Championing Grant
Members are encouraged to support small charities, local initiatives and projects by applying to Champion them. Members can apply for up to £500, however, if the member, their spouse or child is involved as a volunteer, they can apply for up to £1000.
Application Guidelines
Championing grants are designed for you to support smaller charities and community initiatives that don’t have the same publicity and awareness enjoyed by large,national and international charities.
You can nominate a cause in your local area or further afield, including abroad and in developing countries, as long as it is a small community initiative.
Your nomination does not need to be for a registered charity. There are lots of good causes that aren’t formally registered but are still doing fantastic work.
There are three levels of championing grants:
1) Up to £500 – You can apply for up to £500 for any small regional charity or environmental, social or community-based project that you think is doing great work that you would like to support.
2) Up to £1000 – You can apply for up to £1000 if you are actively involved as a volunteer for the charity/project you want to support.
3) Discretionary Grant – This is an opportunity for you to apply for more than the usual amounts detailed above. A discretionary grant will be considered if the applicant can demonstrate good knowledge of the project and how the funds will be used. Ideally, you would be actively involved yourself; however, if not, you should have a good knowledge of the charity or project and reasons why you believe we should support a discretionary grant over the amounts outlined above. We will require sufficient details to approve a discretionary grant and may be in touch to request more information to help us assess your application.
What kinds of charities or projects can a championing grant be used for?
Championing grants are designed to support smaller charities and community initiatives that don’t have the same publicity and awareness enjoyed by large, national charities. Your nominated charity can be in your local area, but it doesn’t have to be – we’re happy to receive nominations for causes outside your local community, which includes abroad and in developing countries if you wish, providing it is a smaller community initiative.
There are many good projects out there that aren’t registered charities, so please don’t worry if the cause you’d like to support isn’t registered with the charity commission. An excellent example of this is a community project we helped in 2020, The Formby and Freshfields Beach Litter Angels.
It’s also important that the application is for environmental, social or community-based causes. For example, championing grants cannot be used to support individuals (such as healthcare costs); however, you can support these types of causes via Double Match Funding.
How many times can I apply for a championing grant?
Championing grant applications are limited to one application per member per quarter. However, we ask that you don’t apply to support the same cause more than twice during the same year.
Can I apply to support a local sports club?
We don’t provide funding for amateur sports clubs or fee-paying sports clubs unless it can be demonstrated that the club is providing benefit to the broader community, such as:
- It is helping those who would be excluded from a mainstream sport due to cost, disability, lack of resources etc.
- Extends the offering of the sports club to offer additional facilities that are for the broader benefit of the local community, for example, funds for a defibrillator that can also be used or accessed by the public.
Championing Grant Application Form
Ready to apply? Simply complete and submit the form below and your Foundation Representative will be in touch shortly.
Championing grants are designed to help a charity or cause which would otherwise be too small to have their own fund raising event. It does not have to be a registered charity. It could simply be a local programme, group or cause that is doing something beneficial to the community, environment or society.
