Marsh Charitable Trust

The Marsh Charitable Trust gives small unrestricted grants of £300 to £2,000 to registered charities, with a deliberate focus on core running costs and long-term relationships: get on the books and, subject to annual review, the grant can renew year after year. It will not fund a website build. Where it earns its place here is the other half of digital spend: hosting, maintenance, licences and the ongoing costs of keeping a site running.

• What they fund: Long-term core funding for running costs such as volunteer expenses, training, equipment maintenance and other core outgoings. Grants are unrestricted. Start-up costs and project costs are explicitly excluded, so do not pitch a website project.
• Typical grants: £300 to £2,000 a year, with successful new applicants starting at the lower end of the scale and the relationship reviewed annually.
• Who can apply: Charities registered with a UK regulator (not CICs), established for more than one financial year, working in arts and heritage, education and training, environment and animal welfare, or social welfare. You will need a full set of your most recent Annual Report and Accounts, or equivalent financial information if your income is under £25,000. Individual churches, hospices and hospitals are excluded. Applications are judged partly on your financial position and the ratio of voluntary income to fundraising costs.
• The angle: Position this as recurring unrestricted income that covers the unglamorous half of digital: hosting, domain renewals, plugin licences, maintenance and small fixes. Those are core outgoings in exactly the sense the trust means, and unlike a build, they recur, which suits a funder that renews annually.
• Worth knowing: There is no application form and no deadline. Send a one to two page cover letter with your accounts by post to the trust’s London address. A monthly grants committee considers applications and every appeal gets a response, usually within two months. Do not send extra documents; the trust specifically asks you not to.

The trust’s longest relationships stretch back decades, with some charities supported since the 1980s. A £300 first grant will not excite anyone, but a funder that quietly renews for twenty years is worth a letter.