Where to get funding

A community action project can be funded from a variety of sources. Follow these links to read more about some of the organisations that offer funding and grants and whether they will be appropriate for your project. Many of these will have an application process. Check the funder’s grant-making policy before you apply to make sure your application fits with the ethos.
Food bank volunteer sorting food

ARC-Addington Fund
A registered farming charity to provide homes for farming families living in England and Wales which have had to leave the industry through no fault of their own, and by doing so will lose their home. In times of emergency and where hardship prevails we may be able to assist with a grant towards certain business costs.

Acts435
Not a grant giver as such, but allows people to give money directly to others. Managed through a network of churches and local charities. The goal is to give 100% of the donations to those in need.

BBC Children in Need
Provides grants to projects in the UK which focus on children and young people who are disadvantaged. The grant programmes are open all year round for applications, with a focus on allocating the money to deserving projects four times a year.

Beatrice Laing Trust
Offers financial support to UK registered charities working to advance the Christian faith and relieve poverty in its broadest sense. The Trust favours capital or project funding over revenue funding.

The Besom
Helps people make a difference to those suffering due to poverty, isolation, abuse, ill health, injustice, homelessness. It provides a bridge between those who want to give time, money, things or skills and those who are in need. The service it provides is free.

William A. Cadbury Charitable Trust
Has a particular interest in social welfare projects based in Birmingham and the West Midlands, but also considers nationally, projects working with offenders and ex-offenders.

Church Urban Fund
Targets the poorest 10% of communities in England and supports projects at an early stage, funding 'core costs' like salaries. The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Mustard Seed Grant programme support those with debt and poverty issues.

The Clothmakers Foundation
Aims to improve the lives of people and communities, particularly those facing disadvantage. Awards capital grants to UK charities.

Localgiving
Provides tools, training and advice to help local groups connect with supporters online, improve their digital skills and develop practical fundraising experience. They don’t award grants direct but their resources can bolster your fundraising potential.

UK Community Foundations Fair Share Trust
Some parts of the UK missed out on Lottery funding in the past. The Fair Share programme has been helping to change that. The New Opportunities Fund put £50 million into a trust to target the 80 areas across the UK, with UK Community Foundations being appointed as the trustee to distribute funding to where it’s needed most.

Hadley Trust
Assists in creating opportunities for people who are disadvantaged to improve their situation, either by financial assistance, involvement in project and support work or research into the causes of, and means to alleviate, hardship.

The Henry Smith Charity
Funds organisations that work with people to reduce social and economic disadvantage.

Joseph Rowntree Trust
A Quaker trust that makes grants to individuals and to projects seeking the creation of a peaceful world, political equality and social justice.


Chase Foundation
Works to promote change which will improve the quality of people's lives, focusing particularly on areas of social need to help the most disadvantaged in society to fulfil their potential.

Lloyds Bank Foundation
Focus on supporting charities that help people facing multiple disadvantage to move forward with their lives. By providing both financial and practical support, it aims to deliver lasting positive change.

Nationwide Foundation
Has a small grants programme open to charities which offer financial support focusing on financial exclusion, housing issues and homelessness.

Plunkett Foundation
Supports people, predominantly in rural areas, to set up and run life-changing community co-operatives; enterprises that are owned and run democratically by large numbers of people in their community. Areas of focus for include tackling isolation, loneliness and poverty.

Rural Community Shops
This is an activity of the Plunkett Foundation (see above). Many of the community owned shops trading in England, Scotland and Wales have been established through its support. There is a dedicated team offering support and advice for setting up a community shop.

Tudor Trust
Makes grants, and provides other types of support, to voluntary and community groups working in any part of the UK. It particularly wants to help smaller, community-led organisations which work directly with people who are at the margins of society: organisations which support positive changes in people’s lives and in their communities.

UK Community Foundations
Community Foundations are in existence across the country, and this is just the co-ordinating body which draws them together. Applications can still be made to local community foundations, and a very useful source of small-scale assistance.

WREN (Waste Recycling Environmental Limited)
A not-for-profit business that helps benefit the lives of people who live close to landfill sites by awarding grants for community, conservation and heritage projects.