THE ULVERSCROFT FOUNDATION
Revenue grants. usually for under £5,000, are available for local and national UK and overseas not-for-profit organisations, including Community Interest Companies (CICs), libraries, schools, colleges and sports groups, for projects that benefit visually impaired people.
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o Application deadline: MONDAY 15th DECEMBER 2025.
o Funder: The Ulverscroft Foundation (founded 1972. Charity number: 264873. Total value of all grants awarded during the year ended 31 October 2024: £540,000 (2023: £814,000; 2022: £481,000 (2021: £505,000)).
o Who can apply: UK registered charities, charitable organisations, Community Interest Companies, social welfare agencies, libraries, hospitals, schools, colleges and universities.
o Key words: revenue, visual impairment/defective eyesight, blindness, sick, handicapped, medical research, sport/leisure activities, Overseas, United Kingdom.
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The Ulverscroft Foundation is a significant funder of UK and overseas not-for-profit organisations that are working to improve the quality of life of people who are blind, partially sighted and visually impaired.
Its primary objects, as recorded in its original Trust Deed, are to:
o Promote or conduct medical research and to provide and assist in the provision of facilities for the treatment or alleviation of sick or handicapped persons, and
o Relieve, assist and provide treatment and education for sick or handicapped persons and in particular (but without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing) persons suffering from defective eyesight.
Any organisation with (a) an appropriate safeguarding policy for vulnerable children and/or adults and procedures to implement and monitor the policy, and (b) an equal opportunities policy may apply for a grant of between £100 and £500,000 (although awards towards the upper end of this scale are extremely rare). The vast majority of grants made are for less than £5,000.
Applications from public libraries managed by local authorities will be considered if these are additional to the local authority’s core service. Volunteer-run libraries may be grant funded if they are supported in cash or in kind by the local authority (libraries operated by private companies are not supported).
Grants can be used for (please note that this is not an exclusive list):
o Academic and clinical research.
o Purchase of equipment or materials.
o Staffing for specific time-limited projects (please note the Foundation will not support staff salaries or ongoing running costs), and
o Time-limited projects.
The Foundation likes to see evidence that applicants have sought and secured matched funding as part of their application.
During the year ended 31st October 2024, the Foundation awarded 42 grants totalling £540,000 (2023: 39 grants totalling £814,000; 2022: 32 grants totalling £481,000).
A list of grants made during the year and pledged for the future can be viewed on pages 26 and 27 of the Foundation’s annual accounts.
Applications may be made by downloading, completing and posting the application form available on the Foundation’s website, where further information and guidance about the Foundation’s grants can also be found. Applications are also accepted by email.
The Foundation meets quarterly to consider applications: in January (deadline 15th December), April (deadline 15th March), July (deadline 15th June) and October (deadline 15th September). As soon as one application deadline passes, the next round opens to applications.
The next application deadline is on Monday 15th December 2025.
Contact details for the Foundation are:
Joyce Sumner
Secretary
The Ulverscroft Foundation
The Green
Bradgate Road
Anstey
Leicestershire
LE7 7FU
Email: foundation@ulverscroft.