Leathersellers Company Charitable Fund: ACEs Main Grants

Overview

Eligibility criteria

This ACE Funding Round aims to support UK registered charities or charitable incorporated organisations (CIOs) but not Community Interest Companies (CIC) that:

• are operating in the UK in an area of deprivation
• have an organisational annual income over £200,000 and under £2,000,000 (for the coming or current year)
• have as their core focus, the goal to prevent the occurrence of and/or support recovery from ACEs by providing services to children and young people and/or adult survivors in recovery
• use a trauma-informed approach and evidence-based interventions
• can demonstrate the effectiveness of their approach through evaluation or external research
• are either lived-experience led or can show significant input from those with lived experience

They recognise that some communities suffer from a greater likelihood of ACEs due to systemic barriers. They welcome applications from charities who support under-represented groups.

Please note:

• If your application to the Main Grants Programme in 2024 was declined, you are welcome to submit an expression of interest to this round if you meet the given criteria.
• If you have been awarded a grant previously, you will not be eligible to apply for the same period of time as that of your grant. For example: if you received a one-year grant you cannot reapply for one year after the date of your final grant payment. If you received multi-year funding for four years you will not be eligible to apply for further funding for four years from the date of your final grant payment.

If you are unsure as to your particular circumstance / when you last applied or received funding from them, please contact them.

What they fund

If your charity meets the eligibility criteria you can apply for:

• An unrestricted grant (core costs) of between £20,000 – £25,000 per year for a period of up to four years.

Guidance on terms they use

In their criteria and on their form they have used a number of terms that it may be useful to explain further:

Adverse Childhood Experiences

They use this term to recognise traumatic events that occur during childhood that can have a significant impact on a person’s physical, emotional and mental health throughout their life. Examples include:

• abuse – physical, sexual or psychological/emotional
• neglect – physical or psychological/emotional
• domestic abuse
• substance misuse by a close family member
• mental illness of a close family member
• having a close family member serve time in prison
• parental or caregiver separation or divorce on account of relationship breakdown

They recognise that charities working to prevent the occurrence of and/or support recovery from ACE’s cover a broad range of activities including working with victims of child sexual exploitation, county lines, gangs, those cared for by the local authority, homelessness, human trafficking, asylum seekers and refugees.

Area of Deprivation

They recognise all relative measures of deprivation as tracked by the Indices of Deprivation or similar tools. They find the map tool provided by the CDRC very helpful. They ask you who your work helps and why this is needed for that group or in that area so you can explain the need that exists there.

Trauma Informed Approach

A trauma-informed approach aims to provide an environment where a person who has experienced trauma feels safe and can develop trust. This means people at every level of an organisation (including volunteers) develop an understanding of trauma, its symptoms and its impact, which then influences their work. This reduces the risk of excluding people who have experienced trauma. Many organisations describe it as a cultural shift rather than simply a behavioural one as the approach is integrated into policy, procedures, practice and environment.

Evidence Based

When wishing to support evidence-based work, they are looking for charities that use the following to inform and improve their service at all stages, from design, to delivery, to evaluation:

• use the most current and robust research evidence available
• draw from the expertise of their staff and volunteers, and
• listen and learn from the voices and actions of the adults, children and young people that have benefitted from the service and/ or are experts by experience.