Small Grants Programme
Eligibility Criteria
The Leathersellers’ Small Grants Programme aims to support organisations delivering services that improve the lives of people and communities across the UK.
You can apply for an unrestricted, single year grant of £5,000 .
Please read the eligibility criteria below carefully to ensure your organisation is suitable for the programme before applying.
Applications are open to registered charities and Charitable Incorporated Organisations (CIOs) that have been active for at least one year. Kindly note, we do not fund CICs.
Your organisation must also have:
- An annual income and expenditure of less than £200,000 in both the current and previous financial year.
- At least one year’s published annual accounts available through the Charity Commission, OSCR or Charity Commission for Northern Ireland
- A publicly accessible website (not a social media page/ profile) clearly showing who you are and what you do.
- No more than six months running costs in free reserves.
- Evidence of delivering activities to meet an identified need for vulnerable members of the community, as well as evidence of the impact or difference these activities have made, such as testimonials, feedback or questionnaire results.
We do not fund the following:
- Community Interest Companies (CICs)
- Capital projects
- Hospices
- Medical research or charities supporting life-threatening medical conditions/ specialised medical needs
- Services that charge participants for access, irrespective of a person’s ability to pay
- PTAs/school budget fundraising
- Scouting groups
Previous applicants
If you have previously applied to our Small Grant Programme, you are not eligible to apply until one year after the date of your application. If you were successful and received a grant, you may reapply one year from the date of the grant payment. Applications made before this date will not be considered.
Key dates
The Small Grants Committee will meet on seven occasions throughout the year, to support timely decisions.
Each window will close when 40 applications have been received, or after two weeks of the open date. There is an extended window over the winter break in which 60 applications will be accepted.
We will inform you of the outcome of your application within one week of the relevant committee meeting.
Key Upcoming Dates
Applications Open: 10am, Thursday 3 September 2026 Committee Meeting Date: Wednesday 7 October 2026
Applications Open: 10am, Thursday 8 October 2026 Committee Meeting Date: Wednesday 11 November 2026
Applications Open: 10am, Thursday 26 November 2026 Committee Meeting Date: Wednesday 27 January 2027
Applications Open: 10am, Thursday 28 January 2027 Committee Meeting Date: Wednesday 3 March 2027
Applications Open: 10am, Thursday 4 March 2027 Committee Meeting Date: Wednesday 7 April 2027
Applications Open: 10am, Thursday 8 April 2027 Committee Meeting Date: Wednesday 12 May 2027
Applications Open: 10am, Thursday 13 May 2027 Committee Meeting Date: Wednesday 16 June 2027
If you have accessibility requirements that may prevent you from applying online, please contact us at charityapp@leathersellers.org
Application Process
- The form will be available on this page at 10am on the day the application window opens and will automatically close when the maximum submissions are received. This is set at 40 applications for every round apart from our winter round, which has a maximum of 60 applications.
- We strongly recommend that you draft your application using the offline Word version of the form – the online form has no autosave function, and if you are interrupted or we reach the maximum submissions, you will be unable to submit and your answers will not be saved.
- You will receive a copy of your submission by email (please check spam/ junk folders for the email from charityapp@leathersellers.org).
- We will inform you of the outcome of your application within one week of the relevant committee meeting.
Required attachments
- The form will prompt you to attach the budget template. Please check this has been completed in full and contains the correct information about your costs and income, matching what you say in your application before submitting.
- We will view your accounts on the Charity Commission website. If your latest public accounts are over one year old, please upload a copy of your draft accounts with your online application.
Making a good application
We have designed our application form to collect the information we need to understand your organisation and its work. To help you prepare the strongest application possible, please consider the recommendations outlined below.
- Before starting your application, please read the eligibility guidance on this page in full. Unfortunately, applications from charities that do not meet our eligibility criteria will be declined without assessment. As application places are limited, submitting an ineligible application prevents an eligible charity from applying.
- Provide details of why your service exists/provide evidenced need for your charity in the community or area of work that you deliver services in
- Provide evidence of the impact you are having on the people you serve, preferably including information on the types of monitoring scales you use. We want to clearly see evidenced outcomes.
- Check your budget. As this is an unrestricted grant, the budget template helps us understand your charity’s overall financial position. Please take particular care with the figures shared as these should be the same on the budget and application. An unclear financial position may lead to an application being declined, even where there is strong evidence of community need and impact.
Why do we ask for your Safeguarding Policy?
Your safeguarding policy tells us how your organisation keeps your beneficiaries, staff, and volunteers safe. We expect your approach and processes to be proportional and if you are providing 1 to 1 services or working with children/ vulnerable members of the community, we would expect your policy to be publicly available and to include:
- appropriate, current legislation
- clear steps on what to do if a risk is identified, with relevant leadership and trustee contact details
- whistleblowing guidance
- details of safer recruitment practices
- signature and date, with a scheduled review date (ideally annually)
For further guidance, please see the NSPCC Safeguarding Assessment Tool and NSPCC’s guidance on writing safeguarding policies and practices
FAQs
We fund charities (CIO’s) who are registered with the Charity Commission. We recognise the different regulation and financial reporting the different structures are subject to, but our current focus is on supporting charities rather than social enterprises (which the CIC structure is designed to enable).
No, we support registered charities working within and for the benefit of individuals and communities across the UK.
If you are awarded a grant, we will send you a grant offer email detailing the terms and conditions of the grant and asking you to complete an acceptance form. Once you have completed the form, we will process the payment. The date the payment is sent signals the start of your grant.
We do not expect any reports from recipients of small grants.
If you have received a small grant from the Leathersellers’ previously, you must wait 12 months from the payment date before you may reapply. If your application was declined, you must wait 12 months from the date of your decision email.
Unfortunately, as we only have a small team it is not possible for us to provide feedback.
If you are providing 1 to 1 services or working with children/ vulnerable members of the community, we would expect your policy to be publicly available via your website. We can only support charities that follow excellent safeguarding practices, as demonstrated in the first instance by an accessible policy and clear processes. For further information, please visit the gov.uk website or read the NSPCC’s guidance on writing safeguarding policies and practices.
The success rate for the 24-25 Livery Year was 13%. We funded 45 applications.
When you receive confirmation of the success of your application you will be asked to complete an acceptance form. Your grant payment will be received 3-4 weeks after the completion of this form.
No, you cannot apply until you have one year of published accounts.