THE FINNIS SCOTT FOUNDATION (WINTER 2026 GRANTS ROUND) –
Capital and revenue grants of up to £10,000 are available to UK registered charities, Charitable Incorporated Organisations, Community Interest Companies, Hospices and Parent Teacher Associations for projects in the areas of gardening and plant sciences, art history and fine art.
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o Application deadline: THURSDAY 11th DECEMBER 2025 at 4pm for the Foundation’s meeting in January 2026.
o Funder: The Finnis Scott Foundation (founded 2007. Charity number 1121475. Total value of all grants awarded during the year ended 31 December 2024: £275,839 (2023: £305,362; 2022: £282,321; 2021: £226,209)).
o Who can apply: UK registered charities, Charitable Incorporated Organisations (CIOs), hospices and Parent Teacher Associations of Special Schools (PTAs).
o Key words: Capital, Revenue, Horticulture, Plant Sciences, Gardens, Hospices, Fine Arts, Arts History, United Kingdom.
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The Finnis Scott Foundation provides small grants (nominally up to £10,000, but in practice much smaller) to UK registered charities working in the areas of horticulture and plant sciences as well as art history and fine art. Preference is given to smaller charities where the Foundation’s grant is likely to have a significant impact. The Foundation has slowly been increasing its total level of grant-making in recent years, together with its average grant award.
Applicants applying for gardens or hospices are likely to be looked at more favourably. Please note that the Foundation is unlikely to fund recently formed organisations that do not have an established track record of project/service delivery, or have yet to produce a set of annual accounts.
The Foundation’s funding priorities are:
1. The training of gardeners (the Foundation is keen to support horticultural training through bursaries and apprenticeships).
2. The restoration of gardens.
3. Scientific plant projects.
4. Permanent art projects, including the conservation and framing of pictures and assisting galleries in the purchase of works of art and the development of galleries.
5. The production of exhibition catalogues, and
6. The support of the disadvantaged within horticulture.
Capital and revenue grants of up to £10,000 are available, together with the occasional higher award over £10,000. In practice, the vast majority of awards are for under £5,000. There is no matched funding requirement.
During the year ended 31st December 2024, the Foundation considered 125 applications for grant support and awarded 65 grants totalling £275,839 (2023: 134 applications, of which 67 were awarded a grant. Grants made totalled £305,360).
The Foundation has previously stated that, of the applications declined, the most common reason was that the proposed project was not sufficiently aligned with the Foundation’s priorities, or too large a grant was requested.
A list of all awards made during the year can be viewed on pages 14-15 of the Foundation’s annual accounts.
Funding is not available for:
o Newly established organisations without a track record of successful project delivery.
o Projects which have already been completed and expenditure which has already been made.
o Requests for salaries, except in the case of educational support (bursaries and apprenticeships), or
o Site-specific art installations, conceptual or performance art.
The Charity’s website now contains an updated application form for grants, and this makes clear the parameters within which the Trustees would like to offer support, as well as making it clear that grants should not be for the payment of salaries (except time-limited apprenticeships or traineeships), and will usually be within the range of £500 to £10,000, although larger grants will be considered in exceptional circumstances.
Further information, guidance and an application form is available on the Foundation’s website.
The Foundation meets every three months, in January, April, July and October, to review applications.
The next application deadline is 4pm on Thursday 11th December 2025 for the trustee’s meeting in January 2026.
Contact details for the Foundation are:
Ms Angela Moon
Administrator
The Finnis Scott Foundation
HCR Hewitsons
Lancaster House
Nunn Mills Road
Northampton
Northamptonshire
NN1 5GE
Email: amoon@hcrlaw.com