Deadline: 19-Nov-2025
The Holiday Grants Programme provides one-off grants for schools, youth groups, and non-profit organisations to take children aged 13 and under on recreational day trips or short residential trips. The trips must be purely for fun, with no educational or religious aims, and must be unique events rather than part of the organisation’s regular activities.
Trips can take place in the UK between January 13 and December 31 and may be day trips or residential trips lasting up to seven days. The programme aims to fund low-cost trips to ensure more groups benefit and is less likely to support visits to high-cost venues such as theme parks, musicals, or sporting events. In 2024, the average cost per child per day was £64, though higher costs may be covered for groups with children with disabilities to meet access needs. Only one trip can be funded per application.
Grants range from £500 to £2,750 per trip. Trips must be exclusively for children aged 13 and under and cannot be for individuals or families. Eligible applicants include schools, youth groups, and not-for-profit organisations.
The programme does not fund organisations unable to provide their most recent audited accounts or inspection report, organisations whose main activity is providing holidays for children, those with an income or expenditure over £2 million (except schools), for-profit bodies, or organisations without charitable aims. It also does not fund trips outside the UK, to high-cost venues, those already taken or happening in less than five weeks, trips for children over 13, educational or religious trips, trips that include families, those excluding some children due to cost, multi-day trips to multiple venues, or trips that involve excessive travel time at the expense of the children’s experience.
For more information, visit Henry Smith Foundation.
