Factsheets on good funders for local groups
Trust funds
See below for more information about: Selecting trusts, Writing your application, Other funding information.
| Name of Funder | Size of grants given | Notes | Next deadline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alvor Charitable Trust | £500 to £50,000 | Local Christian, humanitarian, 'social change' projects based mainly in Sussex, Norfolk, north-east Scotland. | No deadlines. |
| Anton Jurgens Charitable Trust | £1000 - £25,000 | General, welfare - for charitable organisations that help to alleviate suffering of vulnerable people in society based in the south east of England. | Trustees meet in June & October |
| Bassil Shippam and Alsford Trust | £100 to £1000's. | To support charities active in the fields of care for young and older people, health, education and religion. | Trustees meet three times a year. |
| Bernard Sunley Foundation | Generally under £10,000 | Grants to registered charities. No set criteria. | No deadlines. |
| Bothwell Charitable Trust | £1000 or £2,500 | Disability, health, older people, and conservation. | Grants made in February/March each year |
| Brighton District Nursing Association Trust | Total: £70,000 Grants awarded from £2,000 to £10,000 |
Relief of sickness for persons in need in Brighton & Hove. | Four times a year. |
| Dorothy Hay-Bolton Charitable Trust | £250 - £3500 | Charities working with people who are deaf or blind, particularly children, young people and elderly people. | No deadlines |
| Ernest Kleinwort Charitable Trust | £100 - £2,000 | Charities based in Sussex, operating in the fields of wildlife & conservation, disability, medical research or welfare of older or young people. | Throughout the year. |
| Friarsgate Trust | Between £500 and £2,000 | Health & welfare of young and older people; local organisations based in Sussex, with preference for West Sussex and Chichester. | No deadlines |
| Gatwick Airport Community Trust | £250 min; usually £1000 - £5000 | To support community projects that protect and enhance the social and environmental well-being of the community, particularly those affected by operations at Gatwick Airport. | Between January and March every year. |
| Hart Charitable Trust | £100 - £750 | Grants limited to small local groups/organisations which the trustees believe deserve a little extra support. | None stated. |
| Hilden Charitable Fund | Up to £5,000 | Homelessness, Penal Affairs, Asylum seekers and refugees, Community based initiatives for disadvantaged young people, and Summer Playschemes. | May for summer playschemes. See website for other deadlines. |
| Ian Askew Charitable Trust | £200 - £2,500 | Support charities, with a preference for Sussex | Decisions made every other month |
| JC Robinson No.3 Trust | £30 to £500 | To support welfare, disability and children's charities. | No deadlines |
| JC Robinson No.4Trust | £200 - £750 | To benefit people who are young, elderly, disabled and underprivileged in Lewes and district. | No deadlines |
| Mrs A Lacy Tate | £100 - £5000 | General, education, animal welfare | No deadlines |
| Miss Pannett Charitable Trust | Small amounts | Preference for East Sussex | No deadlines. Applications take 3 - 6 months. |
| Raymond and Blanche Lawson Charitable Trust | £500 - £5,000 | Local voluntary organisations, preservation of buildings, local hospices, care in the community, assistance for people who are disabled, armed forces and benevolent funds. | No deadlines |
| The River Trust | £500 - £5000 |
To support evangelical Christian causes, with a preference for Sussex. |
No deadlines |
| The Simpson Charitable Trust | £500 - £1000 | To support organisations working with people with ill health, including people with arthritis and Parkinson’s disease and people who are blind, older or disabled. | No deadlines |
| Woodward Charitable Trust | £500 - over £5000 | To support small-scale, locally based initiatives. Applications from registered charities, schools and churches only. | 1st April 2011, 31st May 2011. |
Selecting trusts
Most trusts have been set up for a specific purpose, and receive far more applications that they are able to support. It is therefore important to find the funds that best match the project you are planning. All of these trusts are on the Trustfunding website (Trustfunding.org.uk – a subscription website that lists 4,200 grant-making trusts in the UK. You can access this site at the Resource Centre. Just contact us to book a time when you want to come in). This gives more details of the type of activities they fund, and most of them have a list of grants they have given in recent years.
Although many of the trusts do not give large amounts of money, it is possible to raise significant sums by applying to a range of funds to cover several projects that you have planned.
Writing your application
Once you have selected your funds, take your time to prepare an application that will really convince them that your project matches their criteria, and that your group has the ability to make it work.
Some trusts will have an application form that you can download from their website, or that they will post to you. Others will ask you to send a letter, and will list all the things that you should include.
The majority of trusts give you a lot less guidance. In this case we suggest you use our ‘Fundraising Applications’ information sheet as a guide to what you should include in your letter of application, and what information you should send with it.
Other funding information
Some larger Trusts are in our Favourite Funders directory, and are therefore not included in the above list.
We suggest that you use this list in addition to:
- Favourite Funders - the Resource Centre directory of Government, lottery and trust funds that fund small local groups in Brighton and Hove
- The Resource Centre Library which holds a wide range of books on sources of funding and books on how to go about fundraising
- The Resource Centre Information Sheets on: ‘Raising money’; ‘Fundraising applications’; and ‘Raising money from local businesses’.