The Trusthouse Charitable Foundation grants: what they fund and how to apply

Funder Last checked 11 July 2026

"The Trusthouse Charitable Foundation — now renamed the Forte Charitable Foundation — gives grants to small and medium-sized organisations working in the UK's most deprived urban and rural areas. Small Grants of £2,000 to £10,000 fund community support; Major Grants of £10,000 to £50,000 fund family support. Applications are rolling."

What the Foundation funds

The Foundation backs frontline organisations with a track record of working directly with people in need. There are two programmes. Small Grants support community support work. Major Grants support family support, which can include early intervention, families coping with addiction, and prisoners’ families. Grants cover core costs, salaries, running costs and project costs.

It does not fund campaigning, fundraising, organisational development or capacity building. It will consider a logical extension of your existing work, but not a significant shift away from your core aims. Adventure playgrounds, baby banks and disability charities cannot apply to either programme, and capital projects are no longer funded.

How much you can apply for

Small Grants are single-year awards of £2,000 to £10,000. Major Grants are single-year awards of £10,000 to £50,000, or multi-year awards over up to three years totalling no more than £100,000, with a maximum of £50,000 in any one year. For both programmes you can apply for up to 50% of the total cost of the salary, running costs or project. Small Grants are paid once you have secured the other 50%.

Who can apply

You must be a registered charity, a social enterprise that is not a CIC, a co-operative or community benefit society, or a voluntary organisation with a constitution and bank account. CICs cannot apply. You need at least one year of annual accounts. For Small Grants your annual income must not exceed £250,000; for Major Grants your turnover must be up to £500,000. Your postcode must fall in the bottom 15% (urban) or bottom 50% (rural) of the Index of Multiple Deprivation, or you can supply representative postcodes for the areas where you work.

Deadlines and rounds

There are no fixed deadlines — both programmes are rolling, so you can apply at any time. The Major Grants Committee meets in January, April, July and October, and the two-stage application takes about 12–15 weeks. Small Grants decisions are made outside that timetable, usually about 8 weeks after the Foundation receives your application.

How to apply

Read the relevant Funding Guidelines and Application Guidance, then complete the online eligibility quiz on the Foundation’s website before starting an application. You can apply for only one grant at a time. Apply close to when you need the money — the Foundation expects grants to be spent within one to two months of the award, and applying too far ahead makes an application likely to fail.

Tips

  • Check your postcode on the Index of Multiple Deprivation first — the eligibility quiz and FAQ page link to the tool for each UK nation.
  • Describe your local area in plain, grassroots terms rather than piling up deprivation statistics; that is what the Foundation asks for.
  • Show a realistic plan for the other 50% of your costs and a spread of funders, so you are not over-reliant on one grant-maker.
  • Save the “save and resume” link every time — the old link stops working once you save again, and there is no other way to retrieve your form.

Official source and last updated

Last updated: July 2026. Verified on the Foundation’s own website: fortecharitablefoundation.org.uk/our-grants (formerly trusthousecharitablefoundation.org.uk).

Recent grants

[Recent grants render automatically from 360Giving — do not hand-write.]

Similar funders

You might also look at Quartet Community Foundation, Norfolk Community Foundation and Corra Foundation — grant-makers supporting frontline charities in deprived UK communities.

Check if your charity is eligible for funders like this — CharityIQ’s free Grant Finder matches your charity to real, published UK funders and cites the source for each. → /grant-finder/

Frequently asked questions

Yes. Trustees resolved in June 2025 to rename the Trusthouse Charitable Foundation the Forte Charitable Foundation, honouring founder Lord Charles Forte. The charity number (1063945) and its mission are unchanged. The old web address now redirects to fortecharitablefoundation.org.uk. You may still see both names during the phase-in.

You must be a registered charity, social enterprise (not a CIC), co-operative or community benefit society, or a voluntary organisation with a constitution and bank account. For Small Grants your annual income must not exceed £250,000. For Major Grants your turnover must be up to £500,000. You need at least one year of annual accounts. CICs cannot apply.

Your postcode must sit in the most deprived areas on the Index of Multiple Deprivation: the bottom 15% for urban areas, or the bottom 50% for rural areas. If your postcode does not qualify but most of your work happens in areas that do, you can supply up to six representative postcodes for public buildings in those areas.

Small Grants are single-year awards of £2,000 to £10,000. Major Grants are single-year awards of £10,000 to £50,000, or multi-year awards over up to three years totalling no more than £100,000 (maximum £50,000 in any one year). For both, you can apply for up to 50% of the total cost of the salary, running costs or project.

There are no fixed deadlines. Both programmes are rolling. The Major Grants Committee meets in January, April, July and October, and the two-stage process takes about 12–15 weeks. Small Grants decisions are made outside the committee timetable, usually about 8 weeks after the Foundation receives your application.