Grants for Good

Grants for Good, run by the Matthew Good Foundation and funded by its partner businesses, exists specifically for UK organisations with an annual income under £50,000. The grants are unrestricted, so the money can go on whatever your organisation needs, and that includes a website. At this size of organisation, £2,000 to £5,000 covers a meaningful site build, which makes this one of the more realistic routes to funding one.

• What they fund: Unrestricted grants for small charities, community groups, CICs and social enterprises. There is no project budget to defend; the grant can cover any organisational cost, core costs and a website included.
• Typical grants: £2,000–£5,000. Each round shares £15,000 between five shortlisted projects, with the split decided by an employee vote at the Foundation’s partner businesses: £5,000 for first place down to £2,000 for fourth and fifth.
• Who can apply: UK-based charities, voluntary groups, community groups, CICs and social enterprises with income under £50,000 in the last 12 months and a bank account in the organisation’s name. You do not need to be a registered charity. No grants to individuals, sole traders or standard limited companies.
• The angle: Because the grant is unrestricted, the website never has to be justified in the application. The pitch is your organisation. Shortlisting favours innovation, scalability, leadership and a strong story, and the final award is decided by an employee vote, so lead with the work and the people it reaches, and treat the site as what the money enables.
• Worth knowing: Very competitive, with up to 1,000 applications per round. Apply any time; applications are assessed at quarterly cut-offs in mid March, June, September and December, and unsuccessful applications stay in the pool for future rounds, so one application keeps working for you. The online form cannot be saved part-way, so draft your answers first.
  
  Decisions usually arrive within three months of the cut-off. Sports equipment, seasonal events, PTAs and the day-to-day running costs of community centres and food banks are unlikely to be shortlisted. Shortlisted projects get a permanent feature page on the Foundation’s site, which is decent visibility in its own right.