A small change to help us support the right charities

When we launched our latest grant round, our aim was to identify and support the small, community-based charities that are making a big difference across North Yorkshire.

To help us do that, we introduced an annual income threshold. However, after spending time learning more about the fantastic organisations working across the county, we've realised something important not all small charities look small on paper!

Many charities remain volunteer-led, deeply embedded in their communities and focused on supporting people facing significant challenges, despite having an income that's higher than we originally anticipated.

Our funding priorities haven't changed. We're still looking to support charities that are improving the lives of children, young people, families, older people and people navigating challenges such as disability, long-term health conditions or social isolation but we've changed how we'll identify those charities.

We've decided to remove the annual income threshold and will instead focus on the nature of the organisation itself, its connection to the community and the impact it is making.

Funding of up to £5,000 remains available for one-off investments that help charities strengthen, develop or grow what they do. This could include equipment, technology, premises improvements, expanding activities, volunteer development or initiatives that help build a more sustainable future.

If you previously discounted the programme because of the income restriction, we'd encourage you to take another look.

After all, one of the advantages of being a small trust is that we can listen, learn and adapt when we discover a better way of achieving what we set out to do!