The Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) has launched a new £3 million revenue grant fund for small UK charitable organisations working to improve social equity in their communities. The Keystone Fund will award unrestricted grants towards the core costs of running an organisation, strengthening capacity, or building resilience, particularly in lieu of the increased demand on services currently being experienced by many not-for-profit organisations.
Around 120 charitable organisations across the UK are expected to receive an unrestricted revenue grant of between £5,000 and £50,000 over 2-3 rounds during 2022/23, with an average grant of £25,000.
Please note that up to 50% of the Fund will be earmarked for organisations supporting refugees in the UK.
Specifically, grants are aimed at supporting UK charitable organisations in order that they:
1. Can bolster their basic running capabilities via improvements to governance, strategic planning and capacity building, and
2. Adapt their ways of working through digital capability, staff and volunteer training and responding to operational challenges.
Grants can be used for (while this is not an exclusive list, it represents the Fund’s preferred use of grant support):
o Accessing additional external expertise, support and advice to develop resilience plans.
o Delivery costs or equipment.
o Digital costs.
o Leadership time to develop strategy or organisational capacity.
o Operational overheads, and
o Staff costs.
Grants must begin to be spent within 6 months of the grant payment, but can be carried forward into the following financial year if required to enable flexibility. Grants should be fully spent within 24 months of grant payment.
Applicants must:
1. Be addressing social injustice or working towards social equity to build a fairer society for all (for example, by supporting disabled people, the LGBQT+ community, people at risk of homelessness, people experiencing digital inequality, people experiencing or at risk of racial discrimination and equality and/or refugees in the UK.
2. Be responding to increased need among their local or regional communities.
3. Be able to demonstrate a clear understanding of the needs and challenges of the communities they serve.
4. Have an excellent track record of at least 3 years of creating better outcomes for marginalised communities through a range of activities and/or advocacy.
5. Show in-depth local or regional knowledge and networks.
6. Show how they have responded to a significantly increased demand for services.
7. Have an operational or governance structure which provides opportunities for people with lived experience to have a voice or to influence strategy, and
8. Have a reasonably clear idea of what they need to do next to transform or adapt their ways of working and strengthen their building blocks for the future.
Funding is not available for:
o Capital projects or significant items to hire or purchase.
o Grants, bursaries, sponsorship or financial donations to other organisations or individuals.
o Organisations that are not fully registered as charitable in the UK.
o Organisations that were established or registered as charitable after 1 January 2020.
o Retrospective costs.
o The promotion of religious or political views, or
o Work which primarily focuses on animals.
Further information, guidance and details of the 2-stage application process is available on the Charities Aid Foundation website. Registration on the CAF website is required in the first instance, followed by completion of a short eligibility questionnaire.
The application deadline for Stage 1 applications is midnight on Wednesday 23rd November 2022. Successful applicants at Stage 1 will be invited to complete a Stage 2 full application by Monday 9th January 2023. Successful Stage 2 applicants are expected to be announced in February 2023.
Further rounds are likely to take place in Spring/Summer 2023.
Organisations interested in applying are encouraged to attend a webinar on the programme in early December. Contact CAF at the address below for further information and registration details.
Contact details for the Keystone Fund are:
The Keystone Fund
The Charities Aid Foundation
25 Kings Hill Avenue
Kings Hill
West Malling
Kent
ME19 4TA
Tel: 03000 123 000
Email: keystone(at)cafonline.org
