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Welcome to our new website. You may still see some pages from our old site as we move things over.

What you can spend the money on

We offer funding from £300 to £50,000, and can support your work for up to 2 years. We fund organisations of any size.

We can fund

We can fund:

  • part of your organisation’s overheads
  • equipment
  • staff costs
  • training costs
  • transport
  • utilities
  • volunteer expenses
  • fees for specialist consultants

Funding overheads and indirect costs

We can fund the delivery of your project and some indirect costs, also called overheads. This could include rent, insurance, or part of a salary for someone not working directly on the project, such as a senior manager or office admin worker.

For example, if your project is half of your organisation’s work, we could fund half of your overheads. This is sometimes called full cost recovery. See our guide to full cost recovery.

Working with consultants

Tell us if you plan to use a consultant when you contact us about your idea.

We can fund a specialist consultant to work with you and bring new skills or experience to your organisation if it will help you reach your goals.

Be cautious of consultants or businesses that contact you and say they act on our behalf or are our preferred supplier. This is not how we usually work. Contact us if you’re unsure for advice about working with consultants.

When choosing a consultant, try to get 3 quotes for the work. We’ll ask to see evidence of this.

You cannot use our funding to pay a consultant to write your application.

We cannot fund

We cannot fund certain types of costs or activities.

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