abrdn Financial Fairness Trust

Overview

Summary

• Grant sizes - £10k - £200k
• Number of grants awarded annually - 15-20
• Application success rate - 1 in 7
• Grant application deadlines - February and June each year
• Types of organisations that can apply - Registered charities, voluntary organisations, think tanks, campaigning groups, research bodies and universities.
• Area funded - UK wide

Funding Programmes

Their funding programmes focus on three significant areas that influence financial wellbeing: income, spending and assets. For more information about the recently-launched cross-cutting Climate Change and Household Finances in the UK funding stream, click here.

Income

• Wages - In particular they are interested in pay and conditions including for young adults and those in insecure work, such as the self-employed, including those working in the gig economy. We also want to explore how changes to shareholder dividends and wage distribution (including greater transparency and greater worker engagement) could increase pay for those on lower incomes.
• Social security - Supporting improvements to the social security system, ensuring it provides an adequate safety net for people when they need it and when they face financial shocks. They want the process to deal with people with dignity and respect. They are interested in work that addresses issues such as benefits adequacy, assessment processes, repayment, benefit take-up, conditionality and sanctions, as well as more radical rethinking of the benefits system. Our focus includes those excluded from support: for example, those with no recourse to public funds. We are also interested in improving public attitudes in relation to social security. We have already funded many projects addressing social security and are unlikely to fund further work that covers similar ground to prior grants. Please look at their website for information about grants made to date.
• Pensions - Their focus here is on pension income rather than pension savings (the latter is addressed under our Assets programme). They are interested in people’s experience of navigating the complexities related to pension freedoms and ways to improve this. They will also look at how to better support those still facing hardship in retirement.
• Taxation - Supporting improvements to the taxation system, ensuring it is fair to those on low-to-middle incomes and adequately funds the public services we need. This includes work in relation to closing tax gaps and loopholes (for example, between employees, the self-employed and company owner-managers); reviewing tax reliefs; and expanding the remit of taxes (for example, reviewing the scope of National Insurance contributions and pensioners).

Spending

• Cost of living - Reducing the cost of living including housing, utilities, childcare and transport, including through low cost but high quality provision and subsidies. We are particularly interested in tackling loyalty penalties, poverty premiums, and increasing the availability of social tariffs.
• Consumer spending - Supporting work which addresses the negative effects of spending and consumerism, in particular impulsive and compulsive spending. As part of this they are also interested in shifting public attitudes in relation to spending.
• Gambling harms - They want to address the harms caused by gambling and examine the role of government, the industry, regulators and the use of technology. We are also interested in identifying gaps in provision for those needing help and support, and how this can be funded.
• Borrowing - Tackling problematic lending and borrowing including high-cost, short-term credit and other forms of lending such as credit cards. This includes increasing knowledge, developing solutions, improving good practice amongst firms, and effective regulation, including exploring a universal cap on consumer credit. We are particularly interested in the role of government and employers in providing free and low-cost credit, encouraging banks to explore social lending, and improvements to Government loan/grant schemes.
• Payment problems - Their focus here is in relation to understanding and improving practice when people get into difficulties repaying debt. This includes examining the role of government, creditors, regulators, debt advice providers and employers.
• Net zero - The climate crisis presents a huge risk to living standards. We welcome applications that work to ensure the transition to net zero enhances and protects the living standards of those on low-to-middle incomes. For example, home insulation can reduce fuel energy costs in addition to helping towards meeting our climate change targets.

Assets

• Taxation - Supporting improvements to the taxation system, ensuring it is fair to those on low-to-middle incomes and adequately funds the public services they need. This includes work in relation to closing tax gaps and loopholes (for example in relation to inheritance tax); and making taxes fairer (for example in relation to different assets and income streams). As part of this they are also interested in shifting public attitudes in relation to the taxation of assets.
• Retirement saving - Their focus is on increasing the amounts people save for their retirement, including enhancing autoenrolment and extending it to groups not currently covered by it. They are also interested in how employers can be encouraged to contribute beyond the minimum to employees' retirement savings, for example through the promotion of a living pension. We are keen to explore how pension schemes can better share investment risk via a more collective approach, such as collective defined benefit schemes. We are already funding substantial work in this area to date, so please consult our website to see where we have invested. We also advise you to speak to our grants team before applying for work around retirement saving.
• General saving - Their focus is on increasing saving. This includes improved understanding of savings, including whether schemes designed to turn non-savers into savers and current savers into more frequent savers are successful, and examining what incentives work and how access to such incentives can be made more accessible. They are keen to ensure that tax reliefs and other forms of support are geared towards those on lower incomes. We are also interested in how the importance of saving is communicated to those on low-tomiddle incomes and how this could be improved and lead to changes in behaviour.
• Housing - Examining and assessing the value of products and policies which increase home ownership for those on low-to-middle incomes. This is not a priority area for the Trust, though they will consider applications here.

Who they aim to benefit

They aim to address specific inequalities, differences and vulnerabilities through their funded work.

They aim to improve the lives of those living on low-to-middle incomes in the UK, not just those in poverty but those across the bottom half of the income distribution who are cycling in and out of hardship. Whilst it’s vital to ensure that those facing financial hardship are supported, they also believe it’s important to prevent people falling into financial difficulties. Some groups are more affected than others, and financial problems can be even greater for those facing multiple disadvantages.  They are particularly interested in applications that address inequalities faced by younger people, black and minority ethnic people and disabled people. Closely linked to this are people who are vulnerable financially. This is where people, due to their personal circumstances, are especially susceptible to financial detriment, particularly when a firm, government or other organisation is not acting with appropriate levels of care. This includes vulnerability as a result of health problems, disability, or due to a difficult life event such as redundancy, bereavement or divorce. They believe that focusing on work that addresses the root causes, rather than supporting individual beneficiaries, is a more sustainable approach to improving financial well-being.

Where they will fund

Their remit is UK wide and the majority of their work will be of benefit to UK residents, but they are keen to support work in Scotland, including UK-wide work which has a Scottish dimension to it. There are specific issues relating to geography, with some regions and areas of the UK faring better than others, which they aim to address through the work they fund. It is unlikely they will fund work which is solely focussed on areas smaller than a region, such as a neighbourhood, borough or town.

They are interested in learning lessons from other areas (from within and outside the UK) and how good ideas and practice can potentially be replicated in the UK, and lessons shared here. Their aim is not to transfer policies from one place or sector to another but to translate the learning in a way others can act upon in a way that is appropriate to the situation and circumstances in the UK. They’re also interested in international comparisons and how the UK fares in relation to other countries.

Who we will fund

They fund organisations undertaking charitable activities. You don’t need to be a registered charity. Organisations they fund must have a governing body with at least three non-executive directors/trustees (at least three who are not employees of the organisation or affi liated to it in any other way). They will fund a wide range of organisations including voluntary organisations, think tanks, campaigning groups, research bodies and universities. They are also able to partner with other funders, government, employers and regulators in jointly funding relevant work.

What work they will fund

They will fund a range of strategic work. This is work that benefits more than individuals and has the potential to benefit large numbers of people within the UK. This work must aim to create a step change in policy, practice, attitudes and/or behaviour. It includes policy work, campaigning, research, public attitudinal work, and improving practice and design.

They are interested in funding issues, where they can add value. In particular, where there is limited funding available and there is a clear niche for the Trust.

They do not fund direct delivery of services for individual beneficiaries, unless this is testing and evaluating a new approach which has signifi cant potential to lead to wider change and could be of benefit to many people. They will also fund evaluations of existing initiatives that have not been evaluated. Funding will usually be for a specific project and sometimes for on-going costs. This includes staff salaries and overheads. They encourage organisations to include a reasonable amount of core costs to cover their overheads when they apply for funding, though universities should see their guidance on costs, available on their website. The latter also includes details of all of the projects they are funding.

How much you can apply for

There is no minimum or maximum size of grant and the amount you request should be the amount you need. Their grants range between £10,000 and £200,000, with most between £50,000 to £120,000 in total.

The amounts may be spread over one, two or three years, and sometimes for shorter periods, for example six months.

For example, if you are awarded a grant of £60,000, this could be £20,000 each year over three years, or £40,000 in the first year and £20,000 in the second. They sometimes cannot fund the full cost of a project and you may need to raise funds from other sources, especially if you are seeking a grant which is above the average amount they award.

Organisations already funded by the Trust can make further grant applications to them.