We are pleased to announce the opening of our Small and Large Grants as of Thursday, 24th October, with an initial focus on our Financial Security, Education Pathways and Work Pathways themes.
With our updated guidance now available, our new-look Small Grants offer increased funding of between £5,000-£20,000 per year, typically for 3 years. This marks an increase from our previous maximum of £15,000 per year.
Our new-look Large Grants now offer funding of between £20,000-£50,000 per year. This marks a change from our previous minimum of £15,000.
We will initially focus on funding requests which address one or more of the following themes and the priorities within those (please click the links for details of our priorities):
- Financial Security: improving income adequacy, income security, manageable costs, financial safety nets and advice for those most at risk of poverty and trauma.
- Education Pathways: preventing and reducing poverty and trauma through access and engagement in early years, education, training and learning.
- Work Pathways: improving access to good and fair work that can prevent and reduce poverty through increased pay, hours and career progression. This also includes employability support, focused on areas or groups with lower employment rates.
We will be launching a fourth funding theme later this year, following on from our previous Emotional Wellbeing and Relationships theme, with a sharper focus aligned to the aims of our strategy.
More details about our Small and Large Grants are available on their respective website sections – Small Grants / Large Grants.
While Our Funds are open year-round with no set closing dates, please note that, in common with other funders, we are seeing no reduction in the growth in demand for our funds. We are now in the final months of a 3-year budget and will be entering a new 3-year plan from April 2025. This means that, over the next 6 months, there is likely to be strain on our budget. As Our Funds are rolling funds, applicants who are not under pressure to receive a decision this financial year may prefer to wait to apply from April onwards.
Each of our funds are designed to be clear, transparent, and accessible to meet the needs of potential applicants. We’ve worked hard behind the scenes to provide concise information on who and what we will fund under our new-look funds, however, if you have any feedback on this, we’d welcome the chance to talk to you about it. We encourage all applicants to read through our new guidance documents in the first instance before completing our application form, as this will increase the likelihood of a successful funding outcome.
We understand however that you may still have questions that cannot be answered by our guidance, and we accept enquiries by email to funding@therobertsontrust.org.uk or you can call us on 0141 353 4321. We are a small team but try to respond to enquiries as soon as possible.