Improving Lives

Application process

Applications for this programme are submitted online using our application form.

Please ensure you read the full guidelines before starting your application and refer to the application form help text as you complete your application.

Create an Account

  • When you open the ‘Make an Application’ webpage to begin your application, you will be asked to set up a new account, or sign in to your existing account.
  • If you are setting up a new account, you will receive a welcome email confirming your account details and a personalised link. It is important to keep this email for future reference.

Eligibility quiz

  • You will need to complete our eligibility quiz before you can start the application process.
  • If your answers meet our criteria you will be able to start the application process.

Completing your application

  • Applications should be submitted using the online application form. A sample application form is available to download which includes the questions and help text.
  • Please answer all the questions and attach the documents we ask for.
  • You can save a partially completed application by selecting ‘Save and Finish Later’. An email containing a tracking number and copy of your answers to date will be emailed to you automatically.
  • To return to your application you can either use the personalised link in your welcome email or the ‘Return to Existing Application’ link.
  • When you have completed your application select ‘Review and Submit’. You will be able to review what you have written before submitting the application. You can’t change it after you have selected ‘Submit’.
  • Once you have submitted your application you will get a system notification to confirm you have sent it to us followed by an email to confirm it is being assessed.
  • We will also email you with a link to our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Monitoring Survey. Completing this survey is not a condition of your application and all questions in the survey are optional. Your responses to this survey will not be used in the assessment of your application. For more information please visit our diversity webpage.

Stage 1 Assessment – 3 to 8 weeks

  • All eligible applications are reviewed by our Grants Team.
  • During this time we may contact you if we need to clarify any information.
  • We will contact you at the end of this assessment to let you know whether your application is being shortlisted.

Stage 2 assessment – up to 4 months

  • If your application has been put through to Stage 2 we will contact you to ask for additional information, which will include details about income projection, a budget, management accounts and your fundraising strategy.
  • To minimise delay in processing your application, we will ask you to provide this information within one week.
  • We have engaged Brevio to conduct an independent due-diligence assessment of all organisations who reach the second stage of our assessment process under our Improving Lives grant programme. Please click here for more information.
  • Stage 2 assessment also includes a visit / call. During the visit / call we expect to meet with staff and/or a member of the Board/Trustees.

Decision

  • Decisions are made at least quarterly by the Trustees.
  • Within two weeks of the Trustees meeting we will send you an email notifying you of the outcome.
Prioritisation Approach

We receive a very high volume of applications and sadly this means we are unable to fund all our applicants. The current success rate at Stage 1 is around 18%. To ensure the best chance of success, we recommend consulting our application guidelines and current priorities before applying to ensure that your work is a strong fit for our assessment criteria. Please note that during the assessment process, we may need to prioritise applications by UK geographical area, focusing on those which typically receive less funding.

More information on the reasons why we turn down applications can be found here.