Manchester-based the Seven Friends Foundation has recently been established to provide small grants of between £300 and £3,000, with the vast majority of grants awarded expected to be under £1,000, to smaller charitable organisations with an average annual income of under £300,000. The Foundation awards across the UK, with a preference for supporting initiatives in areas of deprivation.
The Foundation will fund organisations which are registered charities and also other organisations which are not charities but which seek funding for charitable work in the following areas:
o To support and promote causes that are ignored, unpopular or face widespread stigma.
o Create stronger local communities that include those who have previously been excluded or marginalised, and
o Improve skills, infrastructure, sustainability and collaboration within the third sector.
In particular, the Foundation wants to support those organisations and causes that are unpopular or do not receive widespread public attention. This could be due to negative focus within the media; due to difficulty in accessing statutory, voluntary and institutional funding; due to the cause being seen as politically controversial; or because the issue is not typically seen as a charitable cause. Examples of these types of causes or groups may be (please note that this is not an exclusive list):
o Asylum seekers and refugees.
o Dependency or Addiction.
o LGBT+.
o Migrant communities.
o Offenders and ex-offenders.
o People experiencing violence or abuse.
o Sexual and reproductive health.
o Sex workers, and/or
o Trafficking and modern slavery.
The Foundation recognises that unpopularity can be very subjective and the above list is not exclusive. For example, mental health has become a much more popularised and publicised cause in recent years, but there may be a lack of progress in improving mental health support within the examples of the marginalised groups listed above.
The Foundation encourages anyone who believes their cause meets these criteria to apply and explain why you believe it does.
Projects that can deliver long-term impact and improvement, and are sustainable beyond the Foundation’s grant support are encouraged, as are applications from organisations that work together and can demonstrate how their work improves collaboration across the sector.
The Foundation wants to improve the skills in charitable organisations and are open to funding training and development opportunities within an organisation.
Applicants are encouraged to be open and transparent about the costs of what they are looking to fund and understand the need to fund ‘overheads’, ‘core costs’ or ‘administrative costs’ where they improve the sustainability and long-term success of an organisation.
Further information, guidance and details about how to apply is available on the Foundation’s website. Applications should be made in writing following the advice of the Foundation's website.
The deadline for applications is Wednesday 1st February 2023. Grants are expected to be announced in Spring 2023. The Foundation accepts applications throughout the year. Applications that miss a deadline are automatically carried forward to the next funding round.
Application and supporting documents should be sent to secretary(at)sevenfriends.org. Please note that applications received by post will be automatically rejected.
The Foundation does not publish a postal address on its website and may not therefore wish to be contacted by any means other than by email (to hello(at)sevenfriends.org).
