[WiLT] Allen Lane Foundation - rolling programme - grants of £500 to £15,000

[WiL Admin]

Allen Lane Foundation

>From January 2007 the Foundation no longer has closing dates.

Applications will be processed continually. When we have received your
application we will be in touch (usually within two weeks)
* to ask for any further information,
* or to tell you whether the application will be going forward to the
next stage of assessment and what the timetable for a final decision
will be,
* or to tell you that we can't help.

The time it takes to process an application and make a grant is
usually between two and six months.

These guidelines are intended to help potential applicants identify
whether their work is a priority for the Foundation and what we need
to see in an application.

The Foundation is a charitable Trust which makes grants in the UK.  It
makes grants to voluntary not-for-profit organisations (which need not
be registered charities, provided the work carried out is charitable)
which are small (as its grants are small) and where the work benefits
groups of people who are unpopular in UK society today. Please note
that it does not make grants to individuals.

The Foundation receives about nine applications for every one that is
successful. Please read these guidelines carefully and only apply if
your work matches our priorities.  In particular please check the
Exclusions and make sure they do not apply to your work.  If they do
your application will not be successful.  If in doubt, ring the office
or write or email us.

The Foundation wishes to fund work which
* will make a lasting difference to people's lives rather than simply
alleviating the symptoms or current problems
* is aimed at reducing isolation, stigma and discrimination, and
* encourages or enables unpopular groups to share in the life of the
whole community.

The Foundation is interested in funding work which benefits people in
the following groups, or generalist work which includes significant
numbers from more than one such group
* asylum-seekers and refugees (but not groups working with a single
nationality)
* gay, lesbian, bi-sexual or transgender people
* gypsies and travellers
* offenders and ex-offenders
* older people
* people from black and minority ethnic communities and migrant
workers
* people experiencing mental health problems
* people experiencing violence or abuse

If the beneficiaries of your work do not include a significant
proportion of people from one or more of these groups it is very
unlikely that your application will be successful.

The Foundation will make grants for start-up, core or project costs.
The grants are relatively small and are likely therefore to be
appropriate for costs such as:
* Volunteers or participants expenses
* Venue hire
* Part-time or sessional staffing costs
* Work aimed at strengthening the organisation such as trustee or
staff training

But these are only examples - there will be many other appropriate
items which could be funded.

While recognising (and being willing to support) on-going, tried and
tested projects, the Foundation is particularly interested in unusual,
imaginative or pioneering projects which have perhaps not yet caught
the public imagination.

Some examples of the kind of activities which might be suitable for
funding follow and more can be found on the pages where our annual
reports list all previous grants
* provision of advice or information
* advocacy
* befriending or mentoring
* social activities or drop-in centres
* practical work, such as gardening or recycling, which benefits both
the provider and the recipient
* mediation or conflict resolution
* self-help groups
* work aimed at combating stigma or discrimination
* work developing practical alternatives to violence
* arts activities where the primary purpose is therapeutic or social
* strengthening the rights of particular groups and enabling their
views and experiences to be heard by policy-makers
* research and education aimed at changing public attitudes or policy

The grants are relatively modest. Single, one-off grants range from as
little as £500 up to £15,000. Grants repeated for more than one year
vary from about £500 per annum up to £5,000 per annum, for a maximum
of three years.

To make sure that grants of this size have an impact the Foundation
will not fund larger organisations. If an organisation works in a
relatively local area such as a village, estate or small town to be
eligible it will have an income of less than about £100,000. At the
other end of the spectrum, an organisation which works across the
whole of the UK will be eligible if it has an income of not more than
about £250,000.

The Foundation will make single grants, or grants for two or three
years. It is unlikely to make a second grant immediately after one has
finished and if an application is refused, we ask applicants to wait a
year before applying again.

The Foundation makes grants for work all over the United Kingdom but
not where the beneficiaries of the work all live in London.
Organisations which have their offices in London are eligible provided
the people who benefit from their work are not only in London.

Who can apply?
* Registered charities
* Other organisations which are not charities but which seek funding
for a charitable project

The Foundation does not make grants to individuals

Before deciding whether to apply please look carefully at
* What we fund
* Who can apply
* Exclusions
* Eligibility

If you are confident that your work falls within our priorities, and
that it is not subject to any of the exclusions listed, go to How to
apply. If you are not sure whether your work fits with our priorities
you can always ring the Foundation's office for advice.

There is a no application form - only a short registration form
Registration Form to give us basic information which you should
complete and send with your application. You write the application in
your own words - answering the questions you will see in

* We process applications continuously.
* There are no closing dates.

For links to all information and any updates go to
http://www.allenlane.org.uk/guidelin.htm