Aims/priorities: UK Youth and Pears Foundation have launched a new £10 million fund to champion an approach that works: providing multi-year, unrestricted funding alongside targeted capacity-building support to small youth organisations.
The aim of the Fund is to strengthen the financial resilience and capacity of small youth and outdoor learning organisations across the UK.
We aim to achieve this through two key outcomes:
Outcome 1: Improved Financial Sustainability, supporting grantees to invest time and resource in strategic, organisational development through our multi-year unrestricted funding grant programme
Outcome 2: Increased Capability and Organisational Resilience through our capacity building programme
Organisations can apply for multi-year unrestricted funding of up to 10% of annual turnover. This approach ensures that funding is proportional to the size and capacity of your organisation to help ensure sustainability and resilience.
Who can apply? This fund is open to organisations with an annual turnover of less than £500,000 that are delivering services to young people based within our eligibility areas in England and Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Eligibility is based on the communities and young people you support, rather than head office location. To be eligible, you must be delivering services for young people who are based within one of the key geographical areas below (top 3 deciles of the IMD).
There is no minimum threshold for the number of young people supported, if your organisation supports even one young person from any of the eligible locations below, you are eligible to apply.
Full eligibility criteria and additional information about this grant can be found in our grant information pack.
Grant amount:
Application process: We have developed a two-stage application process to identify organisations that will benefit most from multi-year unrestricted support while keeping requirements proportionate and accessible. We have set clear eligibility criteria to ensure funding reaches those who need it most, discourages ineligible applications early, and reduces time spent by applicants where possible.
Stage 1: Expression of Interest (EOI)
This stage asks you to confirm your eligibility through a short set of multiple‐choice questions and an eligibility checklist.
Stage 2: Application
Those successful at the EOI stage will be invited to apply at this second stage on Monday, 11 May.
Support for completing the Expression of Interest and Application can be found here.
Join us online for an information session about the fund on Tuesday, 21 April 2026 (2 pm) to hear more about the fund, the application process and eligibility criteria. You’ll also have the chance to ask our grants team any questions you may have. This session will take place on Zoom. Please register your interest to take part.
Deadline:
- Deadline to submit an Expression of Interest: 11:59 pm on Wednesday, 6 May.
- Deadline for applications: 11:59 pm on Tuesday, 3 June
Contact information: Email: info@ukyouth.org
Website: The UK Youth Fund - UK Youth