People's Postcode Lottery Funding: The 2026 Guide to Which Trust Fits

People's Postcode Lottery funds charities through a family of five separate trusts, rather than one single pot: the Postcode Trust, Postcode Society Trust, Postcode Earth Trust, Postcode Animal Trust and Postcode Children's Trust, each funding different causes on its own schedule. Application windows are typically short, sometimes only a few weeks a year, and can close without much warning once the annual pot is committed. Grants are usually one-year awards, often unrestricted, and funded organisations are published.

Who they fund (and exclusions)

If a People’s Postcode Lottery funding bid is on your plate this quarter, you need three things settled fast: the right trust, a live window, and a clean pass on eligibility. The money is distributed through a group of independent grant-giving trusts, each focused on a themed cause area such as health, environment, animal welfare or children, and each with its own eligibility rules and geographic focus (mainly Great Britain, with some Isle of Man coverage). Registered charities and some constituted voluntary groups are eligible; the exact rules vary by trust, so always check the live criteria before applying. When I shortlist funders for my own charity, “which trust, which window” comes first — the same question our grant funding handbook opens with.

The general pattern across the trust family:

  • Postcode Trust funds small to medium charities working on poverty, homelessness and disadvantage.
  • Postcode Society Trust supports charities and good causes tackling social exclusion, often community-facing organisations.
  • Postcode Earth Trust funds environmental and climate-focused charities.
  • Postcode Animal Trust funds animal welfare charities.
  • Postcode Children’s Trust funds charities working with children and young people.

Common exclusions across most of the trusts include individuals, statutory bodies, large national charities with substantial reserves, and organisations outside the funded countries. Check the live trust list, income caps and exclusions on the funder’s site before applying — the family is restructured periodically.

Grant size and what it covers

Grant sizes vary by trust and by year, typically ranging from small four-figure awards up to bands in the tens of thousands, with most trusts favouring one-year, often unrestricted, grants that let charities decide how the money is spent within their mission. Bands reset annually, so confirm current figures on your trust’s own page.

Because grants tend to be unrestricted or lightly restricted, they typically cover core running costs, salaries, and project delivery rather than being tied to a single capital purchase. This makes People’s Postcode Lottery funding attractive for smaller organisations that need flexible income rather than a one-off equipment grant. If you’re building your evidence base for this kind of ask, our case for support template is a useful starting point for framing unrestricted need.

Deadlines and decision timeline

Each Postcode trust typically opens for applications during a defined window once or twice a year, often for only a few weeks, and closes as soon as the annual budget is allocated or the window lapses, whichever comes first; decisions are usually communicated within a few months of the window closing. Because windows are short and can close early, mark the funder’s page in your calendar rather than relying on memory — every funder I track lives in a recurring reminder, because short windows are what slip between meetings.

From experience: Postcode trust windows are the sharpest example of a rule I apply to every funder I shortlist: check the window before you fall for the fund. I note the trust and its typical opening period at shortlist stage, and only start drafting once the window is confirmed live. It spares you fundraising’s most demoralising work — writing applications to doors already shut.

Given how tight these windows can be, it helps to track other funding cycles running in parallel. See our guides to NLCF programmes, community grants and winter funding for other windows opening around the same period, so a missed Postcode window doesn’t leave a gap in your pipeline.

How to apply, step by step

Applying well means matching your project to the right trust, checking the window is open, and submitting a tight, evidence-led application before the deadline; most trusts use an online application form with a defined word or character limit per question. Rushing this rarely works, because assessors are reading hundreds of applications against a fixed pot. The Charity Commission register lists 185,360 charities in England and Wales — even a generous trust can only fund a sliver. Our grant readiness checker shows the gaps funders notice first.

The order I follow for my own charity’s applications:

  1. Identify the right trust for your cause area, not just “Postcode Lottery” generically.
  2. Check the current window is open on the trust’s own site, as dates shift year to year.
  3. Confirm eligibility, including income thresholds and geographic coverage.
  4. Draft your case using your case for support as the source document, tailored to the trust’s stated priorities.
  5. Submit early within the window rather than at the deadline, in case the pot closes ahead of schedule. Run our pre-submit checklist first.

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

Winning applications typically come from charities whose stated cause area maps precisely onto the trust’s published theme, with a clear, costed use of funds and a track record of delivery; you can see the pattern of who is actually funded by searching past awards on 360Giving’s GrantNav, which publishes grant-level data where funders have shared it. I use GrantNav the same way for my own shortlists. Look for organisations similar in size and cause to yours, and note the grant amounts and durations they received.

Search GrantNav by funder name to see whether your chosen trust publishes its grants there; if it doesn’t yet, the funder’s own annual report or “who we’ve funded” page is the next best source. This kind of pattern-matching is far more useful than guessing, and it’s the same discipline our Grant Finder applies automatically across thousands of funders. Our example grant application answers show what a strong answer looks like on the page.

Not eligible? Similar funders

If your charity falls outside a Postcode trust’s criteria, whether on cause area, income size or geography, several other lottery-funded and society-funded trusts run comparable themed programmes across the UK, and rotating between them is a normal part of a diversified funding strategy. Rather than waiting a year for the same window to reopen, treat ineligibility as a prompt to widen your funder list now.

Our NLCF programmes guide and community grants roundup cover other funders with similarly broad, community-facing remits, and both are good next stops if a Postcode trust isn’t the right fit this year.

Your next step

Work out which Postcode trust actually matches your cause area before you draft anything, check the live window on the funder’s own site, and pull comparable past grants from GrantNav to calibrate your ask. Then widen your search: a single funder, however well-matched, should never be your whole pipeline.

Not sure you’re eligible, or want to see every open funder that fits your charity right now? Check your eligibility with Grant Finder →

Frequently asked questions

You apply directly through the relevant Postcode trust's own website during its open application window, using their online form. Identify the trust that matches your cause area first, confirm the window is open, then submit a costed, evidence-led application before the stated deadline, ideally well before it in case funds run out early.

It depends on your charity's primary cause: poverty and disadvantage typically sits with Postcode Trust, social exclusion with Postcode Society Trust, environment with Postcode Earth Trust, animal welfare with Postcode Animal Trust, and children and young people with Postcode Children's Trust. Match your strongest, most literal cause area to the trust's stated theme.

Grant bands vary by trust and are reset annually, so there is no single figure that applies across the whole family of trusts. Check the relevant trust's own website for this year's published minimum and maximum grant sizes before you start drafting your ask.

Each trust sets its own annual or twice-yearly window, and these dates move from year to year, so there is no fixed calendar date you can rely on indefinitely. Check the relevant trust's own website for the current window, and check back regularly if your trust isn't currently open.

Many trusts do support repeat applicants in subsequent years, particularly where the previous grant was delivered well and reported on properly, but this isn't guaranteed and rules vary by trust. Check the specific trust's own website for its policy on repeat funding before you reapply.

Most Postcode trust grants are one-year awards that are unrestricted or only lightly restricted to a broad project area, giving charities flexibility in how they spend the money within their charitable purpose. Always check the specific trust's grant letter or terms, since restriction levels can vary between trusts and between grant rounds.