APPLICATION GUIDELINES

ELIGIBILITY

Please read these guidelines before starting your application. Your organisation is eligible to apply if you can answer yes to all the following questions: 

• Are you a registered charity that is registered in and working solely in the UK, AND has 12 months’ accounts and report filed with the relevant charity regulator?
• Is your charity’s income less that £1m?
• Is the amount requested 15% of your income, up to a maximum of £40,000?
• Is your beneficiary group aged 16+?
• Does your project directly provide learning, training, qualifications and work experience that leads participants into the job market?
• Does your charity have at least 3 unrelated trustees on the charity register relevant to your region?
• Do your trustees, the CEO and Senior Managers live at separate addresses?
• Does your charity have public liability insurance?
• Amongst your policies, does your charity have a Health and Safety Policy, Safeguarding Policy and Equality and Diversity Policy? 

If your answer is yes to all of these questions, please proceed with your application.

GRANT SIZE

Grants of up to £40,000 a year are available for one year, subject to monitoring and availability of funds. For organisations with a turnover of £266,666 or less, you may only apply for a maximum of 15% of your last year’s turnover. For example, a turnover of £125,000 would indicate that you may apply for £18,750, which is 15% of £125,000. For organisations with a turnover of between £266,666 and £1m, you may only apply for up to £40,000. Organisations with a turnover in excess of £1m are not eligible for funding.

FUNDING AIMS

Our charity  enables  learning and development that empowers young people aged 16+ and adults to gain additional skills and confidence to enter the labour market. Our aim is to fund projects that support people to improve their confidence, build their life skills, qualifications, work experience and training, to get jobs.

FUND THEMES and priorities

We support applications that:

1. Work with individuals with complex barriers to employment, enabling them to move closer or into employment, including but not restricted to ex-service personnel and ex-offenders.
2. To work directly with young people and adults who are not in employment, education, or training (NEET), to improve their access to employment and the labour market.
3. Increase the life skills of people so that they may further develop their careers, with a particular focus on the water, utilities, and construction industries.

WHAT WE FUND

As a funder we seek to be flexible in our approach to grant applicants, and are happy to fund both project and/or core costs. We are also happy to fund Living Wage salaries.

Regardless of whether you are applying for core or project costs, we want to know how your work addresses our themes and priorities, and the outcomes you seek to achieve for your beneficiaries. We look for SMART outcomes- specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. We will also want to know how you will monitor and evaluate your work during the lifetime of the grant.

If you are applying for both project and core costs, you will need to explain to us why this will help your organisation. For example, you could be trying a new approach and need support to fund new project costs.

Last year we received far more applications than we could fund. In 2026 we will be particularly keen to support innovative approaches that highlight new ideas/ways of tackling barriers to training and employment.

WHO IS ELIGIBLE TO APPLY?

• Your organisation must be a registered charity.
• It must be based in, and deliver its services in the UK.
• It must work directly with young people 16+ and adults who are not in education, employment, or training.

TIMELINE