for applications from charities and community organisations.
Three community projects in each local area will be voted on by customers in Tesco stores throughout the UK*, with projects changing every other month. Following the vote, the project that received the most votes in its area will receive a grant of up to £2,000, second place receiving up to £1,000 and third place up to £500.
The Arnold Clark Community Fund
Up to £1,000
The Arnold Clark Community Fund is making a commitment to give back to the communities in which they operate. They've created a fund to help registered UK charities and local community groups continue their important work during this challenging time. 500 grants are made each month, and if your application is not successful one month, it will roll over in to the next month.
Applications open from October 2023.
The Catherine Cookson Trust
£100 - £100,000
If you're in education, training, environment, conservation, arts and culture, as well as general charitable purposes, your organisation could be eligible for a grant from the Catherine Cookson Charitable Trust.
The Foyle Foundation
£1,000 - £10,000
The Foyle Foundation has re-opened its Small Grants Scheme to support smaller, grass-roots and local charities across the UK during the Covid-19 crisis. Organisations which are currently delivering services to the young, vulnerable, elderly, disadvantaged or the general community either directly or through online support can apply for grants of between £1,000 and £10,000. Funding can be used to cover core costs or essential equipment, to enable ongoing service provision, homeworking, or delivery of online digital services for charities with a turnover of less than £150,000 per annum that can show financial stability and a clear need for their services. Competition for funding is expected to be strong. Applications can be submitted at any time.
The Hedley Foundation
Up to £5,000
A few grants are available for small to medium-sized registered charities who are working to help people who are disadvantaged to improve their situation, either by involvement in project or support work.
The Henry Sell Charity
£500-£2,750
The Holiday Grants Programme provides grants for recreational trips and holidays for groups of children in the UK who are disabled or disadvantaged. Priority is given to children in the 20% most deprived communities in the UK.
The Henry Smith Charity
£500 - £2,750
The purpose of the Holiday Grants programme is to provide access to recreational trips or holidays for groups of children who experience disadvantage or who have disabilities. In particular we are interested in contributing to trips that would not take place without our funding.
The National Lottery Community Fund
£10,000-£500,000
The National Lottery Community Fund have a range of funding opportunities, offering funding from £10,000 up to £500,000.
The Sir James Knott Trust
Up to £1,000
Grants are available to charities in the North East of England to help improve the conditions of people living and working in Tyne and Wear, Northumberland, County Durham, and Hartlepool.
The Tree Council
£250 - £2,500
The Tree Council actively supports community tree, hedgerow, and orchard projects that boost agricultural productivity and creating green spaces that promote physical and mental well-being.
Applications close 3rd December.
the7stars foundation
Up to £1,500
the7stars foundation, supports the most challenged young people in the United Kingdom. Assisting forgotten young people aged 16 years and under, lacking opportunity, to achieve their potential. Their funding looks to support those challenged by abuse; addiction; those who are young carers; and those without a safe place to call home. Their grant funding prioritises the areas of abuse, addiction, child carers and homelessness.
Trusthouse Charitable Foundation
£2,000-£10,000
This Small Grants Program offers single year grants for core costs, salaries, running and project costs for work in the community which addresses the challenges of local communities in areas of extreme deprivation.
The Charity's main purpose is to provide charitable grants to support:
- The education of actuaries and research in the field of actuarial science
- Those studying to become an actuary
- Mathematical and financial education in schools
- Any charity where a member of our Livery or another actuary is actively involved
- Charities within the City of London
The Woodward Charitable Trust is a grant-making trust. The Trust primarily funds charitable organisations in the UK.
The Trust’s grant-making focuses on the following areas:
- Children and young people who are isolated, at risk of exclusion or involved in anti-social behaviour and projects to help those who have been in the care system. This also covers gang violence and knife crime, education and mentoring as well as projects that work to raise self-esteem and employment opportunities and encourage an active involvement in and contribution towards the local community;
- Disadvantaged families, this covers parenting support and guidance, mental health, food poverty, refuges and domestic violence projects;
- Prisoners and ex-offenders and specifically projects that maintain and develop contact with prisoner’s families and help with the rehabilitation and resettlement of prisoners and/or ex-offenders after their release.
Variety Youth Club Grants
Typically between £250 and £600
Variety’s roots lie in supporting youth clubs. They’ve been supplying groups with essential equipment for 70 years. That’s why they set aside funding each year to support youth clubs that work with the most disadvantaged young people through informal education, positive activity, and skills development.
They are currently not open for applications.
Yapp Charitable Trust
Up to £10,000
Yapp Charitable Trust offer grants to registered charities working with their identified priority groups, including young people aged 5-25. Funding must be used to cover core funding, not for new projects, and charities with an annual expenditure of more than £40,000 will not be considered.
Young Explorers Trust
Grants made to young people only – not to groups. The Young Explorers' Trust offers grant aid to individuals aged 25 and under who are taking part in expeditions or other adventurous activities. The definition of adventure should relate to the background and experience of the applicant.
Scout buildings refurbishments
A number of funders make grants to charities and groups for building refurbishments. For groups with your own facilities, this could be a favourable option to secure important funding to make improvements or necessary maintenance on your Scout buildings.
Bernard Sunley Foundation
The Bernard Sunley Foundation funds Capital projects in England and Wales which include new buildings, extensions, refurbishments and recreational spaces. They do not specify a funding limit.
Garfield Weston
Garfield Weston accepts applications from organisations working in the areas of Welfare, Youth, Community, Arts, Faith, Environment, Education, Health and Museums & Heritage. They recommend that you have around half of your funding identified before applying to them, so it should be for match-funding only. You can apply for capital costs (buildings, refurbishments), general running costs or project costs.
Morrisons Foundation
Up to £10,000
The Morrisons Foundation awards grant funding for charity projects which make a positive difference in local communities. In the main grants are available to fully fund projects, and can also be spent on building work.
Screwfix Foundation
Up to £5,000
The Screwfix Foundation supports projects that will fix, repair, maintain and improve properties and community facilities for those in need throughout the UK.
The Wickes Community Programme is a dedicated product fund which supports local initiatives to maintain and renovate community areas.
Biffa UK Wide
Up to £200,000
Biffa operate a community buildings scheme, supporting new build and improvement works projects through their Main Community Buildings Scheme. Projects must be within 10 miles of a Biffa Operation. Priority is given to projects that can demonstrate innovative use of a community amenity to enhance, maintain or introduce real, community-led social, economic or environmental improvements. Must be within 5 miles of a Biffa operation or within 10 miles of a Biffa landfill site.
The VCSE Energy Efficiency Scheme will help voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations (VCSEs) across England to deliver more efficient services for people and communities by saving money on their energy bills.
Keeping up-to-date
We know that funding rounds can change frequently, so we'll monitor the available funding, and update these pages every three months.
Last updated: November 2024
UK Headquarters Grants
Did you know that you can apply for grants through The Scout Grants Committee (SGC)? The SGC is the group of national volunteers who support the management of the grants provided to local Scouts. There are a range of funding opportunities through funding managed by the SGC, so why not check out what opportunities are available here first?
Find out more about the available grants