Top 10 Trusts Funding Charities in Manchester
The Charity Commission records 1,995 registered charities in the City of Manchester alone, the centre of the largest metropolitan area in the North of England. Following our previous spotlights we have now brought together a selection of the top grant funding opportunities in Manchester and the surrounding area to give you a helping hand in your quest for funding.
Some of these may signpost you to further opportunities to develop grant income from Trusts and Foundations for charities and projects in Manchester.
Trafford Housing Trust social investment is a social landlord making grants in areas where they operate to improve the lives of residents, focussing on children and young people, helping people improve their financial position, wellbeing and community. This funder offers 4 levels of funding up to £100,000 and is one to watch as they seek to expand across the Northwest:
The Health Lottery North West in collaboration with People’s Health Trust has raised over £10M and funded more than 300 community-focussed projects in the last decade. The Active Communities programme, which has a broader remit than health alone, makes grants to organisations with a turnover under £350,000 and operates a two-stage process:
Lancashire Environmental Fund is a partnership to distribute Landfill Community Fund monies within a 10 mile radius of a relevant site and has given away £25M since its inception in 1998. The funder offers three levels of grant up to £30,000, for green initiatives, public amenities and buildings. Full priorities and exclusions are available at:
The Shears Foundation established from the proceeds of sale of a transport company ordinarily distributes around £800,000 annually in grants worldwide with a preference for North East England (averaging around £17k per grant). The funder favours revenue / salary grants in the fields of arts and culture, educational opportunity, community, the environment, health and medical research/education. During Covid-19 the Foundation is only supporting existing grantees, but watch this space for a return to normal grant-making activity:
Duchy of Lancaster Benevolent Fund This fund distributes around £420,000 annually primarily to charities in Lancashire, Greater Manchester and Merseyside, with broad interests and the highest proportion of funds appearing to be in the category of ‘community help.’ While the main website offers no application guidance, the Merseyside Lieutenancy has a dedicated application process and form available at:
The Zochonis Charitable Trust, established with shares in the Cussons Soap manufacturing company the Trust, has a preference for Greater Manchester, distributes around £4.4M annually in around 200 grants and has diverse interests with the majority of grants being given for health and education causes. The Trust doesn’t operate a website but enquiries can be made via enquiries@zochonischaritabletrust.com
Newground Together is a member of the Together Housing Group with income of around £8M. Charities meeting Newground Together’s objectives in the North of England targeting: the natural environment, regeneration, leisure, life chances for young people, education and training. Enquiries can be made via the website at:
Forever Manchester is a community foundation distributing around £1.68M in grants to a wide range of community causes across Greater Manchester through a number of different funding programmes:
Macc (Manchester’s local voluntary and community sector support organisation) is another body distributing grants on behalf of funders and commissioners with current priorities focussed on hate crime and mental health. Their funding portal is currently available for all VCSE organisations in the City of Manchester to access free of charge.
Action Together Action Together distributes grants in Oldham, Rochdale and Tameside, typically in the region of £5-10k.
If you have exhausted this list or you need to take a deeper dive into other funding opportunities in Manchester then our Funder Prospect Research Service may be what you are looking for. If you don’t have the capacity to take forward funding bids in-house, get in touch about our Trust Fundraising consultancy service.
