The next meeting of the Grants Sub Committee (which considers the majority of the Trust’s applications for funding) will be held on 23rd January 2025 and Trustees will consider all applications received on our system before midday on 14th January 2025 – this deadline is being strictly enforced as we are receiving very high numbers of applications near or on the deadline day. It would be really helpful to us if you could consider submitting your application at least a week before the deadline if possible. The next meeting after this will be in March 2025, date tbc.
The Trust can only consider one application per organisation per financial year, so if you apply for this meeting, you will not be able to apply again until after 1st April 2025. This is applicable to both successful and unsuccessful applicants. If your application is withdrawn, you can re-apply at any time.
Please visit our ‘Apply for Funding’ page to access our online application form.
The vast majority of the Trust’s grants are in the range £1,000 – £5,000 and amounts given above this range tend to be for exceptional local projects or to charities that the Trust has a longstanding relationship with. You can see further information on our Facts & Figures page. Due to being extremely oversubscribed, it is likely that funding could be awarded at a level which is considerably less than the amount requested. Please apply to other funders wherever possible.
The Trust wishes to clarify a couple of points regarding eligibility – we will only consider requests for Somerset projects if the beneficiaries (or a significant proportion of beneficiaries) are in the TA postcode area. Also, the Trust will not support ANY organisation that uses live animals for experimentation or research, regardless of the project requesting funding. Trustees have decided again not to provide funding for festivals this financial year, due to high numbers of applications and limited funds available. Trustees are also more likely to support smaller, local organisations than those which are national with large fundraising teams.
*NEW* – The Trust is happy to consider core/running costs but is unable to fund these on an ongoing basis. This means that if you come back to us the following year with the same request for these costs, we are very unlikely to be able to support the request. Trustees prefer to support specific projects, contributions towards capital works, equipment purchases etc wherever possible.
All applicants will be informed of the outcome of the meeting within a few days of the meeting. E -mails to successful applicants are usually sent out before the BACS transfers are made so that you know to expect a bank payment from the Trust and we ask that you confirm safe receipt of the funds by e-mail when you have checked your bank account. E-mails from the Trust may end up in your Junk/Spam/Clutter folders so please check before contacting us. Please confirm receipt by e-mail and not by post.
All grant recipients receiving funding of £2,000 or more will be required to provide a short online report 6 months after the grant payment or before re-applying for another grant, whichever happens first. Invitations with a link to the report form will be sent 1-2 months before the grant anniversary but you can get in contact if you’d like to complete it sooner. If you need more time to complete the report, please get in contact for an extension. Further details HERE.
The Trust pays all grants via electronic bank transfer (BACS). Please ensure you supply your proof of bank details in a format that meets our requirements (see Apply for Funding page) when you submit your application. Your application will be put on hold while this information remains outstanding.
The Trust runs a paperless operation and moved to new office accommodation in 2023 (see page footer for address), although staff are also partly working from home. While we can receive post, we don’t have storage for such items so please avoid sending papers to us if possible. E-mail is the most effective means of contact and there is no office telephone number.