Introduction – overview of the funding

The Lloyds Bank Foundation offers funding to small and local charities across England and Wales, helping people overcome complex social issues, such as mental health, homelessness and domestic abuse. The Foundation helps those charities through long-term funding, developmental support as well as influencing policy and practice. They are a niche funder, so will not be appropriate for all organisations but where you do match their funding criteria (see below) they offer unrestricted funding over multiple years as well as development support for your organisation.

Who is eligible to apply?

Registered charities, charitable incorporated organisations (CIOs) and community interest companies (CICs) can apply.

To be eligible, all organisations must:

• Be based and working in England and Wales and outside of London.
• Have an annual income of between £25,000 and £500,000
• Have a bank account in the name of the organisation with unrelated signatories.
• Be able to show the majority of people in positions of power (including directors/trustees, the CEO and senior managers) are not related nor living at the same address.
• Have a track record of directly delivering services  for at least one year to people (aged 18 and over) from racially minoritised communities experiencing significant economic disadvantage. This must be in-depth services, with trusted partnerships, be person-centred with personal plans, with case plans and pathways. See here for more details under ‘programme criteria’.
• Be led by and working for communities experiencing inequity because of their race or ethnicity: at least 75% of their Directors/Trustees, and at least 50% of staff self-identify as belonging to the communities being supported.
• Be delivering culturally appropriate services that are developed in response to community needs.
• Ensure that people with lived experiences of the issues being addressed by the organisation are at the centre of the designing, developing, and managing the services being provided.
• Have a safeguarding policy in place.
• Hold Public Liability Insurance.
• Be an independent organisation.
• Not have a live grant with Lloyds Bank Foundation with more than 12 months to run at the time of the programme closing.

Registered Charities and CIOs must:

• Be registered as a charity or a charitable incorporated organisation (CIO) with the Charity Commission.
• Have at least one set of annual accounts showing as ‘received’ on the Charity Commission website, covering a 12-month operating period.
• Have a Board of at least three unrelated trustees in place, with their names appearing on their Charity Commission records.
• Not make any payments to trustees, except for out-of-pocket expenses.

Community Interest Companies must:

• Be Limited by Guarantee or Limited by Shares under Schedule 2 and be registered with Companies House. Their Articles of Association need to show an asset lock is in place and they have named the organisation that will receive the company’s assets on dissolution.
• Have at least one set of annual accounts filed with Companies House that show a track record of frontline delivery. They must also have filed their CIC Annual Report CIC34 for the last year and be able to submit their profit and loss account for their last financial year.
• Have at least three unrelated Directors sitting on their Board who are registered with Companies House.
• Show that no Director holds more than 50% of the company’s voting rights.

What are the funder priorities?

This programme will prioritise charities that:

• Are directly supporting people in their communities who experience inequity and proactively engage with them to address these issues
• Can demonstrate how they seek to achieve longer-term change by tackling the root causes of racial injustice
• Can demonstrate that they involve people who use the organisation’s services in the design and delivery of its services.
• Can demonstrate an understanding of their own organisational challenges, have the interest and are willing to invest time and effort in owning and addressing these.

How much can organisations apply for?

Grants of £75,000 are available over three years  (£25,000 per year)

What the funding can be used for

The grants are unrestricted, and can be used to support any costs that further the organisation’s social purpose.

Is there a deadline?

The deadline for applications is 30 May 2024 at 5pm

Find out more/how to apply

A free information webinar and live Q&A panel will be held on 24 April 2024 (10:30 am to 12:00 pm). You can learn more and sign up for this webinar by clicking here.

Guidance notes, eligibility quiz  and all other relevant information can be found on the Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales website.

Further support from RVA

• For further support from RVA with preparing your application or the policies and procedures required for this funding, contact Herjeet Randhawa at herjeet.randhawa@rva.org.uk
• Lloyds is attending our Meet the Funder Event on 21 May. If you would like to attend the session and find out more about this funding please contact training@rva.org.uk