Weavers' Company Benevolent Fund

Open (with deadline for applications) Addiction and substance misuse Age Children (0-12) Communities Health, wellbeing and sport Offenders and ex-offenders People with disabilities Poverty and deprivation Social inclusion Social welfare and poverty Victims and survivors Young people (13-25) Antrim & Newtownabbey Ards & North Down Armagh City, Banbridge & Craigavon Belfast City Causeway Coast and Glens Derry City and Strabane England Fermanagh and Omagh Great Britain Lisburn and Castlereagh Mid and East Antrim Mid Ulster Newry, Mourne and Down Northern Ireland Scotland Wales Medium (up to £60,000) Micro (up to £1,000) Small (up to £10,000)

Track grant Notes

Overview

The Benevolent Fund is the Charity through which the Company directs its main charitable giving and the Charitable Grants Committee apply the income to support work in the following areas of interest.

Young Offenders
Prisoners and Ex-prisoners
Young disadvantaged people, especially those at risk of criminal involvement

Key Points to Note for Applicants

They wish to work with organisations that can demonstrate impact with ex-offenders, young offenders or young people at risk of offending, either within a local area or nationally. It is up to you how you persuade them that impact is/will be delivered, but please note that general comments and statistics about the sector are not sufficient to demonstrate impact.

Applicants must show they have investigated other sources of funding and made plans for future funding.

Size of organisation
- Whilst the size of organisation is not relevant when making an application, it may be easier for smaller organisations to demonstrate impact.
Funding levels
- Their Small Grants Programme has a cap of £5,000.
- Their Main Grants Programme is uncapped, but you are advised to research typical grant sizes previously made through their Charity Commission Annual Reports.
Organisations they will fund
- UK registered charities and charitable incorporated organisations (CIOs). In exceptional circumstances they may support Community Interest Companies (CICs)

Funding Priorities

1. Supporting offenders into work

Many offenders and ex-offenders suffer from a variety of difficult, complex problems and are amongst the most vulnerable members of society. Whilst they fund a variety of work that addresses the social and economic problems faced by this group, their current priority is to support those looking to build skills and capability to get into sustainable work.

2. Helping specific groups within the criminal justice sector

They recognise that certain sectors within the criminal justice sector are less popular with funders than others. They are committed to supporting charities working with such groups.

Secondary funding areas

1. Supporting young people

They are keen to support projects that work with young people from disadvantaged and socio-economically challenged groups, such as immigrants, to ensure they are given every possible chance to realise their full potential and to participate fully in society. They normally define young people as being aged up to 25 years.

Work that they fund

Pump-priming. They particularly welcome applications where their grant would support a project piloting new approaches and where that grant would form a major element of the funding or where it would be matched by other funders.
Project funding. They prefer to support projects where their grant would be used for an identified purpose.
Associated costs. If you are applying for project funding, you should make sure you have included the cost of any overheads associated with the work, such as office/secretarial support, so that the project is not under-funded. It is in your best interest to ensure that you have realistically assessed the cost of the project.
Core costs. They will consider applications for core funding for new projects, including staff salaries, training and overheads that enable an organisation to develop and maintain expertise.
Innovative or pioneering work. They like to encourage new ideas and to fund projects that could inspire similar work in other areas of the country.
Continuation funding. Once a grant has been made you are welcome to make an additional application after the first anniversary of the grant.
Emergency or deficit funding. In exceptional circumstances, they may provide emergency or deficit funding for an established organisation. Applicants most likely to be granted emergency funding are groups that they know or have previously supported.

What has previously been funded?

Within prisons, the Company has supported charities which teach skills and boost prisoners' self esteem in a variety of ways; for example, using music, embroidery, counselling, letter writing, and the staffing of a restaurant to teach practical skills and to improve job prospects on release.
Projects aimed at supporting ex-offenders which have benefitted from Weavers’ funding have included practical support to assist rehabilitation, employment in horticulture, driving lessons in return for voluntary work, and training ex-offenders to run crime diversion schemes for teenagers.
Grants have also been awarded to a range of community-based projects for disadvantaged young people, including mentoring, anti-gang and drug abuse programmes, summer clubs in deprived areas, art and theatre workshops, and raising awareness of the problems of teenage pregnancy. For a number of years the Company also sponsored the annual Prison Reform Trust Lecture and now supports the Trust's Robin Corbett Award for outstanding rehabilitative work with prisoners done by a small charity or community group working in partnership with prison staff.