Deadline: 5-Sep-23
The Legal Education Foundation is seeking applications to fund charitable work that supports the sound development and administration of the law in a way which promotes transparency, accountability and the protection of human rights, including economic and social rights.
This means that they fund organisations that hold government institutions and policy-makers to account to exercise power in the interests of communities and uphold fundamental rights and freedoms.
Funding Information
- This Committee makes decisions on applications for up to £350,000.
- If you have applied for more than £350,000, the Committee will make a recommendation to the full Board for decision.
What they fund?
They can fund most operating expenses including:
- Staff costs, whether new or existing posts
- Direct costs such as travel, subsistence or events
- Overheads
- Small capital items such as IT equipment
How they Prioritise Applications
- They use these overriding criteria in assessing applications:
- Degree of need – areas of societal need where law as tool to bring about positive change and to prevent harm is under-resourced and under-developed, and where the Foundation has a distinct role to play. They will also consider here the size and resources of the organisation applying.
- Degree of benefit – where the applicants have the potential to use the law to bring about significant positive change and/or to prevent harm in ways that are sustainable.
- In deciding which applications to shortlist, they particularly value the following qualities in organisations:
- Lived experience at the heart of strategy and leadership.
- Accountability to communities served by the organisation.
- Connections between everyday injustice and advocating for change (locally, regionally or nationally).
- A commitment to learning, including a reflective approach to improving their own practice.
- Supportive, inclusive environments for staff and volunteers.
Eligibility Criteria
- They fund legally constituted organisations undertaking charitable work in the UK. While the majority of grant recipients will be charities, they can also fund limited companies (including CICs) and private law firms for activities that advance the LEF’s charitable objects and are not profit-making.
- Applications can include all costs related to achieving the hoped-for outcomes, including staffing, volunteer expenses, consultancy, travel, venue hire and a reasonable contribution to overheads. They mostly fund revenue costs but can cover modest capital expenditure directly related to the work, such as a computer for a new staff member.
- If you already have a grant from LEF, and would like to apply for additional funding, please ask advice from your grants manager in the first instance.
Exclusions
- They will not fund:
- Work that does not advance LEF’s charitable purposes or strategic objectives
- Work that falls outside the Charity Commission guidance on campaigning and political activity
- Work that has already taken place.
- Work that does not have a direct benefit in the UK.
- Projects related to commercial law.
- Work on environmental or criminal law except where this is alongside other areas of civil law.
- Awards, prizes or one-off events that are not part of a broader programme the Foundation is supporting.
- Projects where a LEF grant would directly replace or subsidise government, legal profession or university funding, including the costs of law clinics.
- Infrastructure for pro bono legal advice.
- Capital expenditure on buildings and vehicles.
- General fundraising appeals.
- They are unlikely to fund:
- Organisations with fewer than three Trustees, company directors or partners.
- Organisations with more general reserves than stipulated in their reserves policy.
- Organisations that are in serious financial deficit.
For more information, visit The Legal Education Foundation.