The Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales' Specialist Small Charities Grant Programme will provide 3-year unrestricted grants of £75,000 to strengthen small, local and specialist charities in England and Wales that are supporting people facing complex issues in the areas of:
o Addiction.
o Asylum seekers and refugees.
o Care leavers.
o Domestic abuse.
o Homelessness.
o Offending.
o Sexual abuse and exploitation, and/or
o Trafficking and modern slavery.
The Foundation is particularly interested in investing in charities that can demonstrate that they:
o Are inclusive and make people feel welcomed, valued and that they belong.
o Are proactively reach and engage with people to address the inequity they experience.
o Recognise the people in those communities who experience inequity, and/or
o Understand the makeup of the communities they support and work with.
Unrestricted grants of £75,000 for up to 3 years are available, alongside a range of tailored development support options.
In addition, grants of up to £500 are available for groups who need accessibility support to apply for this programme. The grant will help fund the cost of any support needs, such as transcribing text into braille.
Funding is not available for:
o Charities working predominantly outside England and Wales.
o Community Interest Companies, or any other organisations that are not charities or CIOs registered in England and Wales.
o Hospitals, health authorities, or hospices.
o Infrastructure or ‘umbrella’ organisations.
o Organisations that require people to take part in a religious activity as part of the support provided, unless the charity has been established to support people specifically of that faith.
o Organisations whose primary purpose is to give funds to individuals or other organisations. This means organisations that use more than 50% of their annual expenditure as grants.
o Rescue services, or
o Schools, colleges, or universities.
The programme opens to applications at 10am on Wednesday 1st November 2023 with a deadline of Thursday 25th January 2024. Successful applicants are expected to be announced by Friday 24th May 2024.
The Foundation has scheduled a free Question and Answer session for Thursday 9th November 2023 between 10:30am and 12:30pm. Registration can be made at this LINK.
Further information, guidance, an eligibility checker and details about how to apply can be found on the Foundation’s website.
