Deadline: 23-Jan-25
The Lloyds Bank Foundation for England & Wales is thrilled to announce applications for the Specialist Programme for small, local, specialist charities supporting people facing complex issues.
Under this programme they will support charities to strengthen their capacity and capabilities and become more resilient through a range of tailored development support offers alongside a three-year unrestricted grant.
Themes
- Addiction
- Asylum seekers and refugees
- Care leavers
- Domestic abuse
- Homelessness
- Offending
- Sexual abuse and exploitation
- Trafficking and modern slavery
Funding Information
- This application is for a three-year, unrestricted grant of £75,000.
- If your application is successful, the grant will be paid in three annual instalments of £25,000.
- They can fund up to £500 of accessibility support to enable you to apply for this programme, including:
- BSL interpreters
- Language translation
- Scribes
- Dyslexia software
What to Expect?
- Find out what to expect from this programme:
- They provide organisational development support with funding.
- Take their initial eligibility quiz:
- This is to find out if this is the right programme for your charity or CIO.
- Tell them about your organisation using the online application form:
- You’ll be sent a link to an online portal where you’ll complete your application.
- If shortlisted, talk through your application with one of their Grants Officers:
- They will discuss how your work fits with the programme aim.
- They’ll consider your application and let you know the outcome by 23 May 2025:
- If you’ve been successful, funds will be available from June 2025.
Eligibility Criteria
- To be eligible to apply for a grant from them, your charity needs to meet all the criteria below:
- Be registered as a charity or a charitable incorporated organisation (CIO) with the Charity Commission if you are registered in England and Wales or the Index for Charities if registered in the Isle of Man. They will ask for your charity registration number at the start of your application.
- Have at least one set of annual accounts showing as ‘received’ on the Charity Commission website, covering the latest 12-month operating period.
- If you are based in the Isle of Man, they will ask you to submit your latest set of accounts.
- Have a bank account in the name of the charity with unrelated signatories.
- If the application is successful, the grant must be paid into this account.
- Have a Board of at least three unrelated trustees and have their names appear on your Charity Commission records.
- The majority of people in positions of power (including trustees, the CEO and senior managers) must not be related nor live at the same address. Where there are related parties, they will consider the relationship, conflicts of interest and loyalty, the balance of power of the related trustees, and how this is managed.
- Have a track record of delivering services for at least one year, mainly to people aged 18 and over. You must also be delivering these services currently. If your charity has recently merged, then this must apply to at least one charity pre-merger. If you are applying under Care Leavers, you must have a track record of working with people aged 16 – 25 years old.
- Have a safeguarding policy in place. They will explore what safeguarding means to your organisation, how it fits with your mission and values and your approach to safeguarding across your organisation.
- Have a Designated Safeguarding Lead/ Officer (DSL/O). This person will be accountable for your safeguarding practice and have undertaken “Designated Safeguarding Lead training” This may be called as such or may be called Level 3 training in England or Level C training in Wales.
- Hold Public Liability Insurance.
- Be an independent organisation. They will look at any formal associations you have with other organisations, parent bodies, or group structures. They will check that the board of the applicant charity has full control over its work and any conflicts of interest.
- If you have a live grant with Lloyds Bank Foundation, it must end before 23 January 2026.
- Operate mainly in England and/or Wales. Most of your charity’s time and money is spent on activities in England and/or Wales and helping people living in England and/or Wales.
- Not include religious activity as a part of the services delivered unless the charity has been established to support people specifically of that faith.
- If you provide counselling as part of your services, you must hold registration with one of the Professional Standards Authority accredited registers for counselling and psychotherapy.
- If you provide immigration advice as part of your services, your organisation must hold registration with the Office of Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC).
For more information, visit Lloyds Bank Foundation.
