Capital Grants
Capital grants of £10,000 or more for work in the UK (including the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands) are available through our Main Grants Programme.
Capital grants are one off grants towards the purchase of equipment, or for the purchase or refurbishment of a building.
Please read our Terms and Conditions of Accepting a Capital Grant before you apply. If your organisation is awarded a grant, but is not able to meet our terms and conditions, the grant will not be paid. Please pay particular attention to the need for grants to be drawn down within three years of award, and that you will need to have the full balance of funding in place before payment can be made.
Details of the types of grants we make across all our grant programmes can be found on the What We Fund page of our website. The activities or services that we will not fund are listed on the Not Normally Funded page.
We recommend that you download the Word or PDF version of the Guidelines at the bottom of this page and read them in full before starting your application.
Each of our grant programmes has separate guidelines. For information about applying for a Revenue grant through the Main Grants Programme, a Small or County grant, or for any of our other grants, please refer to the guidelines for those programmes.
How to apply for a Capital grant
Applications for Capital grants can be submitted at any time, provided that
- you do not have an active grant from us;
- we are not already assessing an application from your organisation to one of our other programmes; and
- if you applied previously and were unsuccessful, that more than 12 months has passed since you received your declination letter.
There are no deadlines and we do not have an application form, but you must complete an Application Cover Sheet. This can be downloaded at the bottom of this page.
Mail shots and general requests for donations will not be considered.
The Application Cover Sheet must be completed and submitted as part of your application. This provides us with key information; your organisation's name, full contact details, the name and email address of your main contact, and gives us an idea of the project or work you want us to fund and the amount you are requesting. It also asks for confirmation that your organisation has a Child Protection Policy (if applicable to your work) and that Disclosure Checks (PVG checks in Scotland) are carried out on all staff and volunteers working with children or vulnerable people.
Your application should be no longer than four sides of A4 and in font size no smaller than 11 point.
Begin your application with a half page summary. This should primarily focus on the project or work you are asking us to fund, though you may also wish to include a sentence or two about your organisation. The summary is important as it may be used as the basis of the information sent to Trustees during the assessment process.
Your application should describe the work your organisation undertakes, what evidence you have that your work is effective, and provide details of the project you are asking us to fund.
Please include all the following information:
Your Organisation
- Your organisation’s status (e.g. registered charity, company limited by guarantee, not for profit organisation or community interest company) and when it was formed.
- If you are a branch of, or related to, a larger organisation, please explain the nature of the relationship and whether it includes any financial support.
- The range of services or support your organisation provides, where you operate, who you help, and why your work is needed.
- How you monitor and evaluate your work, including evidence of how it benefits your service users/beneficiaries (i.e. the outcomes of your work).
Your Project
- Outline of the work you propose to undertake, or equipment you wish to purchase, and why it is needed.
- What existing facilities you have, how they are currently used and, if they are no longer fit for purpose, the reason for this.
- The activities you will deliver in the new/refurbished premises, or using the new equipment, and how your work will change or be improved as a result.
- The number of people who will benefit.
- How the project will be managed and by whom. Include information about their experience and qualifications for the job.
- How you will ensure your project is cost-effective
- Your plans for monitoring and evaluating its impact.
- Your fundraising strategy, including details of any funds already secured and applications you have made, or plan to make. Please note we will expect you to have approached local and regional funders before applying to us. If it is not appropriate to do so in this instance, please tell us why.
- How you plan to fund any extra costs that will result from your project (e.g. because of an increase in building running costs, or levels of activity) and the ongoing running costs of your organisation in the short and medium term.
- The names and addresses of two independent referees (people who do not currently benefit from your services or that will benefit from you gaining a grant, i.e. not trustees, employees or volunteers).
Please keep your application as simple as possible and avoid the use of technical jargon. You may include photographs or plans, but please do not include electronic media (e.g. DVDs) with your application.
Your application must be signed and should either be printed on your organisation's headed paper or accompanied by a covering letter on headed paper.
Supporting Documents (these are required in addition to your four page application)
- a detailed budget for your project. If you are asking us for part funding, please explain where the balance of funds will be/has been raised and make it clear what has been committed to date
- a budget for your organisation showing the costs of running your organisation once you have completed the capital project, and how you will meet them.
- your organisation's most recent audited or independently inspected accounts (full accounts are required, not just a SoFA and Balance Sheet). If accounts show a significant surplus of deficit of income, or high reserves, please explain the reason for this. If the year end date of your accounts is more than 10 months ago, please send up-to-date management accounts as well as full accounts.
What will happen to my application?
It will take up to six months to hear the outcome of your application (though applications that are ineligible, or that are not being taken to full assessment stage, will be notified before this).
If an application is not signed or is received without accounts or a budget, it may be declined or returned to you unread. Please read our guidelines carefully before submitting your application.
We receive many more applications than we are able to fund. Unfortunately this means that we often have to turn down good applications.
Our assessment process has four stages. Additional information (such as management accounts, a budget for your organisation, or information about your fundraising position) may be requested during stages two and three.
Stage One: applications are entered onto our system and eligibility checked. We will write to you to acknowledge receipt of your application, or to let you know if it is ineligible, within six weeks of receipt.
Stage Two: eligible applications are initially reviewed by our Grants Team. During this stage our Trustees receive information about the applications, and may be asked to comment on them. Completion of this stage can take up to eight weeks from the date we acknowledge your application, particularly if we have to ask you for any further information. We will contact you at the end of Stage Two to let you know whether or not we will be taking your application forward to the next stage.
Stage Three: if your application reaches this stage, we will ask you for some additional financial information and electronic copy of your application. One of our network of Volunteer Visitors, or a member of staff, will then contact you to arrange to visit your organisation. The visit enables us to discuss your project with you in more detail, and to find out more about your organisation and the people you work with. Visits can take up to three hours and, as well as exploring your funding request, will look more closely at your organisation's governance, management and fundraising strategy. We would normally expect to meet with staff and a member of your Board/Trustees. Once a visit has taken place, a report is prepared for our Trustees.
Stage Four: Trustees meet quarterly in March, June, September and December. Decisions about whether or not to award grants are made by Trustees at these meetings. A letter notifying you of the outcome will be sent to you within two weeks of the meeting taking place.
We cannot guarantee that your application will go to a particular meeting as this is dependent on the number of applications we receive.
Applicants who are unsuccessful are required to wait a minimum of 12 months from the date of notification before re-applying.
Please note that whilst your application may fit our guidelines, a significant number of applications will be unsuccessful due to the high numbers we receive.
We reserve the right to share with other grant makers information received from applicants requesting funding and from those in receipt of a grant from us, unless an organisation expressly requests otherwise.
Downloadable Documents
Links to documents open in a new window.
Capital Main Grant Programme Guidelines - Word
Capital Main Grant Programme Guidelines - PDF
We recommend that you save the Cover Sheet onto your computer before you start to complete it (select the “save” option when downloading).
Terms and Conditions of Accepting a Capital Grant - PDF