Postcode Local Trust provide unrestricted funding for charities in the West of England. Taking on feedback from good causes and sector research, we have decided to expand our unrestricted funding to be the default method of funding so we can best meet to needs of the organisations we support. Charities can apply for up to £25,000, and being unrestricted means that funding doesn't need to be tied to a specific project or activity. Rather than applying for either unrestricted funding or project funding, good causes now apply in the one form for unrestricted funding.  

Organisations with an annual income of under £1,000,000 can apply for funding from Postcode Local Trust. This allows us to concentrate our support on small charities and grassroots initiatives. By doing so, we aim to amplify the impact of our grant funding, enabling community-driven change and empowering smaller organisations that often face greater resource challenges. In the event of an oversubscription of strong applications, we look to prioritise funding to organisations with an annual income of under £250,000. You can view our funding priorities on page 3 of our funding guide.

Our funding themes relate to areas of impact that we are looking to target. These are: 

• Enabling participation in physical activity 
• Enabling participation in the arts 
• Preventing or reducing the impact of poverty 
• Supporting marginalised groups and tackling inequality 
• Improving biodiversity and responding to the climate emergency 
• Improving green spaces and increasing access to the outdoors 
• Providing support to improve mental health 

It is important to choose the funding theme most relevant to your organisation, as only one theme can be selected for an application. 

We do not have a set number of organisations per theme, and base funding decisions on a wide range of factors.

The Trust accepts applications from Parochial Church Councils (PCCs), however, there are different levels of funding available depending on the PCC’s status with the Charity Commission.

We are aware that it is only a requirement for Parochial Church Councils to register with the Charity Commission once their income has surpassed the £100,000 threshold. Those below the threshold are not required to register, and are considered as “excepted” from registration. As we rely on information collected by the Charity Commission on fully registered charities as part of our due diligence process, we therefore are only able to conduct these checks on such groups.

Therefore, as we wish to support groups of all sizes and registration types, there are two levels of funding available:

• For excepted charities/ PCCs not fully registered with the Charity Commission – You can apply for up to £2,500
• For fully registered PCCs – You can apply for up to £25,000

In both cases, the maximum amount that can be applied for will also be capped at a maximum of 1/3 of the previous years income.

Funding from the trust cannot be spent on any activity included in our ‘we do not fund’ list. If your charitable objectives only include activities we do not fund e.g. the promotion of religion or medical research, the application will be made ineligible. However, if you have additional objectives that focus on other activities alongside what we are not able to fund, you would still be eligible for funding. 

You can find details about what we are not able to fund on page 5 of our funding guide.

At present Postcode Local Trust does not offer multi-year funding through our grants programme. We understand the benefits multi-year funding can bring to charities and good causes and hope to offer this in the future.

We welcome applications aligning with our seven funding themes. However, funding rounds are often oversubscribed, meaning it is not always possible to fund all strong applications. To support decision making, Postcode Local Trust prioritises applications based on funding priorities as listed on page 3 of our funding guide. 

Yes, however, please be aware that future applications must be made at least 12 months after the date your last received a funding award from us. You need to have also returned your funding review form to us at the end of the previous funding period. 

As this is unrestricted funding, planning permission for any future projects is not required, however please bear in mind that there is an 18-month time limit in which the funds must be spent. 

Charities registered with the Charity Commission or OSCR, Community Benefit Societies and Community Interest Companies (CICs) with an asset lock (Schedule 1 and 2 only) can apply for between £500 - £25000 worth of funding. 

Constituted voluntary organisations with no charity number, companies limited by guarantee with an asset lock, excepted and exempted charities and Parochial Church Councils can apply for between £500 - £2500. 

You can find further information about these groups on page 3 of our funding guide.

The funding amount requested in an application must be no more than 1/3 of your organisation’s annual income. 

A list of groups we are unable to fund can be found in the 'we do not fund' list on page 5 of our funding guide

An organisation can apply for any of the trust areas they are based in, however, we only accept one application from an organisation per funding round. This means an organisation may only apply to one of our trusts within any one funding round.  

You can search for which Trust to apply to here.

Enter the postcode where your activities will take place to find the correct trust for your area. 

To be eligible for funding, your organisation must have been operating for at least 1 year and have signed accounts you are able to provide on submission. 

Please note, if your organisation has changed type (eg from a CIC to a Registered Charity) the new entity must have been operating for a minimum of 12 months and be able to produce Accounts for this organisation type.

If you are a registered charity who have become incorporated in the last year, this would be okay. However, this would be based upon whether you can provide documentation from Charities Commission confirming this change. If you are unsure about whether you would be eligible, please reach out to the team. 

Please refer to page 5 of our funding guide for a list of activities that Postcode Local Trust do not fund. 

If you are looking to apply to Postcode Local Trust for funding, please read through our funding guide and FAQs. If you still have questions after this about our application process, you are welcome to contact the trust at info@postcodelocaltrust.org.uk. While we don't generally provide 1-on-1 support to applicants before they submit an application, we aim to provide an accessible application process and are happy to help organisations who require additional support.

Trustees are selected through a robust recruitment process, based on their knowledge, skills and experience of governance, grant making, charities and the voluntary sector. Details of our trustees can be found here.

Our terminology is taken from the DEI Data Standard published by Funders Collaborative Hub which looks to create a national framework for funders to identify and address structural inequalities across the country. More information about this framework can be found here. Under this framework, LGBT+ people reflects "People with gender, sex and relationship diversity including but not limited to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning, Intersex, Asexual, Agender people".