Tudor makes grants and provides other types of support, to voluntary and community groups working in any part of the UK. They particularly want to help smaller, community-led organisations which work directly with people who are at the margins of society: organisations which support positive changes in people’s lives and in their communities. They want to respond flexibly to your ideas and energy, and to fund effective organisations working to high standards.
As an independent grantmaker, an important part of their role is to support work which is untried and which has uncertain outcomes. However, innovation is not the be all and end all: they also recognise the need for sound, practical work which seeks to bring stability and wellbeing into difficult places and situations. They trust the groups they fund and their funding guidelines are broad because they want to support the work that you really want to do. They seek to give you the opportunity and practical tools to do the work that you know is needed and they try to offer high levels of support and engagement when this is helpful and appropriate.
Their two-stage application process gives them more time to work creatively with applicants who reach the second stage. Through careful listening and constructive dialogue they hope to give you the opportunity to think about your options and develop a proposal which focuses on the real needs of your organisation and the people you are working with.
Who do they fund?
They are particularly interested in supporting smaller, under-resourced organisations which they believe are particularly well-placed to deliver positive change because they know their communities and can be highly responsive to need, providing an individualised and holistic response to the people they support.
The best smaller-scale organisations also encourage participation and inclusion and contribute to the resilience of communities by offering opportunities for connection and engagement. They are therefore much more likely to fund groups with an annual income of less than £1 million. In practice the majority of the organisations they support are much smaller than this: last year 77% of their grants went to groups with an annual income of less than £500,000.
If you are from an organisation with an income of more than £1 million and want to discuss whether it is worth making an application please call the Information Team on 020 7727 8522 for advice.
About their grants
Many of their grants take the form of core funding: funding which goes towards the core costs of running an organisation, including salaries, overheads, and day-to-day running costs. Sometimes they may decide to offer unrestricted funding, through a grant which can be used entirely freely to further an organisation’s charitable objectives. They can also provide project grants, capital grants for buildings or equipment and grants to help strengthen your organisation.
In some situations they may look at making a short-term loan if this is the most helpful solution and you can demonstrate how you can pay it back: if you are interested in loan funding please ring the Information Team on 020 7727 8522 for advice before making an application.
There is no maximum or minimum grant, though in practice it is unusual for them to make a grant of less than £10,000. At the first stage of the application process they don’t ask you to specify exactly how much you are looking for, though it is fine to do so if you wish: if your application progresses to the second stage they will discuss your funding requirements in more detail then.
For more information on how to apply, go to http://tudortrust.org.uk/how-to-apply/making-a-first-stage-proposal/
