We Fund

Our ambition is to support small and medium-sized charities over the longer term. This gives the charities we partner with greater flexibility over how they use those resources, allows them to build an in-depth relationship with us and take advantage of the wide range of development support we offer.

We recognise that there are many charities out there who would like and would benefit from our support but, like any funder, we have a limit to the money we have available. In fact, in 2020, we will only be able to make around 170 new grants to small charities in England and Wales, half of which will be for £100,000 over three years, and the other half for £45,000 over three years.

Our new funding process considers local need, the prevalence of eligible small and medium sized charities, the nature of the region and the balance of our portfolio to date. The size of grant a charity can apply for depends on this information, which we review and update every six months and informs our online eligibility checker.

We work with hundreds of small and local charities helping people dealing with complex social issues that don’t have simple solutions. Difficulties such as poor mental health, homelessness and substance abuse. We fund charities helping people whose lives are significantly affected by:

• Domestic and sexual abuse
• Sexual exploitation
• Mental health
• Homelessness and vulnerably housed
• Offending, prison or community service
• Care leavers
• Learning disabilities
• Addiction or dependency on alcohol, drugs, substances and/or gambling
• Trafficking and modern slavery
• Young parents
• Asylum seekers and refugees

In-depth

We fund charities which work with people over a prolonged period. As a result, we do not fund work that is primarily one-off advice, online-based or phone-based, or 'signposting'.

Holistic and person-centred

We expect the charity to use a 'person-centred approach'. The individual will have been assessed and their needs identified with a plan of support put in place. Where your charity cannot meet all of an individual's identified needs, you will need to tell us how you are working with other agencies to support these additional needs.

Targeted

We do not support work that is purely reactive, or for the benefit of an entire geographic community. The charity will have identified a specific group of beneficiaries, will understand their needs and pro-actively seek to support them.

Supporting a journey of change

We expect the charity to be able to monitor and measure positive, outcome-based changes. These may not always be 'hard' outcomes, but we need to see evidence that the charity is supporting its service users to develop new skills, confidence, independence, security and/or choice and control.

Core cost funding

We apply few restrictions to the grants we make, instead, we trust charities to spend their money how they see fit. Therefore, unless you are applying to us for a specific project, we do not ask for a budget, or how the money will be spent.

We will not, however, fund capital costs and we do expect our grant to be spent within its term.

Development support

We are able to offer charities we partner with a range of tailored developmental support to help build organisational capacity, improve resilience and sustainability. Whether it’s to embed a new database, one of our expert consultants to help with your governance or fundraising, or even guidance on a particular finance or HR issue. We know the impact this support can have, so we are particularly keen to work with charities that can demonstrate an understanding of their own organisational development needs, and an appetite to address these.

When do applications open and close?

As part of our commitment to provide outstanding customer service, you can now apply for support at any time. Internally, we are still profiling our budget equally across the year, so you should stand the same chance of obtaining support from us at whatever time of year you apply.

Where can I find detailed guidance on how to apply for grants?

Take a look at our detailed Guidance Notes for more information on our applications. Your Regional Manager will also support you through producing a proposal if you get through the initial assessment to the proposal stage.

How long will it take to hear if our grant application is successful?

From the moment you complete an initial expression of interest, available through our eligibility checker, we aim to let you know the outcome within four months.

How likely is our application to be successful?

Due to our commitment to provide larger awards of longer-term funding, we have less income available for new grants.

When we have streamlined our grantmaking process to save time for applicants and be more transparent about what it is we are seeking to fund, our funding is highly competitive and, unfortunately, we are not able to fund most of the applications that we receive. 

We still have an active grant with you, can we apply for another one?

If you hold an Enable grant with us, you will need to complete the grant and submit your monitoring report before you can apply for further funding. Applications are made in the same way, starting with our eligibility checker.

If you hold an Invest grant and you are seeking further funding, you can re-apply when you have completed two years of monitoring. You will know if you have been successful in securing further funding before your current grant has completed. Applications are made in the same way, starting with our eligibility checker.

Please note that we have now moved away from Enable and Invest grants to make the application process simpler. You can find out more here.

We’ve forgotten our password. What should we do?

If you are having trouble logging into your account, or have forgotten your login details, please contact our team on 0370 411 1223 or email enquiries@lloydsbankfoundation.org.uk.

Our charity has had an account on your site in the past, but we no longer have the login details. What should we do?

If you are having trouble logging into your account, or have forgotten your login details, please contact our team on 0370 411 1223 or email enquiries@lloydsbankfoundation.org.uk.

We would like to update our online account to have new contact details, how do we do this?

If you no longer have access to the email address linked to your account or want to update your organisation’s contact details, please phone our team on 0370 411 1223 or email enquiries@lloydsbankfoundation.org.uk.