The Pixel Fund
Overview
Subject to approval by the Trustees, they generally offer first grants of between £2,500 and £5,000. However, no single grant is ever more than 5% of annual income.
The combination of their typical grant size and limit on the grant in terms of percentage of annual income means that they are very unlikely to grant to any organisation with an income of less than £20,000 per year.
They’re also happy to look at follow-on applications to existing grantees that have delivered on commitments.
Mission
Their aim is to support improvement in mental health by providing grants to charities registered and operating solely in the UK and involved in the mental health and wellbeing of children and young adults.
Although they understand the necessity of securing core funding for charities, they wish, if possible, to target their grant-giving to specific projects that will provide a measurable difference to a charity’s users.
Overview of grant process
The process usually takes from four to six months from start to finish. However, it should be stressed that this can vary widely and that they are always under pressure to make tough choices with the finite funds available.
Once granted, they aim to interfere as little as possible with the granted organisation, they believe that you should be left to get on with your job. With this in mind, they take governance seriously, and expect applicants to be able to demonstrate the organisation has up-to-date provisions in place in terms of both risk and governance.
The Pixel Fund continues to be oversubscribed with enquiries for grant - please ensure you are eligible before contacting or applying.
Eligibility Checklist
To apply to the Pixel Fund they expect an applicant to meet the following conditions:
- You are applying as a registered charity, not as an individual.
- They cannot grant to individuals.
- The charity is registered in England & Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.
- They only grant to charities registered on the charity registers of England and Wales, or Scotland, or Northern Ireland. If a charity is not on the relevant charity register, the Pixel Fund cannot grant to it. We cannot grant to exempt charities, as they are not on the charity register.
- The charity does NOT fall into one of these categories:
- Charities where the project / service is delivered overseas
- Independent schools (other than those supporting children with special educational needs)
- Religious organisations
- Exempt charities
- Charities where there is not a direct relationship between the charity and it’s intended beneficiaries (for example if the charity makes grants to other charities)
- The charity’s focus is well-being and mental health.
- They do not grant to organisations whose primary focus is other than well-being and mental health.
- The charity’s client group or one of the main client groups is children and young people under 26 years old.
- They will not grant to organisations which do not include this group.
- The charity has an annual income of less than £2m.
- At the Pixel Fund, they have a strong preference for granting to charities below this threshold.
- If the charity has an annual income of more than £1m, the charity has fixed term limits for trustees.
- Most organisations have trustees that can be re-elected annually or every three years, but is there a limit after which they have to stand down (often six or nine years)? At the Pixel Fund, they have a sliding scale approach to this. In their view, as a charity approaches an annual income of £0.5m it needs to be actively considering fixed term limits, if it hasn’t already. Between £0.5 and £1.0m it needs to be actively implementing term limits. Beyond £1m they would expect fixed term limits and are less likely to grant to an organisation that does not have these.
- NB. A fixed-term limit is not one in which trustees can be re-elected every three years (for example) indefinitely. A fixed-term limit is one in which, after an agreed number of terms, the trustee must stand down and step away from their trustee duties to the charity concerned. If a charity allows trustees with expired limits to stand down and then come back after a year, they do not consider this to be a fixed-term limit.
- The charity’s trustees are not conflicted.
- It is their view that trustees need to be independent of the organisation and independent of each other in order to maximise their benefit to the organisation. With that in mind they will not invite applications from or grant to organisations which have trustees which are related to each other or related to a member of the charity executive team (this includes by marriage).
- They consider it a conflict if a trustee or a firm connected to a trustee supplies services to the charity they have a role at (for example accounting services). If a trustee works with an organisation that benefits from the work of the charity they are a trustee at, that is a clear conflict. They will not grant in these situations.
- This latter point is related to professional relationships and conflicts. They do understand, and can be accepting of, situations in which family members of children benefiting from a charity become trustees of that charity.
- Do contact them for clarification if you need to.
- The charity has a considered approach to organisational risk.
- In other words, you have, and will share, a risk map, risk register or equivalent, that is considered regularly by management and trustees.
- The charity can explain how it monitors its own business and project activities and outcomes.
- How does the charity monitor itself? The charity will be asked to share how it monitors its own projects and outcomes.
- The charity can supply them with recent accounts and up-to-date financial information.
- They need to understand your current financial situation in order to make a decision on whether to invite the charity to apply for grant. They require a copy of the most recent published accounts and up-to-date financial information from the date of the last published accounts to within the last three months. And to include a balance sheet at the closing date.
- The charity can supply a financial commentary (no more than half a page) on the most recent financial statements (the annual statements that the charity is required to file) explaining any inconsistencies.
- The charity can supply a budget for the current financial year.
- As a charity you are required to keep up-to-date financial records, so this shouldn't be difficult to share. They understand that recent financial information might not be audited. If you are unable to supply this information, you are not eligible to apply to the Pixel Fund.
- New Charities: Charities will need to have submitted at least a first full set of accounts on the Charity Commission website before they will consider granting to an organisation.
- The charity can explain its pension scheme arrangements.
- They are understandably wary of charities that still have Defined Benefit schemes and/or pension deficits.
- The charity has an online presence.
- In order to be able to make a considered decision as to whether to grant to a charity, they need to get a feel for the charity and the kind of work it does. They’ve found that an effective way to do this is through a website or social media page.
- If a charity receives Gift Aid eligible donations of more than £100,000 annually (generating at least £25,000 in Gift Aid) it must be registered for Gift Aid.
- If you receive more than £100,000 of donations annually that are eligible for Gift Aid, you MUST be registered for Gift Aid. They understand that Gift Aid is tough to apply for, at least initially, but if you are not, and have significant eligible donations, then the Pixel Fund will not grant to the charity.
Note
They are paperless. They do not accept anything posted to their address unless specifically requested by them. Unsolicited mail is recycled before it is opened.