Small Grants Programme
Small Grants Programme
The Small Grants Programme is a rolling funding programme for one-off grants of up to £5,000. Please view the eligibility criteria below.
There are 8 application windows throughout the year and each window will close when 40 applications have been received. Please see the Process and Key Dates tabs for more information.
When we opened for applications on 4th November 2024, we reached our maximum submissions within 15 minutes.
We strongly suggest that you draft your application using the offline Word version of the form, available below. If you start online and the maximum submissions are reached, you will be unable to submit and your answers will not be saved.
Prepare for your application
Eligibility Criteria
The Leathersellers’ Small Grants Programme 2024-25 will consider applications from charities and Charitable Incorporated Organisations (CIOs) registered and operating in the UK. We will not consider applications from Community Interest Companies (CICs).
Charities and CIOs must meet the following criteria:
- Deliver activities to meet an identified need for vulnerable members of the community
- Have a planned expenditure of under £200,000 during the financial year in which you are applying for funding.
- Have at least one year’s published accounts
We do not fund the following:
- Capital projects
- Medical research
- Hospices
- Services that charge participants for access, irrespective of a person’s ability to pay
Making a good application
We want to fund excellent organisations and people, where activities improve the lives of others.
We have designed our application form to only ask for what we need in order to gather a clear picture of your work. On reading your application, we should understand:
- What need you are aiming to address in your local community
- What difference you make in people’s lives and how you do it
- How you know you are making a difference (evidenced outcomes)
We are looking for organisations that:
- Understand the needs of their local community
- Are open and transparent about their work and finances
- Work in partnership with others
Why do we ask for your Safeguarding Policy?
Your safeguarding policy tells us how your organisation keeps your beneficiaries, staff, and volunteers safe. We expect your approach and processes to be proportional and if you are providing 1 to 1 services or working with children/ vulnerable members of the community, we would expect your policy to be publicly available and to include:
- appropriate, current legislation
- clear steps on what to do if a risk is identified, with relevant leadership and trustee contact details
- whistleblowing guidance
- details of safer recruitment practices
- signature and date, with a scheduled review date (ideally annually)
For further guidance, please see the NSPCC Safeguarding Assessment Tool and NSPCC’s guidance on writing safeguarding policies and practices
Process & key dates
Process
The Small Grants Committee will meet on eight occasions throughout the year, to support timely decisions. An application window will open a few weeks before each meeting and will close when 40 applications have been received.
Key Dates
Applications Open: 10am, Monday 2 September 2024 (max. submissions reached in 40mins)
Committee Meeting Date: Tuesday 15 October 2024
Applications Open: 10am, Monday 30 September 2024 (max. submissions reached in 30 mins)
Committee Meeting Date: Thursday 14 November 2024
Applications Open: 10am, Monday 4 November 2024 (max. submissions reached in 15 mins)
Committee Meeting Date: Tuesday 10 December 2024
Applications Open: 10am, Monday 2 December 2024
Committee Meeting Date: Thursday 16 January 2025
Winter Break Monday 20th December 2024 to Monday 6 January 2025
Applications Open: 10am, Monday 6 January 2025
Committee Meeting Date: Tuesday 11 February 2025
Applications Open: Monday 3 February 2025
Committee Meeting Date: Thursday 13 March 2025
Easter Break Monday 7 April 2025 to Monday 21 April 2024
Applications Open: 10am, Monday 31 March 2025
Committee Meeting Date: Tuesday 6 May 2025
Applications Open: 10am, Monday 5 May 2025
Committee Meeting Date: Thursday 12 June 2025
Please complete the application using the offline form. If you start an online application form and then find that we’ve reached our maximum applications, you will not be able to access this form again, so please work offline and copy answers over to ensure no answers are lost.
40 APPLICATIONS PER ROUND
Applying online
The form will be available at 10am on the day the application window opens and will automatically close when 40 submissions are received.
We strongly suggest that you draft your application using the offline Word version of the form – if you start online and we reach the maximum submissions, you will be unable to submit and you answers will not be saved.
We will view your accounts on the Charity Commission website. If your latest public accounts are over one year old, please upload a copy of your draft accounts with your online application.
You will receive a notification of your submission by email (please check spam/ junk folders for email from charityapp@leathersellers.co.uk), and we will inform you of the outcome of your application within 8 weeks.
FAQs
We fund charities (CIO’s) who are registered with the Charity Commission. We recognise the different regulation and financial reporting the different structures are subject to, but our current focus is on supporting charities rather than social enterprises (which the CIC structure is designed to enable).
No, we support registered charities working within and for the benefit of individuals and communities across the UK.
If you are awarded a grant, we will send you a grant offer email detailing the terms and conditions of the grant and asking you to complete an acceptance form. Once you have completed the form, we will process the payment. The date the payment is sent signals the start of your grant.
We do not expect any reports from recipients of small grants.
If you have received a small grant from the Leathersellers’ previously, you must wait 12 months from the payment date before you may reapply. If your application was declined, you must wait 12 months from the date of your decision email.
Unfortunately, as we only have a small team it is not possible for us to provide feedback.
We can only support charities that follow excellent safeguarding practices, as demonstrated in the first instance by an accessible policy and clear processes. For further information, please visit the gov.uk website or read the NSPCC’s guidance on writing safeguarding policies and practices.
The success rate for the 23-24 Livery Year was 12%. We funded 52 out of 448 applications received.
When you receive confirmation of the success of your application you will be asked to complete an acceptance form. Your grant payment will be received 3-4 weeks after the completion of this form.