Charities

Grants to Charities

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The Ironmongers’ Company wishes to support projects that provide opportunities for disadvantaged children and young people to fulfil their potential.

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We are looking for projects that deliver clearly defined educational benefits to a specific group of children or young people. Projects could, for example, support special educational needs, or foster social, emotional or life skills. Preference will be given to projects piloting new approaches where the outcomes will be disseminated to a wider audience.

Grants

 

• Grants range from £3,000 up to around £10,000.

• Grants must be spent within twelve months from the date of the award.

• Recipients are expected to submit a written evaluation report within three months of the completion of the project.

• The Ironmongers' Company’s support should make a recognisable difference, therefore preference will be given to requests where the grant would cover a significant element of the cost, and to those from smaller charities. 

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Eligibility Criteria

 

Please read the following guidelines and application procedures carefully before applying and please do not apply if you do not meet the criteria.  We receive a very high volume of applications and the Company’s funds and administrative resources are limited. 

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Grants are only given to registered charities. We do not give grants to community interest companies.

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All of the criteria must be met. Projects must: 

• Have a commencement date after 31 October 2025 (Spring 2025 round) or 30 April 2026 (Autumn 2025 round)

• Be for children and young people under the age of 25 who are disadvantaged

• Consist of educational activities that develop learning, motivation and skills

• Have clear aims and objectives to be met within a planned timescale

• Be carried out within the UK.
   

Grant Application Timetable

 

We are open for submissions from 31 May to 30 June 2025. Applications submitted outside of these timings will not be considered.

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The next round of applications will be open from 31 October to 15 December. ​​

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Exclusions

 

​A grant will not be provided for:

• General appeals or circulars

• Replacement of statutory funding

• General running costs (a reasonable proportion of overheads will be accepted as part of project costs)

• Medical treatment, healthcare, counselling and therapy

• Course fees for professionals

• Research projects

• Bursaries

• Schools, unless a registered charity for children/young people with disabilities

• Fundraising events and sponsorship

• Building work

• Holidays

• We do not give grants to charities with an annual turnover of over £1M.

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Eligibility Checklist

 

Please use this eligibility checklist to double-check that your project is eligible before applying. If you cannot answer ‘yes’ to every question, your application is not eligible for a grant and we politely request that you do not apply. Ineligible applications cannot be considered for funding.

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• Are you a registered charity?

• Is the project for children and young people under the age of 25 who are disadvantaged?

• Does your project consist of educational activities that develop learning, motivation and skills? (Items of equipment will be considered only where a full explanation is given of how they will support this activity.)

• Does your project have clear aims and objectives to be met within a planned timescale?

• Is your project within the UK?

• Will the Company’s support make a recognisable difference? (Preference will be given to requests where the grant would cover a significant element of the cost, and to those from smaller organisations.)

• Have you checked that your project does not fall into one of the excluded categories listed above?

• Have you checked that the planned start date of your project is after the date of the relevant committee decision (see timetable)? We do not fund retrospectively.​

 

Application Procedure

 

The Company’s Grant Application Form must be completed (please note, this form is only available to complete while we are open for applications. (See grant application timetable).  Applications submitted outside the application window will be rejected. 

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Following the closure of the initial application period, all applications will be assessed and a limited number selected for the second stage of our application process.  If your project is selected for the second stage of our application process, we will contact you for further information within two months of the initial application deadline. 

 

Unfortunately, due to the expected volume of applications, we will be unable to provide feedback on applications that are not selected for the second stage of our application process. 

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When to apply

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The Committee meets twice a year to review grant applications, in March and October.  We do not fund projects that begin before the date of the relevant meeting.  

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We are closed for submissions until 31 May 2025. Applications submitted outside of the timings below will not be considered.

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Spring 2025 round

• Open for submissions - 31 May 2025

• Initial Application deadline - 30 June 2025

• If your project is selected for the second stage of our application process, we will contact you for further information within two months of the initial application deadline.

• Committee decision and notification of outcome - end October 2025.
   

Autumn 2025 round

• Open for submissions – 30 September 2025

• Initial Application deadline - 31 October 2025

• If your project is selected for the second stage of our application process, we will contact you for  further information within two months of the initial application deadline.

• Committee decision and notification of outcome - end March 2026.

 

How to apply

We no longer accept grant applications by post.  For your application to be eligible, you must apply using The Ironmongers’ Company online form, which should be submitted by email to charities@ironmongers.org. The form can only be accessed when we are open for submissions. Please do not complete the form if you are applying for one of the Company’s STEM grants.

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Please note that only the content of your 2-page application form will be considered in the shortlisting process. Any additional information submitted in the body of your email will not be included. 

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For any queries, please email charities@ironmongers.org. ​​​

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