Genetic Disorders UK: Jeans for Genes Grants
Overview
Background Information
The annual J4G fundraising event encourages children and adults to wear their jeans to school or to work on a specific week in exchange for a small donation. Monies raised by J4G fundraisers are distributed by way of through the Jeans for Genes Grant Programme. This year, which is the first campaign to be run by The CGD Society (reg charity 1143049), the grant programme will distribute a post-pandemic record.
Funding Strategy
Their funding strategy is unchanged and focuses Jeans for Genes’ grant making on trying to achieve two ambitious impact goals:
- Organisations serving the genetic condition community become stronger, more resilient, and sustainable improving their ability to meet need and provide appropriate support in the long term; and
- Everyone in the UK living with a genetic condition and their family can access the appropriate support when they need it so that they feel supported, valued, and included.
To work towards these impact goals, the Jeans for Genes Grant Programme is comprised of two strands of funding:
- Core cost funding - they award small front line genetic condition charities single year grants of £5,000 towards their organisation’s core costs to enable them to be in a stronger, more resilient position to continue to provide vital support to their communities, in the long term; and
- Project funding - they award single year project grants of up to £20,000 to front line, genetic condition charities so that individuals living with a genetic condition and their families can access the right support at the
They have identified six funding priorities for each funding strand.
FUNDING STRAND 1 : CORE COSTS GRANTS KEY INFORMATION
This funding strand is designed to support the resilience of those small charities working closely with the genetic condition community.
They fund established organisations (by this they mean at least 18 months old and have published their first set of annual accounts), that have received Jeans for Genes funding in the past three years and have a track record of providing direct services and support to those with a genetic condition.
They use the term ‘core costs’ to describe funding that contributes towards the costs of running your organisation. For example, these include support costs, management costs, communications, income generation, administration costs, governance activities, general overheads or other spending that is not project-specific.
Impact Goal
Organisations serving the genetic condition community become stronger, more resilient and sustainable improving their ability to meet need and provide appropriate support in the long term.
Funding Priorities
They want their funding to support frontline genetic condition organisations to:
- Be empowered, strong and sustainable
- Be flexible and responsive to changing circumstances
- Invest in organisational development, systems and processes
- Strengthen their governance
- Effectively demonstrate the impact that they make
- Collaborate, share expertise and resources
Grant size
Grants awarded £5,000. Grants are for 1 year funding with funds being spent in that year.
Eligibility
- Organisations must be registered with either the Charity Commission for England and Wales, The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland or The Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR).
- Organisations must be based and deliver their work in the UK.
- Organisation’s should be a genetic condition specific charity or a charity whose beneficiaries are solely those with genetic conditions and/or their families. Jeans for Genes defines a genetic condition as one that is caused by a gene or chromosome alteration. They recognise that there are genetic components to a number of complex health conditions but they do not consider these to be genetic conditions for the purposes of this grant programme.
- The organisation must be at least 18 months old and have published their first set of annual accounts. If your organisation is less than 18 months old, you may apply for project funding under Strand 2 of The Jeans for Genes Grant Programme, but not for core costs under Strand 1.
- Organisations should have an annual income of between £20,000 and £300,000 (as reported in their most recent set of accounts filed with The Charity Commission).
- For charities that work with children and vulnerable adults, Jeans for Genes would expect that appropriate safeguarding policies are in place, a copy of which is required to accompany your application.
- Please note that it is a condition of your grant that you send them an End of Grant Report Form and an interim report before the end of January 2026.
- They cannot guarantee grants to all organisations that meet these criteria, as funding is limited. The grant panel will review and assign funding based on strength of application and relative need.
FUNDING STRAND 2 : PROJECT GRANTS KEY INFORMATION
They want to fund a wide range of innovative approaches to supporting the genetic condition community via this funding strand so that individuals living with a genetic condition can access the support they need, when they need it so that they feel supported, valued and included.
They use the term ‘project’ to describe funding restricted to the delivery of a defined set of activities and the costs involved in delivering those activities including staff costs and a percentage of overheads (up to 15%).
The project must be delivered by a genetic condition specific charity.
- The intended ‘outcomes’ of that project could be:
- Newly diagnosed individuals feel more knowledgeable about their condition
- Improved emotional wellbeing
- Reduced social isolation
Impact Goal
Appropriate support is available for all individuals living with a genetic condition in the UK and their families, when needed so that they feel supported, valued and included.
Funding Priorities
They want their funding to support projects that:
- Create new support networks or develop existing ones.
- Inform and empower individuals living with a genetic condition and their families and carers.
- Address a key transition point (e.g. point of diagnosis, transition to adult services or bereavement).
- Improve the physical, mental or emotional wellbeing of affected individuals, families and carers.
- Enable knowledge, awareness, skills or attitudes to be acquired that are then applied so that those with a genetic condition and their families are supported, valued and included.
- Engage with diverse and marginalised communities who are also living with a genetic condition to identify and challenge policies, practices and perceptions that contribute to health inequalities.
Grant size
Grants awarded up to £20,000. Grants are for 1 year funding with funds being spent in that year.
Eligibility
- Organisations must be registered with either the Charity Commission for England and Wales, The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland, or The Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR).
- Organisations must be based and deliver their work in the UK.
- Organisations should be a genetic condition specific charity. Organisations supporting a range of beneficiaries that include those with genetic conditions among them (for example, hospices and special needs schools) are NOT eligible to apply for this funding. Jeans for Genes defines a genetic condition as one caused by a single gene or chromosome alteration. They recognise that there are genetic components to several complex health conditions, but they do not consider these to be genetic conditions for the purposes of this grant programme.
- The organisation should have an annual income of less than £1 million (as reported in their most recent set of accounts filed with The Charity Commission).
- For charities that work with children and vulnerable adults, Jeans for Genes would expect that appropriate safeguarding policies are in place, a copy of which is required to accompany your application.
- They cannot guarantee grants to all organisations that meet these criteria, as funding is limited. The grant panel will review and assign funding based on strength of application and relative need.
Previous Grants
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