Guidelines for Applicants 2010
As at 03 April 2010
General Information
The Foundation aims to alleviate conditions of distress, deprivation and disadvantage that lead to social exclusion by funding charitable work across a broad range of social priorities that will bring about positive change. The Foundation’s current priorities are summarised in our Programmes.
Organisations supported by the Foundation tend to share these features:
- There is a clear sense of objectives and how to achieve them.
- The work is about providing solutions to problems, not about making them more bearable.
- An award has a good chance of making a difference to the organisation and to its clients and having an impact in the longer term.
- The work may be a new imaginative approach, something in a new area of need, or something that is risky or sensitive.
- Every effort is made to comply with statutory requirements, such as the Statement of Recommended Practice: Accounting and Reporting by Charities 2005.
- Recognised quality assurance and accreditation schemes and training for trustees and staff are used as tools to improve the organisation’s effectiveness.
Area of Benefit
The Foundation makes its awards in the following areas of England:
Counties of Berkshire; Bristol, Avon & Somerset; Buckinghamshire; Cambridgeshire; Dorset; Gloucestershire; Hampshire; Middlesex; Nottinghamshire; Oxfordshire; Surrey; Sussex; Warwickshire (not including Greater Birmingham) and the Greater London Metropolitan Area as defined by the M25 motorway.
Grants Programmes
Foundation awards are made to work in six programmes areas. Five of these have specific aims and priorities set by the Trustees. These are the criteria against which the Trustees assess the relevance and potential impact of outcomes that applicants propose to achieve with the help of a Foundation grant.
The sixth programme area is one in which the Trustees sponsor pro-actively work of a strategic nature.
The Applications Process
The Foundation has three Grants Committees that meet at different times in our financial year, normally in June, October and March.
Following the initial assessment process, applicants whose bids have not been rejected or deferred are invited to submit their bids to a particular grants meeting agenda. The two stage application process is explained further in the section How to Apply.
New applications will not be considered from previously successful applicants within 24 months of a one-off grant payment or from the end of the periodic grant period.
Awards
Applications are accepted for awards made under our published programmes. Awards may be towards:
- A specific project or body of work.
- Core costs such as rent and non-project specific salaries; infrastructure development and capacity building such as staff or management training.
Our awards are either one-off payments or an amount where the grant payments are spread over a number of years.
Levels of Awards
A one-off grant is unlikely to exceed £15,000.
Our periodic grants range up to £30,000 depending on the nature of the project and the length of the award. For 2010, the maximum amount that our grants Committees may award to applications coming from this web site is £30,000 over not less than two years.
Bids in excess of these amounts will be rejected.
Length of Awards
The maximum period of support is three years.
Periodic grants are subject to tapering instalments such that there is a maximum payment in one year with lower payments in other years. The maximum in any one year is presently £20,000, but is typically of the order of £15,000.
Example: £30,000 grant over three years in payments of £15,000, £10,000 and £5,000 (or any combination that meets the funding or income strategy of the applicant).
