Santander Foundation Grants: 2026 Application Guide

Who they fund (and exclusions)

Big charities have a fundraising team to research funders like this one. At my charity that job is mine, usually in the evenings — so this guide is built for that reality: the facts, the checks, the traps. The Santander Foundation funds UK-registered charities and not-for-profit organisations working on financial resilience, digital inclusion and community enterprise, particularly where the work helps people build money confidence or access essential services online. Typical exclusions across funders in this space include individuals, statutory bodies, and organisations without a UK charitable or not-for-profit status. (The wider process end to end is in our grant funding handbook.)

Because funder priorities and exclusion lists are updated periodically, check the funder’s current criteria on their own site before assuming your charity fits. Look specifically for:

• Whether the current programme is open to new applicants or temporarily paused.
• Any geographic restrictions (some corporate foundation programmes prioritise areas near branch or office locations).
• Minimum charity age or income thresholds, which some funders apply to new applicants.

If digitising services for beneficiaries is part of your project, this is worth foregrounding: financial and digital inclusion sits at the core of Santander’s giving identity, distinct from broader community funders.

Grant size and what it covers

Grant sizes from the Santander Foundation vary by programme, and typically cover project costs tied to financial or digital inclusion outcomes rather than general running costs alone. Check the current bands on the funder’s site rather than budgeting from figures quoted elsewhere, as corporate foundation programmes frequently revise their bands year to year.

When budgeting a request — this is how I build my own charity’s bids — start from what the funder is actually trying to achieve: evidence of improved financial confidence, digital skills, or access to services, rather than generic project funding. Costs commonly covered by inclusion-focused funders include:

• Staff time delivering financial capability or digital skills sessions.
• Equipment or software that helps beneficiaries get online or manage money digitally.
• Materials and venue costs for delivering workshops or one-to-one support.

Deadlines and decision timeline

Deadlines and decision timelines for the Santander Foundation vary by programme and are updated on the funder’s own site, so check there directly rather than relying on a fixed date here. Corporate foundations commonly run either rolling application windows or fixed rounds a few times a year, and timelines can shift with little notice.

As a general rule when planning around any funder with variable timing:

• Check the funder’s page immediately before starting a draft, not weeks in advance.
• Build in time for reference checks or due diligence, which many corporate foundations require before payment.
• Ask, if a contact is available, how long decisions typically take from submission.

For comparison, our Waterloo Foundation guide covers a funder with different, more predictable timing, useful if certainty of timeline matters more to your organisation than programme fit.

How to apply, step by step

Applying to the Santander Foundation typically follows the standard corporate foundation process: confirm eligibility, register or log in to their application portal, complete a project proposal with a budget, and submit supporting documents such as your latest accounts and safeguarding policy. Always start from the funder’s own current guidance, as portals and required documents change.

1. Confirm eligibility against the funder’s current criteria, checked on their site the day you start.
2. Gather core documents: latest annual accounts, safeguarding policy, governing document, and bank details.
3. Draft your project proposal, framed explicitly around financial or digital inclusion outcomes.
4. Build a clear budget that ties every cost to an activity and an outcome.
5. Submit through the funder’s current application route and diarise any follow-up or decision date they give you.

Our grants for small charities pillar guide covers the fundamentals of a strong application if you are newer to grant-seeking. Before anything goes in, run our grant application pre-submit checklist — the final pass I make on my own applications.

What winning applications look like (use 360Giving/GrantNav data)

Winning applications to inclusion-focused funders like Santander typically show a specific, measurable beneficiary outcome tied to money confidence or digital access, rather than a general description of charitable activity. Published grants data gives a useful reality check on what actually gets funded and at what scale.

You can search past grants using 360Giving’s GrantNav tool, which aggregates UK grant-making data including corporate foundations that publish to the 360Giving standard. I run a GrantNav search on every funder I research: prior Santander Foundation awards (where published) show typical sizes and grantee types — evidence to calibrate your own request before applying.

Beyond the numbers, strong applications tend to share three traits: a tightly defined beneficiary group, a plan for measuring the change the funding makes, and clear evidence the organisation can deliver (track record, not just ambition). Our example grant application answers show how those traits read on the page.

From experience: Corporate foundation grants reward preparation more than prose. Before starting any funder application for my own charity I check three things, in order: eligibility on the funder’s live page (not a blog summary — including this one), the current deadline or round status, and past grantees on GrantNav. Reading hundreds of funder pages while building CharityIQ’s grant-finder taught me the third check is the one small charities skip most often.

Not eligible? Similar funders

If your charity does not fit the Santander Foundation’s current criteria, several other UK funders support similar financial inclusion, digital inclusion or community enterprise work, and it is worth checking eligibility across a spread of them rather than one at a time.

• Other high-street bank foundations with community and financial inclusion programmes — criteria vary, so check each foundation’s own site.
• Community foundations covering your local area, many fund digital inclusion projects as part of broader community grants, see our community grants guide.
• National lottery and government-backed digital inclusion funds, which periodically open dedicated programmes.

Rather than manually checking each funder’s site, CharityIQ’s Grant Finder matches your charity’s profile against live UK funding opportunities, including inclusion-focused programmes like this one, so you spend your time applying rather than searching.

What to do next

Visit the Santander Foundation’s own site to confirm current programme status, grant bands and deadlines before drafting anything, then check GrantNav for a sense of who they have funded recently and at what scale. If eligibility looks uncertain, check it properly before investing time in a full application — and if the gaps are on your side, the free grant readiness checker shows where to start.

Not sure if you’re eligible? Check your eligibility with CharityIQ’s Grant Finder →