Masonic Charitable Foundation - Early Years grants
We are particularly interested in targeted interventions that support children in this early years age group who are living in the most disadvantaged circumstances due to poverty and who may be at risk of or are experiencing neglect.
Provided by:
Masonic Charitable Foundation
Funder website:
Maximum value:
60000.00
Objective of fund:
The early years (ages 0-5) of a child’s life have a lifelong impact on their physical, social, and emotional development and children who are behind in meeting their developmental milestones at this young age are more likely to experience poorer health, education and employment outcomes when they are older.
Research shows that more than half the gaps in achievement at age 11 are due to inequality that existed at five years old (Bradbury et al. 2015).
We are particularly interested in targeted interventions that support children in this early years age group who are living in the most disadvantaged circumstances due to poverty and who may be at risk of or are experiencing neglect. The MCF is interested in funding interventions with children such as those that:
increase the likelihood of children achieving developmental milestones;
support children to make successful transitions to primary school;
improve children’s physical health through access to healthcare, nutrition, check-ups, immunisations etc.;
give families a better understanding of their child’s needs and improves confidence in parenting / caring so they are better able to meet the child’s needs;
increase families’ positive engagement in services enabling targeted support to address specific issues e.g. domestic violence, mental health, substance abuse, neglect.
help to meet a child’s basic needs as part of a wider programme of intervention or support.
Services will be assessed on the level to which they are meeting the needs of children in the most disadvantaged circumstances.
As part of our commitment to being an evidence-led funder we will consider funding the evaluation costs of projects, particularly when it is a new project and the charity will then be able to use the evaluation to support its future funding proposition.
Who can apply
SMALL GRANT
These grants are for smaller charities whose annual income is between £25,000 and £500,000, according to the latest published accounts.
Small grants are unrestricted and do not have to be used on a specific purpose.
Small grants range from £1,000 – £5,000 per year, for up to three years
The total amount of the grant requested must not exceed 20 per cent of the total income of the charity, averaged over the past two years.
LARGE GRANT
These grants are for larger charities whose annual income is between £500,000 and £5 million, according to the latest published accounts.
Large grants are restricted for specific projects with defined goals and budgets, and may be spent on, for example, salaries, equipment, training, monitoring and administration.
Large grants usually range from £10,000 to £60,000 in total spread over one to three years. The MCF has a preference for multiyear funding (for example, £20,000 per year for three years or £30,000 per year for two years). We will consider one year grants only in exceptional circumstances such as for pilot projects.
Key Areas of Focus
Grants can be offered to charities/projects that are focusing on:
Early Years
Special Educational Needs & Disabilities (SEND)
Domestic Abuse
Dementia (Currently paused and closed to new applications)
Age Range
For Early Years applications beneficiaries must be aged 0-5 years. For Domestic Abuse and SEND applications beneficiaries must be children and young people aged 0-18, or up to the age of 25 years for beneficiaries with SEND.
This may also include family or carer support as long as the ultimate beneficiaries are the children and young people.
There is no age restriction for Dementia applications.
Charity eligibility requirements
Grants are only made to charities / projects whose beneficiaries are in England and Wales
Charities must be registered with the Charity Commission or relevant Central registry of the respective Guernsey, Jersey or Isle of Man’s government
Charities must have at least one year of independently examined or audited accounts published on the Charity Commission website for the registered charity number they are applying from.
Restrictions
What the MCF will not consider grants for
Arts and heritage
Environmental
Animal welfare
Statutory obligations
Routine delivery of the National Curriculum in schools
The sole aim of promoting civil liberties and human rights
Political or lobbying activities
Contributions towards new build and/or large scale capital projects, e.g. building a new hospice wing
Capital repairs and/or maintenance of existing buildings
Hospital equipment, such as MRI scanners
The promotion of any religious doctrine
Contributions to general appeals
Retrospective funding
Academic research
Charities from which the MCF will not consider applications
Current active MCF Small or Large grant holders
Charities whose previous Small or Large grant ended less than 2 years ago
Charities who have submitted an expression of interest within the last 12 months
Umbrella organisations coordinating fundraising on behalf of others
Third parties seeking funding or organisations coordinating funds on behalf of others
Social Enterprises, Community Interest Companies or Community interest groups, or exempt charities.
Hospices (see our Hospice programme)
Schools (for routine delivery activities to non-priority groups)
Nurseries (for routine delivery activities to non-priority groups)
Hospitals (for routine delivery activities to non-priority groups)
Churches or other religious institutions
Individuals
Eligible Expenditure
We are particularly interested in targeted interventions that support children in this early years age group who are living in the most disadvantaged circumstances due to poverty and who may be at risk of or are experiencing neglect. The MCF is interested in funding interventions with children such as those that:
increase the likelihood of children achieving developmental milestones;
support children to make successful transitions to primary school;
improve children’s physical health through access to healthcare, nutrition, check-ups, immunisations etc.;
give families a better understanding of their child’s needs and improves confidence in parenting / caring so they are better able to meet the child’s needs;
increase families’ positive engagement in services enabling targeted support to address specific issues e.g. domestic violence, mental health, substance abuse, neglect.
help to meet a child’s basic needs as part of a wider programme of intervention or support.
Services will be assessed on the level to which they are meeting the needs of children in the most disadvantaged circumstances.
How to apply
If your charity meets our eligibility criteria, you will be invited to complete a short online expression of interest which will be reviewed by the Charity Grants team.
Useful Links
https://mcf.org.uk/get-support/grants-to-charities/our-priorities/early-years/