The Kelly Family Charitable Trust regularly reviews its grant-making criteria. Originally established to provide support to small local charities carrying out community projects, it initially moved its focus from communities to individual families and in July 2006 amended its grant-giving guidelines to favour charities that nurture the potential of a supportive family structure. More recently, the Trust has shifted its emphasis towards funding relatively new registered charities working locally or regionally in the United Kingdom.

Grants are available to nurture and support family life. The Trust prioritises its funding in favour of charities whose activities involve all or most family members (where possible) in initiatives that support and encourage the family to work as a cohesive unit in tackling problems that face one or more of its members. The overarching objective of the Trust's grant-making is to reinforce the benefit and support family members as a unit can give to each other.

The three areas of activity that the charity wishes to support are:

1. Families where sexual abuse, physical abuse, domestic violence, alcohol abuse and drug abuse threaten the integrity of the family unit.
2. Interventions that support families and help them in ways that prevent the fracture of the family unit, eg practical family support, relationship counselling, mediation, and
3. Prisoners - and in particular their families - during and after the period of imprisonment.

Grants up to £5,000, which can cover core costs, revenue or capital projects, are available. Applications for higher amounts as well as requests for repeat funding may also be considered.  The Trust prefers to support charities whose income is below £500,000. However, larger charities with pioneering pilot projects may be supported on occasion.

There is a matched funding requirement for this scheme. The Trust expects applying charities to demonstrate that funding has been sought and secured from elsewhere.

The Trust has previously supported charities working in the areas of early intervention, mediation, prison services and services for families affected by sexual abuse, physical abuse and domestic violence, among others. A number of case studies of funded charities is provided on the Trust’s website. 

Funding is not available for:

o General appeals.
o Individual requests for grants.
o National charities.
o Organisations with specific religious or political agendas, or
o Unregistered charities.

Further information, guidance an application form (available to download) is available on the Trust’s website.

The Trust has two deadlines each year, on:

o 1st March, and
o 1st September.

The next deadline for applications is therefore Wednesday 1st March 2023.