Our penal programme only funds registered charities working in Great Britain. As a small grant maker, we have decided to fund small organisations, by which we mean organisations that received income of up to £250,000 in the last financial year.  

Please note that we have moved away from funding large campaigning organisations nor do we fund work to prevent young people becoming involved with crime. We do not fund Community Investment Companies (CICs).

We are happy to fund projects and core costs.  The kinds of grants we expect to make are:

• one-off grants of up to £3,000 to pay for specific projects that help maintain relationships between prisoners and their families or for work that supports the contributions that volunteers make within the prison community
• grants of up to £4,000 per year over two to three years, particularly where a guaranteed on-going contribution is going to make a difference to the sustainability of a programme or activity

We look for evidence of some or all of the following:

• experience of working in prison settings (essential)
• practical direct support to offenders both in prison and in the community
• inclusion of former offenders in activities that involve them as mentors or peer supporters
• involvement of volunteers
• immediate and sustainable impact
• work with prisoners families, particularly to facilitate on going contact between prisoners and their families so that where possible family support will be available on their release 

We also have a strong interest in:

• applications that support the needs of offenders who are over-represented within the youth and criminal justice system, e.g. black or minority ethnic groups
• offenders who have specific needs that are not met through mainstream provision, e.g. disabled or older offenders
• projects that help to break down the stigma and discrimination that many offenders face

The areas of penal affairs activities that we fund include:

• peer support and mentoring – to provide support for offenders with appropriate support to help them through times of difficulty
• making social connections with friends, family or local community – e.g. opportunities for serving prisoners to stay in touch with their children or community circles of support for high risk (ex) offenders within the community
• skill-based activities through volunteering or training
• activities that both help rehabilitate offenders and help build bridges through various benefits to local communities

We have an online application form which will allow you to send us details about your organisation and your proposal.

Please send a two-page proposal outlining your project. 

The proposal will need to be in doc, docx or pdf format, and no larger than 1MB  

Your application is more likely to be successful if you describe:

• how you identified the need for your proposal

• your track record in doing related work

• how you ensure the safety of the people you are supporting when you are working with them
• how you will track and monitor impact to know that your work has benefitted the people who need your help

Also be ready to upload or provide:

1. budget for this and next year
2. list of current funders and pending applications for funding

Click for form