The Equitable Charitable Trust

Overview

The Equitable Charitable Trust is an education charity. It makes grants totalling up to £1 million each year towards projects for children and young people under the age of 25 who are from disadvantaged backgrounds or disabled.

In 2011 they received 354 applications and made 70 new grants worth £876,264

Its funds are highly oversubscribed and the Trustees have therefore identified three specific priorities for the types of projects they wish to support:

• education projects or services that support the learning and development of disabled children and young people in the UK;
• formal education projects for disadvantaged children and young people in the UK that support delivery of the National Curriculum (i.e. curriculum enrichment projects) or that deliver accredited vocational learning that will increase employability;
• education projects that will help increase participation in, or improve the quality of, education for disadvantaged or disabled children and young people in developing countries.

(Projects that relate to PHSE and citizenship subjects are a low priority)

Grants can be made for project costs, capital expenditure, equipment and/or the salary costs of a post.

Demand continues to be high and the success rate of applications is currently running at around one in eight, so please do not apply unless you strongly meet one of their priorities. If you are unsure whether your project meets their priorities, please contact them for advice.

The Trustees are mainly looking to fund formal education projects. For work outside the UK, Trustees are looking for strategic projects with potential to bring about lasting change over the medium to long term.

Criteria

• The majority of projects funded by the Trust take place within the UK at local or regional level, though national projects and those benefiting children or young people overseas (in developing countries only) are also supported.
• Please note that grants for overseas projects are only made through UK registered charities.
• They support a broad range of organisations; from small and medium sized not-for-profit organisations to large charities. However, priority is normally given to organisations and charities with annual incomes of under £5 million. You do not need to be a UK registered charity to apply unless you are applying for a grant towards a project or work that will take place outside the UK.
• The length of funding can range from one to three years. Grants of more than one year are paid in annual instalments, with instalments beyond the first year dependent on receipt of progress reports that are satisfactory to the Trustees.
• The size of grants ranges from £3,000 to £30,000. Most are for sums between £5,000 and £20,000. It is rare for a multi-year grant to exceed £10,000 p.a. and most multi year grants will be for sums between £5,000 and £7,500.

Example Grants

A list of the grants paid by the Trust in 2008 and 2009 can be downloaded from their website.

The charity has continued to operate effectively during the year, making 93 grants totalling £837,078 to other charitable organisations.

2011

• Cedar Foundation - £9,250 - Year two of a three year grant towards a transition support and training project for disabled young people in Northern Ireland
• Liberty Consortium (The Hope Project) - £11,500 - The final year of a two year grant towards the Hope Project; an accredited vocational and life skills education project for young people with learning disabilities in Northern Ireland
• Special Educational Needs Advice Centre - £9,607 Year one of a two year grant towards the salary of an Information Officer to provide education advice, advocacy and support for children with special educational needs in Northern Ireland

2009

• Cedar Foundation - £8,750 - Year one of a three year grant towards a support and training project for disabled young people in Northern Ireland who are approaching the transition to adulthood
• Special Educational Needs Advice Centre (SENAC) - £10,000 - Year one of a two year grant towards the salary of an Information Officer at an organisation that provides advice, advocacy and support for children with special educational needs in Northern Ireland
• ASBAH - £10,000 - Year two of a three year grant towards the salary of an Education Adviser to support children and young people in Northern Ireland with spina bifida and hydrocephalus

2007

Cedar Foundation - Northern Ireland A single grant towards the cost of the 27,000 Transitions Service Programme in Enniskillen and Derry, Northern Ireland for young disabled people aged 14-20 years, to facilitate their entry intc further and higher education and provide employment training opportunities.

2005

• Cedar Foundation (NI) £30,000
• Leonard Cheshire (NI) £12,000

How to Apply.

From Equitable Trust website

Demand continues to be high and the success rate of applications is currently running at around one in six, so please do not apply unless you strongly meet one of our priorities. If you are unsure whether your project meets our priorities, please contact us for advice.

The Trustees are mainly looking to fund formal education projects. Informal education and projects that are only loosely educational will not be funded.

For work outside the UK, Trustees are looking for strategic projects with potential to bring about lasting change over the medium to long term. Grassroots projects, such as those that pay the school fees or uniform costs of students are extremely unlikely to be funded.

Applications can be submitted at any time and are considered monthly by the Trustees. The Trust does not have an application form, but recommends that organisations follow the guidelines outlined on their website and in their guidelines.

The Trust does not have an application form, but recommends that organisations follow the guidelines outlined below when applying for a grant:

• Applications should be no longer than four A4 sides, in font size no smaller than 11 point and should begin with a short (half page) summary. Your budget and accounts are additional to this.
• Please do not send us CD-Roms, DVDs or annual reports.

Significantly more information is available online at the ECT Site