Funding FAQs

We fund organisations from any part of the UK whose work has impact across the UK.

Work based in individual countries may be funded where:

• The work is of UK-wide significance – for example, Scotland has the most substantial marine environment in the UK, or because the work is so exemplary or pioneering that it will be of special interest and relevance elsewhere in the UK; or
• The work covers more than one UK country – which could be a single organisation working across borders or a partnership of organisations in different countries; for example, an activity in Wales and NI would qualify; or
• The organisation is working across England (due to it having the highest proportion of the UK’s population).

Our Environment category provides grants for work in the UK Overseas Territories, and for marine projects outside UK waters by UK charities.

For work in the UK Overseas Territories, we fund UK-based charities working in the UKOTs, and we are also happy to accept direct applications from Territory-registered charities, including through UK-based conduits. We aim to take a nuanced approach and distinguish between Territories based on their respective charity governance systems.

In practice this means the following:

• NGOs registered in Territories with UK-modelled charity governance systems (Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Gibraltar, and St Helena) will be able to apply directly.
• Charities registered in Territories which have non-profit oversight systems that are primarily finance-focussed (Anguilla, British Virgin Islands, Montserrat, Turks & Caicos) will also be considered for direct funding. However, to ensure an extra level of compliance, NGOs from these Territories will be required to show evidence that they have been successfully accepted as the lead organisation on a UK Government Darwin Plus project grant.
• Given the minimal local charity governance we will not accept direct funding requests from NGOs which are registered solely in the Falkland Islands and will require applications to be made via a UK-registered charity.

If your Territory is not listed, or if you have any queries regarding the most appropriate application mechanism, please feel free to contact a member of the Grants Team for advice.

The Crown Dependencies of the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey which make up Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man are not part of the United Kingdom. Organisations registered in the Crown Dependencies are therefore not eligible.

As a responsive funder, we listen to what you judge is important. Our main interest is in supporting organisations whose work matches our funding priorities. We believe that core funding is usually the most valuable contribution we can make. If you think a project grant would be best, you can apply for that instead.

We are aware that a modest core grant will have a limited impact on the finances of larger organisations. If your turnover is close to or over £10m a year, it may be better to apply for a project grant.

No. If you are doing work which fits more than one of our categories, then your application should demonstrate how you are a good match with the criteria of one category primarily, and make this the focus of your application.

Furthermore, an individual application or grant does not have to relate to all three elements of our aim – relating to people, society and the natural world. An environment grant, for example, might focus on a particular habitat, with the individual and social benefits only becoming evident indirectly or in the longer term.

This test only applies to organisations with a turnover of over £10m – i.e. above our upper limit, as we prefer to fund organisations with a turnover between £100k and £10m. Organisations must demonstrate the way(s) in which you are uniquely placed to help meet our funding objectives.

We tend to fund organisations working in dance, music, opera and theatre that are directly involved in creating new or re-imagined work, rather than working through partner venues, festivals or other organisations. Sometimes we fund festivals because they commit to creating and presenting new or re-imagined work that has a legacy beyond the festival. We are committed to supporting a diverse range of work under the four headings of dance, music, opera and theatre, as well as supporting other art forms not covered by these headings that are able to create intellectual and emotional connections with individuals and wider society and reflect the human condition. Ultimately, our priority is to support the creation of high quality and engaging work.

Finally, we are not focussed on supporting work under our arts category solely for its educational value or social benefit – although we recognise that these are both positive additional benefits. We expect applicants to demonstrate how their work is of high quality by providing us with evidence of positive audience feedback and engagement, awards and accolades and professional reviews.

We recognise that rigorous research and policy analysis can provide the evidence and arguments to advocate for important changes in practice. We prefer to fund this sort of work if it is grounded in real life experience, includes the voices of those affected, and is likely to make a practical difference. When considering such proposals, your track record, expertise, knowledge of the context and understanding of how to effect such change will be important considerations.

Not usually, and not for their core work. Exceptionally, we may consider an application from a specialist unit if you are a centre of excellence and a leader in your field. Your work should:

• be distinctive and likely to make a practical difference
• involve partnerships with charities or NGOs
• have a budget that includes no contribution to overheads
• strongly match our funding interests.

Most of our grants are for two or three years, but as a responsive and flexible funder we are willing to consider different timeframes. The Grants Team is on hand to answer any questions you may have in this regard. As mentioned above, to get an idea of the kind of grants we have awarded in the past, take a look at the grants list on our website or on 360Giving.

For the majority of applications there are no deadlines and you can apply at any time. We make decisions regularly throughout the year. A summary of how our applications are processed. Please read our Application Timelines.

Some work strands, such as the Museums and Galleries Fund have an annual application deadline. Please check the website for more information on these.

We will acknowledge your application within one week.

We have a two-stage application process. We aim to deal with all first-stage applications within one to two months. On the rare occasion an application takes longer, we will be in touch.

Second-stage applicants are asked to submit their second-stage form within a month of being invited to do so. You should receive a decision within a maximum of three months.

One year from the date of submitting your application.

In the past we asked grantees to wait for one year after their grant had ended before coming back with a new funding request. However, our experience of providing funding during the Covid-19 pandemic means that we have removed the need for organisations we fund to take a break before re-applying to us. Current grant-holders can now reapply up to three months before their grant end date.

We are always happy to discuss potential applications. Before you get in touch, please read our guidance here.

We will only make grants to registered, excepted or exempt charities. However, we will sometimes make an exception if the organisation presents a clear case for why they cannot deliver their charitable purpose via the charity format. In practice this applies primarily to policy, advocacy and campaigning activities under the Social Action and Environment categories. We would still need to see evidence of charitable objects, an asset lock, and robust governance.

Your accounts must adhere to Charity Commission guidance, and so if you are able to submit accounts that have been reviewed by an independent examiner then we will accept these too. If you are not a registered charity, then your accounts must be reviewed as per the processes in place for your organisation type.

We are a Living Wage Friendly Funder, which means we are committed to tackling low pay by encouraging the organisations we support to pay the real Living Wage. You can find out more about the Living Wage here.

We want to support our grantees to pay their employees the Living Wage as outlined above. Please do consider this when applying for funding to cover salaries within your proposals. The Grants Team may suggest changes to budgets where we think that the Living Wage is not being offered.

We want organisations and the individuals submitting applications to contact us if they have feedback on our application process that could lead to improvements. We also have a Complaints Policy that you can use to raise if you would like to make a complaint, which is available on our website. Complaints are managed by our Senior Grants Manager. Furthermore, every two to three years, we run an independently commissioned audit of our application process that is sent to all applicants and grant-holders – this offers a review of our application process too.

We aim to distribute the first payment of a grant as soon as possible after receiving and approving the required bank details as set out in the offer letter. The only time this is delayed is if there are conditions on the grant, for example: grant is payable upon recruitment to a role.

The Grants Team perform simple eligibility checks when an application is submitted and may reject proposals at this point if they do not pass these tests. Trustees are responsible for all decisions at the first and second stages and are assisted by the Grants Team in making these decisions.

You can view all the information that we require for our first and second stage applications in this guidance document here.

You can include some hyperlinks to supplementary information that support what you have referred to in your application. We encourage you to offer some context for the hyperlinks, as we may not be able to read the information contained within the hyperlinked information in full. Images can also be used, but please note that these images will need to be included as part of the two-page limit we set for first stage application.

Yes. We have adopted the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Standard, which means we ask applicants to provide information about DEI as part of their first stage application. The DEI Data Standard has been produced by a group of charitable funders, including us, and you can find out more about this work here.

We are asking these questions to gain a better understanding about the kinds of organisations that are applying to us and that we go on to fund. Please note that the information provided will not be used as part of our decision making. There is no judgment or preference for particular responses. Applicants also have the option of selecting 'prefer not to say' for this section of the application.

If your income is lower than this, then we would expect to see clear evidence that your organisation has managed a turnover of £100,000 previously or is on track to do so soon. This will usually be via management accounts that demonstrate that income above £100,000 for your current or next year has been secured and confirmed. Furthermore, if your organisation is at the lower end of our turnover range, then we ask that you consider your request to us as a reasonable proportion of your overall turnover. If your income is below £100,000 and you wish to apply, we recommend that you get in touch for a conversation beforehand.

If your income is greater than this, we will only consider a grant if you are uniquely placed to help meet our funding objectives. We call this the ‘only they can do it’ test. This is not about what your organisation does that is unique, but rather, how your organisation can deliver against our funding priorities in a way that others cannot. If your income is above £10m and you wish to apply, we recommend that you get in touch for a conversation beforehand.

We do accept applications from fiscally hosted organisations which meet all of our other funding criteria. This includes having an income of £100,000 or more specifically for your organisation or group (rather than the fiscal hosts’ aggregated income). We also ask fiscally hosted organisations to explain why they have adopted this model. If you are invited to the second stage, we may ask to meet with the host organisation as part of the process.