What you can spend the funding on

What we can fund

We can fund direct project costs, such as:

• equipment
• one-off events
• staff costs
• training
• transport
• utilities
• volunteer expenses

We can also fund some indirect project costs (sometimes called overheads). This might include:

• rent or insurance
• part of a salary for someone not working directly on the project, such as a senior manager or admin worker

For example, if the project you’re applying for makes up half of your organisation’s work, we may fund half of your overheads. This is sometimes known as full cost recovery. You can read more in our guide to full cost recovery.

Capital costs

We can fund some capital costs, but we will not fund projects that are mainly for capital costs. You can include up to £50,000 for things like:

• small building repairs
• refurbishing or improving spaces used to deliver your project

Match funding

It helps if you have other funding for your project, such as:

• money raised through fundraising
• support from other funders

This is known as match funding. We prefer this, especially if you’re asking for a larger grant. But if that’s not possible, we may still fund the full cost of your project. We’ll discuss this with you when you get in touch to discuss your project.

What we cannot fund

We cannot fund:

• retrospective costs (for things that have already happened or you’ve paid for)
• alcohol
• contingency costs, loans, endowments or interest
• paying someone to write your application
• fundraising activities
• VAT you can reclaim
• religious activities (we can fund religious organisations if the project benefits the wider community and does not include religious content)
• statutory activities
• activities that help children or young people with schoolwork during school hours
• overseas travel
• projects that take place outside of the UK
• activities that make profits for private gain
• cash given directly to individuals