We will be accepting new applications from eligible small and local charities up until 5pm Friday 29th July 2022. We support charities with an annual income of £25,000 to £1 million with a proven track record of helping people on a journey of positive change through in-depth, holistic and person-centred support. We offer unrestricted funding, including around core costs, and tailored development support to help your charity be more effective.
Learn about the type of work we fund
Start by selecting the complex social issue your charity mainly focuses on
Start by selecting the complex social issue your charity mainly focuses on
Check your eligibility in five minutes
Enter the local authority where you carry out your work
Enter the local authority where you carry out your work
We'll send you a link to a short application form
Tell us about your charity, the difference you make and your development needs
Tell us about your charity, the difference you make and your development needs
Your application will be reviewed by one of our Grants Officers
We’ll look at how your charity fits with our criteria
We’ll look at how your charity fits with our criteria
Have a virtual meeting with one of our managers
We will advise whether or not you will progress to the Grants Panel for a final decision
We will advise whether or not you will progress to the Grants Panel for a final decision
Deadline for applications is 29 July 2022. We aim to give you a decision within four months
Funding deadline 29th July 2022
From 29th July 2022 we will be closed to new funding applications as we prepare to launch our new strategy in October. We will be accepting new applications from eligible small and local charities up until 5pm Friday 29th July 2022. We aim to give all charities a decision within four months.
We want to ensure all grants that are part of our 2018 – 2022 strategy Reaching Further can be made this year. This enables us to prioritise the assessment of these applications while developing our new funding programme which will open later this year.
We encourage all eligible charities to apply for an unrestricted £50,000 grant by 29 July. Alongside the funding, charities will have access to capacity building support from specialist consultants or colleagues from Lloyds Banking Group.
If you would like to hear from us as soon as our funding opens, you can sign up for our email alert here.
Our Funding Priorities
Our ambition is to support small and medium-sized charities to recover and renew beyond the immediate crisis. In 2021, we will offer around 190 charities a two-year unrestricted grant of £50,000 which gives charities we partner with greater flexibility over how they use their resources.
Alongside the funding, charities will be supported by a Regional Manager, who will work with them to identify priority development needs and support them to access a wide range of organisation development support to meet those needs.
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.
We want to be open and transparent with charities and make the best use of their time spent applying for a grant, by being clear in advance which charities we are more likely to fund at any time.
Our funding process considers local need, the prevalence of eligible small and medium-sized charities in the area, the nature of the region and the balance of our portfolio.
To see if we are currently funding the main issue your charity focuses on and area where you do the majority of your work, please start below by selecting a complex social issue then select your local authority.
The Regional Priorities were last amended in March 2022 and will be in place until summer 2022.
What do we mean by
In-depth
We fund charities which work with people over a period of time. This could be weekly for 12 weeks or more, it may be regular sessions, or a person may access your charity only when they need support, but we expect that you would see them at least a few times during a year to access support which goes beyond social activities. We do not fund one off support or work where the underlying purpose is social or signposting.
Holistic and person-centred
By holistic, we mean that we expect to see a ‘person centred approach’ in your work. You’ll work with the people you support to identify and agree their specific needs, so that a plan of support can be put in place. We know that a single charity or service can’t be expected to meet all of the clients / service user needs, however you should have trusted relationships with providers of local specialist services which enables the people you support to overcome complex social issues and meet their basic needs, (like housing, benefits, health care, domestic abuse services etc.) and when you refer someone for support, you track their progress to ensure their needs are met.
Targeted
We fund work which is specifically and deliberately aimed at those affected by one of our complex social issues to help them overcome, address or manage that particular issue. We do not tend to support work that is purely reactive. You will know who the beneficiaries are, understand their needs and proactively seek to support them. We will ask whether you consult your service users regularly to ensure your offer is as relevant and appropriate to them as possible.
Supporting a journey of change
You keep written or electronic records or case files of each person you are supporting, noting progress against activities. Your charity should be able to demonstrate the difference you are making through these records.
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, we do not ask for a budget, or how the money will be spent.
Developmental Support
We are able to offer charities a range of tailored development support to help build organisational capacity, improve resilience and sustainability. Whether it’s support 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 issues, and an appetite to address these.
Unrestricted funding
This is an unrestricted grant programme which means you can use the grant for any purpose that furthers your charity’s aims. For example, your Board might decide to build reserves or choose to pay for extra capacity to engage with organisational development. We do not ask for a budget or how the money will be spent.
FAQs
We have a grant which is due to end after 29th July 2022, can I apply for funding now?
You can apply for our funding if you have less than six months remaining on your current grant. That means that if your funding is coming to an end this year, you can still apply for new funding before 29th July if you are still eligible.
Will your new funding programme look different to your current one?
We cannot confidently say what our future funding will look like as we’re still developing our new strategy. We are on track to launching our new strategy in October this year and will be opening up for funding again after that, probably in November. As part of our strategy development, we have been consulting with small and local charities and sector partners since 2020. We have also been taking learning from our 2018 – 2022 Reaching Further strategy as well as the changes we made since 2020 including being a more flexible funder, investing in strengthening charities through capacity building support, and better supporting charities that are led by the communities they seek to serve.
The Foundation’s 2018 – 2022 strategy Reaching Further is coming to an end, and we are preparing to launch our new strategy in October this year. We want to ensure that we can distribute all the grants from this strategy before the end of this year while also continuing to work with our partners to develop our new strategy in time for our launch.
How much funding do you allocate to charities?
We award grants of £50,000 over 2 years.
What are your eligibility criteria?
You can download our full eligibility criteria here or simply use our eligibility checker. If you have read our criteria and are still unsure if you’re eligible, please contact us.
Why are you not funding my local authority?
In 2021, we will be able to award funding to 190 small and medium sized charities in England and Wales. We want to be open and transparent with charities and make the best use of their time by being clear in advance with charities about which areas we are more likely to fund at any time. Therefore we have introduced 'regional priorities' to make sure that our portfolio of grants is equitably distributed across the 11 complex social issues and the regions in England and Wales our work focuses on, and that charities don't spend time in applying to us if they stand little chance of being awarded funding.
Regional Priorities consider local need, the prevalence of eligible small and medium-sized charities, the nature of the region and the level of investment the Foundation has given to each complex social issue in that area, including our portfolio of live grants. Whether your charity can apply to us this year depends on which Local Authority you do the majority of your work in, and the complex social issue you are working to address.
You say you only fund work of ‘registered charities’ – what does this mean?
We only fund Charities or Charitable Incorporated Organisations (CIOs) registered with the Charity Commission, and who also have at least one year of published accounts.
What do you mean by published accounts?
By published accounts, we mean the accounts published on your charity’s Charity Commission web page.
We are a Community Interest Company (CIC), are we eligible to apply?
No, we only accept applications from charities or Charitable Incorporated Organisations (CIO) registered with the Charity Commission.
Are there things you don't fund?
Yes, our grants programmes are designed to support small and local charities helping people aged 17+ overcome complex social issues. You can check which issues we fund below or read our strategy to find out why we’ve chosen these.
You support charities helping people facing complex social issues. What do you mean by complex social issues?
We work with hundreds of small and local charities helping people dealing with complex social issues that don’t have simple solutions. Problems such as poor mental health, homelessness and dependency. We fund charities helping people whose lives are significantly affected by these complex social issues:
We support people living with one or more of your complex social issues. Are we automatically eligible to apply?
Not necessarily. You will still need to meet our eligibility criteria and be able to show that the complex social issues you are working on have a significant impact on the lives of the people you work with. For example, some young parents will be well supported by their family and partner, and are not therefore seen as dealing with a complex social issue. We will also be looking for your work to be in-depth, holistic and targeted, as described above.
We’re working on a complex social issue not listed on your eligibility criteria. Are we eligible to apply?
No, unfortunately, due to limited funds, we only make grants to charities working with people experiencing at least one of our targeted complex social issues.
You ask about our free reserves – what are free reserves?
Free reserves are the amount of unrestricted cash reserves your charity held at year-end. This includes reserves which you have decided to allocate but are free to reallocate as needed and does not include the value of fixed assets such as buildings.
We are a new charity, and we don’t have one year of published accounts. Are we eligible to apply?
No, you will need to wait until your first year of accounts is published on the Charity Commission website. At that point, if you meet our eligibility criteria we’d love to hear from you.
We are a recently merged charity that does not have one year of published accounts. Are we eligible to apply?
As a recently merged charity, you can apply for a grant if you can show:
We don’t have our own charity number. Can we apply using the charity number of an umbrella organisation?
No, we can only fund you if your charity is independently registered with the Charity Commission, and your charity has a bank account in its own name.
Our income in our last set of published accounts was less than £25,000 OR more than £1 million. Can we apply?
No, your charity’s income must be between £25,000 and £1 million. These limits still apply even if your income is more than £1 million because of an unusual or one-off payment like a legacy or capital grant.
If you are a recently merged charity and are using the published accounts of the merged charities, the combined income must be less than £1 million.
Does our charity need to have its own bank account to be eligible to apply?
Yes, your charity must have a bank account in its own name. If your application is successful, we will pay your grant into this bank account.
Do you fund children's charities?
Our grants are focused on adults. You need to be working with people aged 17 and over – see guidelines on our Notes for Applicants page for exceptions.
We are an advice agency, can we apply?
We do fund charities whose core work is providing advice but only if they support people experiencing our targeted complex social issues AND additional support is provided – e.g. representation, formal referral process, help with deposits. You will need to be able to report on the longer-term impact of the support you provide.
We do not fund one-off advice or helplines.
We are a counselling service, can we apply?
We do not fund charities if your core work is counselling, unless this is part of the wider support you provide to address our targeted complex social issues.
For example, we would consider funding counselling as part of a programme for people who are recovering from substance abuse.
We still have an active grant with you, can we apply for another one?
You can apply to us if you have less than 6 months remaining on your current grant. However, holders of a national programme grant (such as our infrastructure, criminal justice or welfare reform programmes) can apply at any time.
If you’re not sure whether this applies to your charity, please contact us before starting your application by contacting our team on 0370 411 1223 or email enquiries@lloydsbankfoundation.org.uk
When do applications open and close?
This is an open grants programme, therefore there is no closing date. You can submit your application at any time, and we’ll aim to let you have the funding decision within four months.
We’ve forgotten our password. What should we do?
On the account log in page, click 'Forgot Password?' in the bottom left corner. An email with further instructions will be sent to your email address. Open the email and follow the instructions. If you still have problems accessing your account, please phone 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 have your existing login details, you can update the contact details yourself by logging in and clicking on the person icon on the right-hand side of the screen, choosing settings on the drop-down list and selecting ‘Personal Details’ from the menu on the left. Enter your new details then hit the save button.
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.
Watch our Core Funding Webinar and Q&A
Learn more about the fund, application process and eligibility for our core funding in this webinar with the Grants Team.
Still have questions? Download our eligibility criteria.
Under our Racial Equity strand, we are looking to support charities where more than half of their Trustee Board self-identify as belonging to a Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic community.
This funding is right for you if you can demonstrate that some of the services you provide are in-depth, holistic, and targeted at a particular Complex Social Issue. You’ll also be able to tell us the needs of the community you serve, and how you’ve identified these.
invested in charities through grants in 2020
small and local charities supported at any one time
charities received developmental support in 2020
