Our Grants for Organisations

PLEASE NOTE THERE IS A CHANGE FOR THE ANGUISH’S EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION GRANTS MEETING ON WEDNESDAY 12TH AUGUST .THIS WILL NOW BE A MULTI-ANNUAL FUNDING ROUND

Overall aim

The education* of persons under the age of 25 who need financial assistance. *we interpret the word ‘education’ broadly.

Preferred Areas of Impact

• Access and Thrive – Projects which increase the ability of young people who live in our Area of Benefit and are in need of financial assistance – to access and make the most of education.
• International Links – Projects which promote, encourage, enable, create, support, provide or maintain links, friendships, discussions, debates and/or other forms of joint activities or meaningful contact between young people who live in our Area of Benefit and are in need of financial assistance – and young people from other parts of the world.
• Arts and Culture – Projects which promote, encourage, enable, create, support, provide or maintain access to or participation in the arts and/or in cultural events/activities for young people who live in our Area of Benefit and in need of financial assistance.
• Science and Technology – Projects which promote, encourage, enable, create, support, provide or maintain access to or participation in the fields of science and technology for young people who live in our Area of Benefit and are in need of financial assistance.
• Additional Challenges – Projects which promote, encourage, enable, create, support, provide or maintain access to and benefit from education for young people who live in our Area of Benefit, are in need of financial assistance and are facing additional challenges in life. *NB – your project can fit with this ‘Preferred Area of Impact’ alone or can fit with this plus one or more of the others listed above.

Your beneficiaries must live within our area of benefit

• The City of Norwich

and the parishes of:

• Costessey
• Hellesdon
• Catton
• Sprowston
• Thorpe St. Andrew
• Corpusty

Applying for a Grant

Pre-application meetings: All applicants must have a meeting with our Chief Executive or our Grants Manager (preferably in person over a cup of coffee) prior to applying for a grant.

Important details:

• There are 20 pre-application meeting slots available on a first-come, first-served basis for each grants meeting.
• The purpose of the pre-application meeting is to discuss your proposed application, to (hopefully) confirm that your project/organisation is eligible to apply, and then to support you in making the best possible application.
• Please refer to the chart below for important dates and how to request your pre-application meeting.

Important:

Requests for pre-application meetings submitted before the specified date and time or sent to an incorrect email address will be deleted.

Please send your request to one email address only — sending multiple copies or copying in other inboxes may delay the processing of your request.

 ANGUISH’S EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION GRANTS MEETING ON WEDNESDAY 12TH AUGUST .THIS WILL NOW BE A MULTI-ANNUAL FUNDING ROUND

Anguish’s Educational Foundation  Multi-Annual Funding Round.

The AEF grants meeting to be held on 12th August 2026 will now be for multi-annual grant applications only, which has a different  application process leading up to it.  (Our other three grants meetings each year will remain open to the usual wide range of work which fits our Objects and Geographical Area of Benefit.)

Following the application process laid out below, we will be making a multi-annual grant to three organisations.  Each organisation will receive a grant of £8,300 each year for three years – paid in three equal instalments.

These multi-annual grants will be unrestricted grants for you to allocate as you feel appropriate.  You do not need to inform us in advance how you will allocate the grant however, at the end of each of the three years you will need to upload a short monitoring report (approximately 2 sides of A4) reporting on the work of your organisation and how you allocated our grant during the previous year.

We are planning to run this multi-annual funding round each year.  We are also hoping that our two sister charities (Norwich Consolidated Charities and Norwich Freemen’s Charity) will also convert one of their four grants meetings each year to a multi-annual grants round.  Details will appear on our website over the coming months.

Eligibility to apply to AEF for a multi-annual grant.

As an organisation a significant amount of your work each year must:

• be with people under the age of 25
• the majority of these young people must be in financial need
• your work with them must be educational ‘we interpret this term broadly’
• the majority of these young people must live within our geographical area of benefit (see above)

Non-eligibility to apply to AEF for a multi-annual grant.

Your organisation will not be eligible to apply for a multi-annual grant if:

• The majority of your work is based outside Norfolk
• Your annual turnover is above £2 million
• Our multi-annual grant would serve only to ‘prop up’ your organisation for the coming three years – after which, without a significant change in your ‘financial fortunes’ there is a strong possibility that your organisation would close

Application, assessment and decision-making procedure.

To apply send an email to aef.applications@norwichct.org.uk  We must receive this email between 9:30am on Thursday 21st May and 9:30am on Thursday 28th May.  Your email must give the name of your organisation and say that you wish to apply to the Anguish’s Educational Foundation’s multi-annual grants round.

Once we receive your email, we will send you further information on how to apply.  You will need to fill in and upload your application before 9:30am on Tuesday 9th June.

All applications received will be reviewed and a longlist of a maximum of 20 organisations will be decided upon by a committee of our trustees.  Those who have and have/ have not made the longlist will be told by email.
Where possible, all organisations that have made the longlist will be visited by our CEO or Grants Manager.  This visit must not be a ‘royal visit’ – rather, it must be an opportunity for us to observe your normal day-to-day work.
Following the above visits, our committee of trustees will reduce the longlist to a shortlist of 6 organisations.  Those who have and have not made the shortlist will be told by email.

The six shortlisted organisations will be invited to a meeting with our committee of trustees which will last around 30 minutes.  This meeting will be in Norwich on Wednesday 12th August.   Please put this date you’re your diary as no alternative date will be available.  This meeting will be a conversation not a presentation.  Following this meeting, our committee of trustees will award our multi-annual grants to three of the shortlisted organisations.  Those who have and have not been successful will be told by email.

Those awarded one of the three multi-annual grants will not be allowed to apply for a further multi-annual grant from AEF for a period of two years after the end of the grant.

Assessment Criteria

Please note that we do not believe that grant-making is a science.  Our decision-making process will as fair and open as we can make it however, it is likely that many of the organisation that apply, and thus the beneficiaries of the work of these organisations, will be deserving of such a grant.  Our trustees will have difficult decisions to make and failure to be awarded a grant should not be taken as a negative or critical comment from us on your work.
When filling in your application form, please remember that you are applying for your organisation as a whole – not for any particular project.  However, how you allocate our grant for each of the three years is your decision and this does not need to be made in advance.  (You will however need to report to us at the end of each of the three years to tell us how you have allocated the grant for that year).
We are particularly keen to fund organisations whose work seeks to enable long term positive change in the lives of their beneficiaries – we are less keen to fund organisations whose work, whilst valuable, has only a short-term impact.

We are particularly keen to fund organisations where our multi-annual grant will make a significant difference to the organisation.

PLEASE NOTE THERE IS A CHANGE FOR THE NORWICH CONSOLIDATED CHARITIES GRANTS MEETING ON MONDAY12TH OCOTBER .THIS WILL NOW BE A MULTI-ANNUAL FUNDING ROUND

Overall aim

The provision of housing accommodation for, and the relief of, persons who are in financial need, hardship or distress, or who are in financial need and sick, convalescent, disabled or infirm by relieving their suffering or assisting their recovery.

Preferred Areas of Impact

• Roofs and Support – Projects which make a significant contribution to the provision of housing accommodation for people who are in financial need and resident in the city of Norwich. This includes projects relating to the accommodation itself and projects providing support to those in need of, or living in, such accommodation.
• Money – Projects which make a significant contribution to the quality of life of people who are in financial need, financial hardship or financial distress and are resident in the city of Norwich. This includes projects directly addressing financial issues and projects providing respite from financial issues.
• Health – Projects which make a significant contribution to relieving the suffering or assisting the recovery of people who are in financial need, resident in the city of Norwich and are sick or convalescent. This does not include projects relating to the provision of private health care.
• Discrimination, Exclusion and ‘Difference’ – Projects which make a significant difference to improving the quality of life of people who are in financial need, resident in the city of Norwich and experiencing lack of equality of opportunity and /or discrimination as a result of being disabled or Deaf, or of identifying/being seen as identifying as being ‘different’ from the majority.

Your beneficiaries must live within our area of benefit

The City of Norwich

Applying for a Grant

Pre-application meetings: All applicants must have a meeting with our Chief Executive or our Grants Manager (preferably in person over a cup of coffee) prior to applying for a grant.

Important details:

• There are 20 pre-application meeting slots available on a first-come, first-served basis for each grants meeting.
• The purpose of the pre-application meeting is to discuss your proposed application, to (hopefully) confirm that your project/organisation is eligible to apply, and then to support you in making the best possible application.
• Please refer to the chart below for important dates and how to request your pre-application meeting.

Important:

Requests for pre-application meetings submitted before the specified date and time or sent to an incorrect email address will be deleted.

Please send your request to one email address only — sending multiple copies or copying in other inboxes may delay the processing of your request.

 NORWICH CONSOLIDATED CHARITIES GRANTS MEETING ON MONDAY 12TH OCTOBER .THIS WILL NOW BE A MULTI-ANNUAL FUNDING ROUND

NCC Multi‑Annual Funding Round (Summary)

NCC’s grants meeting on 12 October 2026 will now be for multi‑annual grant applications only. All other NCC grant meetings that year will continue as usual.

NCC will award three organisations a three‑year unrestricted grant of £19,444 per year, paid in three annual instalments. In your application, you do not need to inform us how you will allocate our grant however, at the end of each year, recipients must upload a brief monitoring report (approx. two A4 pages) outlining their work and how the grant was used.

NCC intends to run a multi‑annual round each year, ‘though future funding levels will vary and are likely to be lower. Anguish’s Educational Foundation and Norwich Freemen’s Charity are expected to run similar programmes.

Eligibility

Eligibility

Your organisation must carry out a significant amount of work each year with people who:

• are in financial need where your work directly addresses their financial issues and/or provides respite from these or
• are in financial need and:
  • • are homeless or at risk of homelessness, or
    • have significant mental or physical illness, or
    • have a disability, or
    • face discrimination or lack of opportunity due to being perceived as ‘different’.

Most of your beneficiaries must live within the City of Norwich.

Not Eligible

You cannot apply if:

• most of your work is outside Norfolk,
• your annual turnover exceeds £2 million, or
• the grant would simply keep your organisation afloat for three years without a realistic long‑term financial plan.

Application Process

• Please download and complete the pre-application information form from the table below, word format only
• Return this form with a request for an application link by email: ncc.applications@norwichct.org.uk between 9:30am, 28 July 2026 and 9:30am, 4 August 2026. (Emails outside this window will not be accepted.)
• Submit your completed application by 9:30am, 14 August 2026.
• Trustees will create a longlist of up to 20 organisations. All applicants will be notified.
  Longlisted organisations will receive a site visit from the CEO or Grants Manager during your organisation’s normal working activity.
• Trustees will then select a shortlist of 6 organisations. All will be notified.
• Shortlisted organisations will attend a 30‑minute meeting in Norwich (date TBC). This will be a conversation, not a presentation.
• Trustees will award three grants. Successful and unsuccessful applicants will be informed by email.
• Grant recipients cannot apply again for a multi‑annual grant until two years after their grant ends.

Assessment Criteria

• Grant‑making is not an exact science; many applicants will be deserving. Not receiving a grant is not a negative judgement on your work.
• Applications should describe your organisation as a whole, not a specific project.
• NCC favours organisations that create long‑term positive change, rather than short‑term impact only.
• NCC prioritises organisations for whom this grant would make a significant difference.

******** 2026 Norwich Freemens Charity Procedure Change ******

There is a change in the Pre-Application Meeting Request process. This change applies only to The Norwich Freemen Charity, see full details below:

Priority funding areas

• Organisations applying ‘must‘ demonstrate an ‘educational benefit‘ of the project which they are applying for funding for (with the term ‘education’ being interpreted reasonably flexibly) or that the project concerns the provision of facilities for recreation  and other leisure time occupation, or that it makes a significant contribution to the cultural life and general benefit of the inhabitants of our ‘Area of benefit’

Your beneficiaries must live within our area of benefit

The beneficiaries of the project you are applying for must live within a 20-mile radius of the City of Norwich Guildhall.

Applying for a Grant

Pre-application meetings: All applicants must have a meeting with our Chief Executive or our Grants Manager (preferably in person over a cup of coffee) prior to applying for a grant.

Important new details:  

• There are 20 pre-application slots available for each grants meeting.  However, due to overwhelming demand for these slots, and to be as fair as possible to all applicant organisations, we have changed the procedure for securing one of these slots to the following.
• You will see from the chart below that there is a 15-minute window during which we must receive your email requesting a pre-application meeting.
• All emails received from organisations to the correct address (see chart below) during this window will have their names put into a digital ‘hat’ from which we will draw a random 20.  These 20 will be invited to a pre-application meeting.
• If, following your pre-application meeting, you apply and are successful in receiving a grant or pledge of any size, you cannot then re-apply to Norwich Freemen’s Charity for the following three meetings.

• Important:

Requests for pre-application meetings submitted before the specified date and time or sent to an incorrect email address will be deleted.

Please send your request to one email address only — sending multiple copies or copying in other inboxes may delay the processing of your request.