Application process
The Trust receives between 300 and 400 applications of some kind each year. Six out of ten fail immediately because the applicant has not provided sufficient information for the Trustees to make an informed decision, or because the proposal is outside the limited scope of the Trust’s work. Half of the complete applications also fail, often because they are neither well considered nor clearly expressed. The remaining twenty percent, some 60-80 applications per year, are considered in detail by the Trustees. Your chances of being among those that are considered are greatly increased by checking carefully whether what you propose is actually something that we support, as set out on the What we support page.
Decision process
Trustees meet three times a year to consider applications, in Spring, Summer and Autumn.
There is a deadline for the receipt of applications approximately three weeks before each meeting, although this is never advertised, to encourage applicants to forward plan.
Timing of applications
Under normal circumstances a minimum of 6 months can elapse before the Trust both makes a decision and has sufficient funds in its budget. In most financial years (April-March) almost all current year funds are committed by the Summer meeting, so we advise you to think at least half a year ahead when putting together your applications. In general, applications received after the end of June are unlikely to be funded within the Trust’s current financial year.
All successful applicants will be sent a formal offer letter as soon as possible after the meeting. In order to keep administration costs to a minimum however, the Trust does not automatically inform unsuccessful candidates of the decisions made.
Application for funding
Please complete as much of this form as possible. Parts marked with an asterisk * are mandatory. The Trustees will primarily consider the essential project information given below. You may send supplementary documentation (which must include your CV if applying as an individual) by using the upload button at the bottom of the form.
As a result of the recent high volume of applications, we have temporarily closed the portal. We anticipate reopening it in later in the Summer.