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FrequentlyAsked Questions

Who can apply?
What do you look for in an organisation?
Do you only fund small organisations?
Can the grant go towards salaries and project costs
What is a typical range for a grant?
What else do you look for?
Eligibility
Exclusions

WhoCan apply?

The Foundation awards grants to registered charities and organisations that can demonstrate their charitable purposes. 

Organisations that can apply

The Foundation awards grants to registered charities and organisations that can demonstrate their charitable purposes, including: 

  • Registered Charities 
  • Constituted Community and Voluntary Organisations 
  • Community Interest Companies Limited by Guarantee 
  • Social Enterprises (Companies limited by guarantee that have a clear not-for-profit clause in their governing document and clear charitable or social objectives that meet the priorities of the funding programme) 
  • Charitable Incorporated Organisations 

What do you look for in an organisation?

We look for all of the following characteristics in the organisations and projects that we fund.

  • Driving change: We favour applicants and projects which could change the way issues are tackled in our society and which could have lessons for others beyond the funded organisation, especially ideas which have the potential to be replicable.
  • Aware of challenges: The organisations we support will demonstrate an awareness of the challenges and opportunities in their field, and how their work complements other organisations in their sector.
  • Well governed: We want to see that applicants are well governed and managed, and that they have the necessary skills and expertise to deliver their objectives. 
  • A compelling case: Organisations need to make a compelling case regarding why they are best placed to deliver the proposed activity. 
  • Positive change: The organisations we support will be able to explain why they believe their activities will lead to positive change for users and how they will gather evidence to demonstrate this.
  • Experts in your field: Applicants will have demonstrable evidence that they are experts in their field, having an excellent understanding of the needs of their client groups and how to support people to bring about change. 

Do you only fund small organisations?

We fund charitable, not-for-profit and organisations. Whilst we are not excluding large, national organisations or ‘household name charities’ for consideration, the applicant would have to demonstrate that they are the only organisation in a position to tackle a particular problem. 

Can the grant go towards salaries & project costs?

We will consider funding salaries and project costs (including a reasonable contribution to overheads or on-costs) for up to two years. We do consider grants towards an organisation’s core costs but we only tend to award these when an organisation is making a step-change in the way that it works or during the transition period. 

What is a typical range for a grant?

Our grants typically fall in the range of £10,000 – £75,000 per annum for up to two years. We prefer to fund alongside others as we are unlikely to be able to fund your project in full. 

What else do you look for?

We consider that organisations with high levels of unrestricted reserves are in less need of our funding. This means that organisations with more than nine months’ running costs in unrestricted reserves are less likely to receive support. 

At the same time, organisations with tiny reserves or an overall deficit will need to convince us that their organisation is viable, and they are taking action to increase reserves. 

Eligibility

To be eligible the organisation must have: 

  • A management committee, board, or Trustees of board of Directors 
  • A written constitution or set of rules that sets out the purpose and management of the organisation. 
  • A bank account in in the name of the organisation with at least two unrelated cheque signatories 

OurExclusions

Grants will not be awarded to the following types of activity or organisations: 

  • Public bodies to carry out their statutory obligations. 
  • The promotion of religion or political causes. 
  • Retrospective funding – grants for a project that has started or been already completed. 
  • Organisations with more than 12 months’ unrestricted reserves. 

Grants will not normally be awarded to the following types of organisations: 

  • Previously funded organisations with overdue end of grant form 
  • Due to our limited funding and the need to focus on projects that have a lasting benefit, we will not normally fund the following project’s requests: 
  • General appeals, sponsored events, and fundraising events. 
  • Consultancy fees (including professional bid writer’s fees) 
  • Projects duplicating an existing service. 
  • One-off events without limited long term benefit. 
  • Building works including access adaptations 
  • Capital purchases of more than £1,000 

For more detail on application processes, if you are not clear about any of the above or have additional questions, please contact Glen Fendley, Director of Foundation glen.fendley@dukeseducation.com

Duration of support 

Appropriate grants are typically available for a minimum of two years and the grant size varies depending on the criteria of the grant programme. 

Application limits 

Applicants can apply to more than one grant programme throughout the year, however, if they are already in receipt of two grants they are a low priority for funding. An organisation cannot be in receipt of more than one grant from the same funding programme, or for the same project/service concurrently. 

This is to ensure that: 

  • the Foundation is reaching as many groups as possible through its funding and not only appealing to those organisations who have previously been funded on more than one occasion. 
  • previously funded organisations have submitted an end of grant form and the Foundation can be confident that the grant funding has been spent as required before considering a grant from the same funding programme or for the same project/service. 

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