Grant Eligibility Criteria
Foundation Grants
We have £75,000 a quarter to award in Foundation Grants, this works out at approximately 35 grants depending on the requested ask in each application. Once we have reached capacity, we turn off applications to prevent charities from spending time on an application when there is no longer any funding.
We now have a CRM and grants reporting and management system to help us allocate our funding wisely across themes, regions, and also with consideration to deprivation level.
Read more below on how the Bishop Radford Trust select potential candidates for Foundation Donations. We invite all applicants to first take our Eligibility Quiz to check if they qualify for funding – If eligibility criteria are met, you can apply. Check what factors are considered when reviewing applications.
Application Process
Complete our eligibility quiz to determine if you are eligible to apply. If not, you will be notified immediately. If you are eligible, you will be invited to complete a Foundation Grant application
Applications that meet our eligibility criteria will go through a review process.
If approved, the recipient will be notified and asked to complete a grant agreement form, and provide your safeguarding policy.
Sample Application Form
This is a sample form only. Applications sent via email will not be accepted.
Grant Eligibility Criteria
- The Bishop Radford Trust supports Christian activities in the UK and overseas, through churches and UK registered Christian charities.
- This is an application for a new project which has not been funded by this trust in the last five years.
- The Trustees favour smaller churches and charities.
- Grants will typically be one-off.
- Building/capital projects – this includes renovation & restoration works, boilers, organs, stained glass, etc.
- Non-UK registered charities
- Charities who do not have a UK bank account
- Charities that do not have a Christian ethos and Christian ministry in their charitable objectives.
- Activities that have already taken place i.e. retro-funding
- Pilot schemes, except where the charity has been previously funded by the Trust or is known to the Trustees.
- Charities who have not yet filed at least one set of accounts with the Charity Commission.
- Charities with an income of £1.5 million or more.
What factors are considered when reviewing applications
We appreciate that it takes time to fill in a grant application.
In addition to this, the Trustees look at the following factors in the decision process.
- When giving to projects based overseas we tend to give through established Christian UK registered charities, recognising that due diligence is more challenging with these donations.
- For grants awarded within the UK, Trustees tend to give to smaller charities where our contribution makes a significant difference.
- We prefer to support projects where the apparent need is great and the potential scale of the impact is substantial.
- We don’t often support individuals however we recognise that a contribution to core running costs is valuable.
- Advocacy work/campaigning and lobbying related work are not usually supported. This is an area we are less involved with.
- We sometimes support pilot tests, but we prefer to focus on projects that have a track record.
- We don’t have sufficient resources to fund all requests. We favour projects which spark interest and passion.
- Please do not apply for a grant if you have received a grant from us within the last 3 years.
Note: As a general rule, if we cannot award funds ourselves, we do try to help to redirect grantees.
