Other sources of funding help

Where to start?

nfp Synergy - a comprehensive beginner's guide to fundraising for small organisations

Community Foundations help people and organisations to invest in local communities where it is most needed and where it will make most impact.

UK Community Foundations is the national membership and support organisation for individual community foundations. Collectively, its members are the largest community-focused grant making network in the UK, making over £65 million grants a year.

Find your nearest Community Foundation here.

Funding directories

There are a number of directories and websites containing information that may help you find appropriate funders for your work.

Beehive - a tech for good project that uses information about your organisation or project to identify suitable funds for you. Easily check if you meet a given funder's eligibility criteria to prevent you wasting time and effort applying to the wrong funder.

GrantNav - a free-to-use open data platform that enables you to access and explore funder information from UK grantmaking organisations. You can search by multiple criteria including by funder, recipient, location and keywords for thousands of grants.

NCVO Funding Central – a searchable database of grants, contracts and loan finance opportunities from local, national and international funding sources.

Other funders

This is by no means an exhaustive list - just a few funders we know of that are currently open to applications. Please read their guidelines in full before deciding whether to apply.

Funder

Where they fund

What they fund

Barrow Cadbury Trust

UK/Birmingham

Looks for long-term solutions and structural change by addressing the root causes of inequality in the areas of:

  • Criminal justice
  • Economic justice
  • Migration
  • Social investment

Big Lottery

UK

Runs a wide variety of grant programmes aimed at improving communities. Use their Funding Finder to see what funding is available in your region.

Children in Need

UK

Children and young people

Garfield Weston Foundation

 

UK
  • Welfare
  • Youth
  • Community
  • Arts
  • Faith
  • Environment
  • Education
  • Health and museums & heritage

Groundwork

UK

Environment:

  • Creating better, greener places
  • Improving people's prospects
  • Promoting greener living and working

Henry Smith

UK

Priority is given to work with groups experiencing social and/or economic disadvantage and to work that tackles problems in areas of high deprivation (those that fall within the bottom third of the National Indices of Deprivation)

Heritage Lottery Fund

 

 

UK
  • Land and natural heritage
  • Museums, libraries and archives
  • Buildings and monuments
  • Cultures and memories
  • Industrial, maritime and transport
  • Community heritage

John Ellerman Foundation

UK
  • Arts
  • Environment
  • Welfare

Applicants must be doing work that has a national footprint.

Local Trust

England

Place based-funding for communities provided by Big Lottery. Find out if you are in a Big Local funding area here.

Lloyds Bank Foundation

England and Wales

Work addressing multiple disadvantage

Paul Hamlyn Foundation

UK
  • Nurturing ideas and people
  • Arts
  • Investing in young people

The Dulverton Trust

England, Wales, Scotland
  • Youth opportunities
  • General welfare
  • Conservation
  • Preservation
  • Peace and humanitarian support

The Robertson Trust

Scotland
  • Social change
  • Children and young people
  • Community projects

The Tudor Trust

UK

Smaller groups, embedded in their communities, which work directly with people who are on the edges of mainstream society in ways which encourage inclusion, integration and independence.

The Wolfson Foundation

UK
  • Capital projects (buildings/refurbishment, equipment)
  • Science and medicine
  • Arts and humanities
  • Education
  • Health and disability