What We Support

Our vision is to make a tangible difference to poverty and inequality through early intervention and to break cycles of dependence on relief. We aim to achieve this by providing grant funding and support to UK-registered charities working within the UK or overseas in areas of need or deprivation.

Our focus is on providing support for projects where every child is being given the best start in life, enabling charities to help young children, and where appropriate their parents/carers, on their journey to independence.

We are willing to fund both new and existing work (including staffing and other running costs): for a smaller charity, this may comprise its entire operation.

What we expect to see

Projects

• Working to make a tangible difference to poverty and inequality
• Breaking cycles of dependence on relief
• Helping children aged 0-5, and where appropriate their parents/carers, to have the best start in life
• Which aren’t about the purchase of property or major building work

Charities

• Registered in the UK and working either in the UK or overseas
• With clear management and governance structures in place, and at least 3 trustees
• Small to medium-sized with an annual income of £5m or less

Applications

• Seeking between £10,000 and £50,000 a year for a maximum of three years
• Seeking a maximum of 50% of project costs, with other funding already raised, or clear plans in place as to the funding pipeline

For some current examples of the kinds of projects which The Lewin Trust is funding, please see our Case Studies page.

The Lewin Trust is committed to engaging in meaningful relationships with the charities with whom we partner. For us, this means:

• Being willing to fund with larger amounts (between £10,000 and £50,000 per year)
• Offering multi-year funding (for up to three years)
• Allowing budgets to incorporate inflationary increases
• Allowing successful applicants to re-apply once their award has ended without requiring a gap
• Asking for regular but light-touch reporting
• Engaging with the charity during the lifetime of the award, including visits where that is possible without disrupting the work

That said, only a limited amount of funds may be deployed for grant support within any given financial year: this means that, unfortunately, we are unable to fund more than 50% of project costs in relation to any individual application; in addition, a significant number of applications will not receive grant funding even if they fit within the priorities and criteria of the Trust. We will always keep projects informed about the outcome of their application.

A snapshot of our activity over the last 12 months: