K & R Anthony Charity Support Services

Grant Seeking

Did you know?

In the Nineteenth Century, a plot of woodland in Hampton-on-Thames was available to the poor of the parish to gather firewood for winter fuel.  This became protected as a charitable purpose, eventually named "The Hampton Fuel Allotment Charity".  By the 1950’s the woodland had been turned into allotments, and the income from the rent on these allotments (totalling about £1,000 per year) was used to buy heating fuel for the local poor, so continuing the original charitable purpose.

Then in 1988, Sainsburys bought the land for £22 Million – and the charity’s income leapt from £1,000 per year to £4,000 per day!   The beneficial area has been extended to the whole Borough, and large grants are made to local hospitals and any causes helping the poor of the area.  Despite these efforts, by 1995 its assets had grown to over £29M.  In 2001/2 it gave away £1.3M, of which over £0.5M was given to individuals in need.

(Please NOTE: This page is NOT the website of the above charity!  For more info about them, or to contact them, click on their underlined name above for the link to their own website.)

This is an exceptional example of a UK Grant-making Trust, but together the grants made by Trusts large & small now exceed £1 Billion each year.

Many Trusts owe their existence to a wealthy founder, and the best source of funding is usually to get key people interested in the work.  Our very first client, although English and living in the UK, wanted funding to attend a Christian Bible College in the USA; we found three Trusts relevant to his circumstances (down to the precise Parish where he lived), but in the event he got funding from an individual millionairess in the USA, and nothing from the Trusts.

Free Database

There is now a free service being provided by "GrantsNet.co.uk".  Their Website contains a searchable Database of Trusts (UK only), and you can enter Keywords to find those Trusts most relevant to your charitable Project.  A list of possible Trusts appears, free of charge!  We have not tried this service (we would love to hear from someone who has), but we have to admit that, being free, it is much cheaper than what we were able to offer.  In view of this, and given the quantity of Website work which we now have, we have therefore CEASED to provide our own grant-seeking service. 

Recommended Reading

For most seekers of UK Grants, we find that the best publications are those produced by the Directory of Social Change.  Their Directories may not appear to have the biggest lists of Trusts, but they are carefully researched and your time is not wasted with Trusts which have become dormant (ie they are still registered with the Charity Commission, but in practice have not been making grants for possibly several years).

For most types of grants to registered charities, we recommend:

There are also guides to local Trusts: see the DSC's website, www.dsc.org.uk

For grants to individuals (though educational grants usually have to be paid via their College), we recommend:

And for overseas grants, we also recommend:

These books are often in the Reference Section of Public Libraries in the UK.  For your own copies, order them from:

Directory of Social Change, 24 Stephenson Way, London, NW1 2DP, England
Tel 020 7209 5151; Fax 020 7391 4804.
www.dsc.org.uk
 

What you need to provide

If you want to approach Trusts, they will all want, in one way or another, –

Some Trusts prefer brief initial contact (sometimes by phone), to outline the project & see whether they might be interested or will be bound to turn it down.  Others specifically discourage this.

Very few Trusts will give Grants to individuals.  Those wanting Grants for training may be able to get tuition fees paid direct to the College, but will find it more difficult to get living expenses, unless the College has its own accommodation and these costs can also be paid to the College.  However, there are Benevolent Societies which will help individuals with specific needs – one of our Clients eventually received too much money!