The Dulverton Trust

A serious trust for charities that have outgrown small grants. Dulverton states that it funds a wide range of activities and core costs, and its recent grant-making backs that up: in 2024/25 it awarded £3.6m across 50 grants, including a record 20 core unrestricted grants, several multi-year. Core and unrestricted funding is the website route, and this trust is moving towards more of it, not less.

• What they fund: Project and core costs across its categories: Youth Opportunities (its largest, for work with under-25s facing disadvantage), General Welfare, Conservation, and Heritage craft skills. Apply for core costs on the strength of your work and spend where the need is greatest.
• Typical grants: Around £30,000 to £40,000 a year, with multi-year awards made regularly.
• Who can apply: UK charities and CIOs registered with the Charity Commission or OSCR, with an annual income between £200,000 and £10 million, though preference goes to charities with income of £5 million or below, and the sweet spot is medium-sized charities with income between £200,000 and £3 million.
• The angle: Dulverton says openly that the character of a charity matters as much as whether it delivers work in the priority areas. It wants organisations with national reach, normally operating from more than one location in more than one region, that are agile and independent, meaning not reliant on a substantial proportion of income from government or local authority contracts. Write about what kind of organisation you are, not just what you do.
• Worth knowing: Two hard exclusions: work in Greater London and Northern Ireland is not funded. Start with the eligibility quiz on the Trust’s site, which unlocks the Expression of Interest form; postal and email appeals aren’t accepted. Trustees meet three times a year, so allow three to six months for a decision. Competition is stiff and the Trust says it receives far more applications than it can fund, so treat this as a considered approach rather than a quick punt.

Could it pay for a charity website?

Probably No if your proposal is:

“We’re a local charity working in one town and we need a new website.”

Dulverton prioritises charities with national reach, and says organisations working from one site or within one local authority area are extremely unlikely to be funded.

Possibly Yes if your proposal is:

“We’re a youth charity working across three English regions. We’re asking for unrestricted core funding over three years, which will cover our running costs including the systems, website and data we use to support young people.”

Core funding is the website route here: the grant supports the whole organisation, and you decide where the need is greatest.

How to apply

1. Complete the eligibility quiz on the Trust’s website. It explains the restrictions as you go.
2. If you are eligible, you get a link to the online Expression of Interest form. The questions are also available as a PDF, so you can draft first.
3. Trust staff assess and shortlist appeals against the priorities, and the Board awards all grants.
4. Don’t send appeals by post or email: the Trust generally only considers applications made through the online form.

Questions charities ask

Similar funds

For other large funders that offer core or unrestricted grants, see John Ellerman Foundation, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and Garfield Weston Foundation. For youth work specifically, look at the Paul Hamlyn Foundation Youth Fund. Or browse the full Funding Finder.