The Garfield Weston Foundation
The Garfield Weston Foundation is a family founded grant-making Trust which has been supporting charities across the UK for 60 years.
We have two grant programmes which depend on the size of the grant being requested – the processes are slightly different for each.
Regular Grants - For applications below £100,000. These applications are reviewed by our Trustees on an ongoing basis so there are no specific deadlines to worry about. You can apply when you are ready and when your plans and priorities are sufficiently clear to be able to make a compelling case – see our guidelines for details of what to include.
Major Grants - For application of £100,000 or more. These are reviewed at one of the Foundation’s eight Board meetings a year and are carefully planned in advance to be fair to all applicants. If you are considering applying for a major grant, please start by sending a one page summary to Grace da Rocha via gdarocha@garfieldweston.org outlining what you are raising funds for, the total cost and fundraising target. We can give you bespoke guidance on whether you are eligible. Please note that if you are applying for £100,000 or more we typically expect your project and/or annual income to be in excess of £1 million. Please do not apply for a major grant through our website.
Who can apply
Types of organisations we fund
We fund organisations working in the following areas:
Arts
Community
Education
Environment
Faith
Health
Museums and Heritage
Welfare
Youth
Don’t worry if your organisation works in more than one of these areas. We don’t earmark funds for specific areas of work or geographic regions. Any eligible organisation that meets our funding criteria has a fair chance of being funded.
We support organisations that are one of the following:
UK registered charities
Charitable Incorporated Organisations
exempt and excepted under Charity Commission guidance
Housing Associations that appear on the government’s List of Registered Providers
To check if your organisation matches our funding, please take our simple online eligibility quiz: https://garfieldweston.org/for-grant-applicants/eligibility-quiz/
Restrictions
Types of organisations we don’t fund
We follow the Charity Commission’s guidance on organisations that are registered, excepted and exempt. This means that we can’t fund the following:
individuals
Community Interest Companies (CICs)
Community Benefit Societies
social enterprises
local authorities and councils
We don’t fund work that takes place outside of the UK (with the exception of the UK Overseas Territories, where projects can be supported). We don’t fund animal rescue organisations or animal shelters.
We support charities that have at least one year’s worth of annual accounts. This means that to be eligible to apply, you will need to submit one of the following:
your annual accounts, independently audited or examined
a copy of your Charity Commission annual return
If you don’t yet have accounts, please don’t apply until you do as your finances are an important part of our decision making.
Work we don’t fund
We are not able to fund the following activities or areas of work:
one-off or annual events such as galas or festivals, even if they are for fundraising purposes
short-term events that only run for a few weeks
sponsorship
feasibility studies
generic or mass mailing fundraising appeals
activity that takes place overseas, including overseas trips and emergency appeals
rescue and emergency organisations and services e.g. mountain/sea rescue and air ambulances
public works of art or monuments
endowment appeals
campaigning and lobbying if that is your organisation’s main activity or purpose other grant-makers or organisations that make grants to individuals activities that have already taken place or projects that have already completed individual salaries for specific jobs*
*We don’t fund the salaries of specific posts e.g. your Operations Manager. This is for the simple reason that, if we are not able to renew our support, we don’t want to put a member of your staff at risk. We do make grants for operating/core costs which can be put towards your general running costs. We understand that your staff are vital in delivering your work and so you can use part of an operating/core cost grant towards your overall salary bill.
How to apply
Please follow these simple steps:
Take our eligibility quiz to check that your organisation and its work is a good match with our funding: https://garfieldweston.org/for-grant-applicants/eligibility-quiz/
Read our application guidelines thoroughly and write your application: https://garfieldweston.org/for-grant-applicants/how-to-apply/application-guidelines/
Save your application as a PDF or Word document. Or, if you wish to apply for a grant of £100,000 or above, read the Major Grant guidance.
Have a copy of your organisation’s latest annual return or independently examined or audited accounts saved to your computer.
Go to Grants Management System to create a new account, or to access your existing account.
You will be asked to fill in your contact details and information about your organisation, including demographic information about your beneficiaries and safeguarding practices. You will be asked to upload your application proposal and annual accounts/return. If you need any help with using our Grants Management System, please refer to this useful guide.
You will immediately receive an email confirming that we have received your application.
For more information, please visit: https://garfieldweston.org/for-grant-applicants/