Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

The Schroder Charity Trust makes grants of up to £5,000 towards core and project costs to charities registered in the UK for work under the following categories:

• Arts, Culture and Heritage
• Education, Training and Employment
• Environment and Conservation
• Health and Wellbeing
• Strengthening Communities

The Trustees are particularly interested in applications which can demonstrate the following within the funding categories:

• Build strong communities and understand how to engage with intended beneficiaries
• Replicable and sustainable work
• Value for money i.e. the costs vs the number of people reached and the scale of the programme
• Maximising the use of volunteers
• Support of older people
• Support for marginalised/vulnerable younger people
• The use of helplines and information support services
• Sustainability of funding i.e. the charity will not be solely reliant on a grant from the Schroder Charity Trust for their work.

The Schroder Charity does not accept applications for funding from the following:

• Charities registered outside of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland
• Organisations with a status other than registered charity i.e. CICs and social enterprises
• Individuals – including applications made by an organisation on behalf of an individual, or where the grant will only have one beneficiary
• Political organisations
• Statutory Organisations
• Newly Established Charities that cannot provide a full year of accounts
• Charities with an annual income below £50,000
• Charities with an annual income over £2,000,000
• Charities who have applied to us unsuccessfully in the past 12 months
• Charities who have received a grant from the Schroder Charity Trust in the past 24 months

The Schroder Charity Trust does not accept applications for the following areas of activity:

• Animal Welfare – other than those which are purely focussed on environmental or conservation issues
• General and round-robin appeals
• Hospices
• Festivals and One-off events (time limited fundraising events)
• Major Capital Appeals/Large Capital Expenditure
• Medical Research
• Work that takes place outside of the UK
• Requests over £5,000
• Endowments
• Multi-Year Funding
• Retrospective Funding – i.e. work that has already taken place or nearly finished – please read the FAQ’s for further information on the timing of the application process

The Schroder Charity Trust generally makes grants of up to £5,000. In 2022/23 the average grant was £4,075. We receive over 1000 applications each year and approximately 100 charities receive grants, meaning there is a 1 in 10 success rate (i.e. of every 10 applications we receive, 1 will receive funding). We fund both core costs and project costs. Grants are for a one-year period, rather than over multiple years.

Please click on the apply now button on the homepage or under the apply section. You will first be asked some questions to establish that your charity is eligible to apply for a grant.

All relevant information must be provided within your application. It is important to note that we can only accept applications online. You will receive an automatic acknowledgement once submitted.

You do not need to complete your application in one session, as you will be able to save and return to it.  Each time you save the form you will be provided with a link to use to access the form which can also be emailed to you. Please note that you will be provided with a new link every time you save the form. You must use the latest link each time, so as not to lose any changes.

• Organisations can apply at any time. The Schroder Charity Trust operates a rolling programme. Applications are assessed throughout the year and therefore we do not set fixed deadlines.
• Decisions on applications are made throughout the year. However, please note that it may take up to 9 months from making your application to receiving a decision – we ask you to bear this timescale in mind when applying for project funding (i.e. not ongoing work or core costs) as we are unable to fund projects which have already started or been completed.
• Decisions on grants are communicated via email to the email address provided in the application.
• Please note that due to the volume of applications received we are unable to provide feedback on unsuccessful applications.

• If you have received a grant previously and wish to reapply for further funding, you must wait for at least 24 months from the date of the grant payment before re-applying.
• Please note that if you previously made an application that has been unsuccessful, you cannot reapply for 12 months from the date that you received the notification of the decision.

If you are experiencing issues with the website or application, please send an explanation of the problem and screenshots to info@schrodercharitytrust.org.

Due to the high volume of applications received, the Schroder Charity Trust is unable to provide individual assistance or advice on applications. The online application process is designed so that your charity can provide all of the information that is required in order for a decision to be reached.

If you have a question not covered in the above information, please email info@schrodercharitytrust.org