The grants we make are usually between £100 and £5,000. 

We will consider applications to fund up to 100% of the project costs. If you are only applying for part of the total cost, the details of the source(s) of the additional funding must be included in your application form. 

Your organisation must be registered as a charity with the Charity Commission for England and Wales, the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator and/or the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland (from grant-making policy); or qualify as a charity under the law of England and Wales, but not required to register with the Charity Commission for England and Wales.

If you are successful in your application, we will ask you to sign a grant agreement. The amount of contact we will have with you for the duration of the funding will vary depending on the nature of the grant but may include informal progress reports, visits from one of the trustees to see your project in action, submitting a final evaluation once your project is complete or providing copies of records like receipts. 

Developing a relationship with the charitable organisations we support is our main priority - awarding a grant is just the start of this, not the end.

Our current grant-making strategy is focused on providing responsive funding to those charitable organisations working with young people and families who are in need due to ill health, disability, financial hardship or some other disadvantage.  

We are particularly interested in supporting smaller organisations which provide access to activities, experiences, services or facilities that their beneficiaries would otherwise find difficult or impossible to take advantage of.

We do aim to be as flexible as possible in terms of who and what we support so if you feel that your organisation or project doesn’t quite fit this description, we would still like to hear from you. It may be that you offer something unique that we haven’t considered before but would feel equally passionate about.

General salary costs 

Capital costs unless this is directly related to the funded project, service or activity and you can demonstrate how the items will be used after the funding period ends

Any organisation that has previously submitted a proposal where the applicant failed the Charity Trustees' due diligence checks and the issues identified at that time have not been addressed

Any organisation that has been awarded a grant by The Gillian Stevenson Charitable Trust CIO in the previous 12 months

CICs

We aim to keep the application process as simple and efficient as possible. To help us do this, we only accept applications via our online form. Please send an email stating the name of your organisation to info@gillianstevensontrustuk.org and you will be sent a link to the application form. We understand how important financial planning and fundraising is for charities so, once you have submitted your completed application, we will be in touch to let you know what to expect in terms of the timeline of our decision-making process (see the FAQ section below for more information on timings).

If you have accessibility issues and find the online form difficult to complete, please get in touch using the email address above and we will do our best to help you.

The questions that we ask on the application form can be found in the collapsible section below. You may find it easier to gather and prepare this information first before starting to complete the online form. 

Our Privacy policy is available by clicking on the tab at the top of the page. This explains how we will use and store any data that you give us as part of the grant-making process.

When can I apply?

We open for applications approximately once per year but don't have a set schedule for this so keep an eye out for notifications on our website, social media and funding network communications.  

How long will we have to wait to find out if we are successful?

We understand that many smaller charities rely on acquiring funding to keep functioning so our aim is always to keep you informed at every stage to help with your planning. After you have submitted your application, we will carry out initial checks to make sure you are eligible. We aim to do this within a couple of weeks of receiving your application and will let you know the outcome of this in an email. 

If you are not eligible, we will let you know why. If you are eligible, we will confirm the date of the grants panel meeting when your application will be considered. You would then normally expect to hear the outcome within a couple of weeks of the meeting and, if successful, you will receive our formal offer. Once we receive the completed documents, we will transfer funds as quickly as possible so you can get on with doing what you do best.

Can we contact you if we have a question before submitting our application?

Of course! The best way to get in touch with us is by email (info@gillianstevensontrustuk.org) and we will do our best to answer any queries you have.

We want to maximise our chances of being successful. Do you have any advice on how to make our application stand out?

We fund a wide range of charitable organisations for a wide range of purposes so every application will be unique! The application form is designed to be flexible so you can include the information that is relevant to your situation. We aren't looking for pages and pages of data and detail but we do want to see that you are truly passionate about what you do, have a real understanding of what your beneficiaries need and how to deliver this and can explain how you would use the funding and what difference it would make. Making sure you attach all documents that we ask for on the application form will also speed the process up.

PLEASE NOTE, THIS IS NOT THE ACTUAL APPLICATION FORM. THIS INFORMATION IS PROVIDED TO HELP YOU PREPARE YOUR SUBMISSION. PLEASE EMAIL info@gillianstevensontrustuk.org TO REQUEST A LINK TO THE ONLINE FORM.

* Indicates a required response

 About you

Name of your organisation *

Correspondence Address *

Website address

Main contact *

Position *

Email *

Telephone

Please select your organisation type *

Registered charity

Charitable company (registered with the Charity Commission or equivalent in Scotland or NI)

Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO)

Excepted charity (income below threshold/ educational establishment/ church)

How many trustees, directors, committee/governing body members does your organisation have? *

How many employed staff? *

How many volunteers? (excluding any listed above) *

About your project, service or activity

What type of funding are you asking for? *

To make a one-off purchase of equipment

To fund a new or one-off project/service/activity

To fund the continuation of a project/service/activity that you are already providing

Emergency (not routine) funding to cover running costs of your organisation so it can continue to function

Please describe the project, service or activity you are asking us to fund in one or two sentences *

Why is this project, service or activity needed? How do you know? *

Why are you the right people to do the work? *

Who will benefit from this project, service or activity? *

How many people do you think will/already benefit from the project, service or activity? *

What difference will/does your project, service or activity make to the lives of those involved? (You may include anonymised case studies if you think this will help us understand) *

How will/do you evaluate the success of your project, service or activity? *

Tell us about the timeline for your project. (Depending on the type of funding you are asking for and your circumstances, this may be ongoing or you may have a target start date, payment deadline or anticipated end date.)  *

About the funding

What is the total cost of your project, service or activity? *

How do you know your budget is realistic? *

How much are you asking us for? *

If you are asking for less than the total cost, please tell us where the rest of the funding is coming from and when you hope that will be secured.

Please give a breakdown of he costs involved

Does your organisation have a bank account? *

Yes

No

If your organisation doesn't have a bank account, please explain who will hold the funds you are requesting.

Where did you hear about The Gillian Stevenson Charitable Trust CIO?

We will require some addition documentation to complete your application. Please upload these into box below and tick to confirm which you have submitted.

Governing document/constitution (required)

Most recent audited or authorised statement of accounts (required)

Most recent bank statement (required) - this must be dated within the last 3 months and show the current balance. This request falls in line with GDPR requirements as part of our financial due diligence checks and any payments made to individuals may be redacted.

Your Safeguarding Policy if your work involves children and young people or vulnerable adults (dependant on organisation)

Any photographs or additional documents that you want to share (optional - please ensure you have the permission of any individuals to share their images/details or anonymise these first. By ticking the box, you are confirming you have their permission.)

If there is any other information you would like us to know, please add this here.