Aims/priorities: The funding is for organisations who are led by the communities they serve and alongside providing immediate crisis support and working with people over the longer term to help them break free from poverty and achieve their potential.
Who can apply? Registered charities, charitable incorporated organisations (CIOs) and community interest companies (CICs) can apply.
To be eligible, all organisations must:
- Be based and working in England and Wales and outside of London. Most of the organisation’s time and money is spent on activities in England and/or Wales and outside of London and helping people living in England and/or Wales and outside of London.
- Have an annual income of between £25,000 and £500,000 in the last set of published accounts. This is total income and, in the case of consolidated accounts, should cover all entities within those accounts.
- Have a bank account in the name of the organisation with unrelated signatories. If the application is successful, the grant must be paid into this account.
- Be able to show the majority of people in positions of power (including directors/trustees, the CEO and senior managers) are not related nor living at the same address.
- Have a track record of directly delivering services for at least one year to people (aged 18 and over) from racially minoritised communities experiencing significant economic disadvantage. Services should support people over the long term and support people to strengthen their immediate personal or financial circumstances and then support them to make progress towards achieving their employment/career aspirations and ambitions.
- Be led by and working for communities experiencing inequity because of their race or ethnicity: at least 75% of their Directors/Trustees, and at least 50% of staff self-identify as belonging to the communities being supported.
- Be delivering culturally appropriate services that are developed in response to community needs.
- Ensure that people with lived experiences of the issues being addressed by organisation are at the centre of the designing, developing, and managing the services being provided.
- Have a safeguarding policy in place.
- Hold Public Liability Insurance.
- Be an independent organisation.
- Not have a live grant with Lloyds Bank Foundation with more than 12 months to run at the time of the programme closing.
Registered Charities and CIOs must:
- Be registered as a charity or a charitable incorporated organisation (CIO) with the Charity Commission.
- Have at least one set of annual accounts showing as ‘received’ on the Charity Commission website, covering a 12-month operating period.
- Have a Board of at least three unrelated trustees in place, with their names appearing on their Charity Commission records.
- Not make any payments to trustees, except for out-of-pocket expenses.
Community Interest Companies must:
- Be Limited by Guarantee or Limited by Shares under Schedule 2 and be registered with Companies House. Their Articles of Association need to show an asset lock is in place and they have named the organisation that will receive the company’s assets on dissolution.
- Have at least one set of annual accounts filed with Companies House that show a track record of frontline delivery. They must also have filed their CIC Annual Report CIC34 for the last year and be able to submit their profit and loss account for their last financial year.
- Have at least three unrelated Directors sitting on their Board who are registered with Companies House.
- Show that no Director holds more than 50% of the company’s voting rights.
Applicants should refer to the guidance document which sets out the full criteria.
Last year (2023), the Foundation invested less funding in Wales and Yorkshire and the Humber. However, as these regions have been identified as regions where racially minoritised people are more likely to be living in poverty, relative to the white population, the Foundation will, when considering comparable application, will favour applications from Wales and Yorkshire and Humber.
Grant amount: Unrestricted grants of £75,000 over three years (£25,000 per year), alongside tailored development support, are available.
It is anticipated that 42 organisations will receive a grant in the 2024 funding round.
The 2023 funding programme gave out 39 grants worth almost £3 million. Out of a total of 256 applications, 185 applications met the initial criteria and of those, 39 charities were funded.
Application process: A free information webinar and live Q&A panel will be held on Wednesday 24 April 2024 (10:30 am to 12:00 pm). Registration is required and can be done via eventbrite.
The guidance notes and all other relevant documents can be found on the Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales website.
Deadline: Thursday 30 May 2024, 5pm.
Contact information: Email: enquiries@lloydsbankfoundation.org.uk
Website: Funding from Lloyds Bank Foundation