Deadline: Quarterly - Allen Lane Foundation (UK)
Grants are available to small, registered charities, voluntary groups, and charitable organisations in the UK for work that makes a difference to people's lives as opposed to simply alleviating the symptoms or current problems and should aim to reduce isolation, stigma and discrimination.
The Foundation makes single grants or grants split over two or three years. One-off grants of between £500 and £15,000 are available; the average grant is between £5,000 and £6,000. Grants repeated for more than one year vary from around £500 per annum up to £5,000 per annum, for a maximum of three years.
Overall, the Foundation wishes to fund work which:
• Will make a lasting difference to people’s lives rather than simply alleviating the symptoms or current problems,
• Is aimed at reducing isolation, stigma, and discrimination,
• Encourages or enables unpopular groups to share in the life of the whole community.
Small, registered charities, voluntary groups and charitable organisations in the UK can apply. Registered charities are eligible to apply as well as other organisations which are not charities, but which seek funding for a charitable project – this could include, for example, constituted voluntary groups or Community Interest Companies (CICs).
Priority groups (of adults) that the Foundation seeks to support includes:
• Asylum seekers and refugees (but not groups working with a single nationality),
• Gypsies and travelers,
• Migrant communities,
• Offenders and ex-offenders,
• Older people,
• People experiencing mental health problems,
• People experiencing violence and abuse,
• Young people (people aged approximately 12-21 from across a broader range of backgrounds).
The following types of activity are eligible for support:
• Provision of advice or information,
• Advocacy,
• Arts activities where the primary purpose is therapeutic or social,
• Befriending or mentoring,
• Mediation or conflict resolution,
• Practical work, such as gardening or recycling, which benefits both the provider and the recipient,
• Self-help groups,
• Social activities or drop-in centres,
• Strengthening the rights of particular groups and enabling their view and experiences to be heard by policymakers,
• Research and education aimed at changing public attitudes or policy,
• Work aimed at combating stigma or discrimination,
- Work developing practical alternatives to violence.
Grants may be used for start-up, core, or project costs, for example:
• Volunteers’ or participants’ expenses,
• Venue hire,
• Part-time or occasional staffing costs,
• Work aimed at strengthening the organisation such as trustee or staff training.
The Foundation is particularly interested in unusual, imaginative or pioneering projects which have perhaps not yet caught the public imagination. To make sure its grants have an impact, the Foundation will not fund larger organisations. If an organisation works in a relatively small area – a village, estate, or small town – to be eligible it will have an income of less than about £100,000. An organisation which works across the whole of the UK will be eligible if it has an income of not more than about £250,000. Applications can be made at any time and are considered three times a year, generally in February, June, and October. Processing an application and making a grant usually takes between two and six months. Groups should apply as soon as they are ready as applications are processed all the time.
More information at: https://allenlane.org.uk/applying-for-funding/