Swire Charitable Trust

Swire funds charities working on opportunity for vulnerable people, UK nature and heritage. It awards many grants unrestricted and will pay for core costs and capital spend, so a website or digital project is fair game if your work fits one of its programmes.

• What they fund: Three programmes: Opportunity (vulnerable people), Nature and Heritage. The Trust says many grants are awarded on an unrestricted basis and that it’s willing to support core costs, capital expenditure and salaries. That combination is the route to getting digital work paid for.
• Typical grants: No fixed minimum or maximum. The Trust asks you to request no more than 10% of your last reported income, so the size of your ask is set by your accounts rather than by a published band.
• Who can apply: UK-registered charities whose work fits the Opportunity, Nature or Heritage programmes. You have to pass the online eligibility test before you can apply.
• The angle: Lead with the programme fit, not the spend. Unrestricted funding here follows a decision that your organisation is worth backing, so make the case for the work first and let the website sit inside core costs rather than fronting the application.
• Worth knowing: Applications are rolling, but decisions usually take two to three months, so apply at least four months before any fixed project start date. Multi-year grants only go to charities the Trust has funded before, so treat a first approach as a single-year ask.