Henry Smith Charity - Holiday Grants for Children

Background

The Henry Smith Charity is one of the largest independent grant-making trusts in the UK, distributing £47.1 million in 2023. The Charity's capital endowment consists of a substantial portfolio of stock market investments, commercial property and agricultural property from which income for grants is derived.

The Charity's three main priorities are as follows:

• Increasing resilience
  Empowering people, encouraging integration and personal independence, helping people to recover and move on.
• Creating opportunities and life chances
  Raising aspiration - equipping people with new skills, unlocking and enabling potential, and providing the means to improve life circumstances.
• Empowering communities
  Strengthening and connecting communities and making people feel valued, providing opportunities for social connections and relationships, encouraging participation and inclusion.

Objectives of Fund

The Charity aims to provide children aged 13 years or younger who are disadvantaged, disabled or from areas of high deprivation with a short recreational holiday or outing they would not otherwise have the opportunity to experience.

Value Notes

Grants of between £500 and £2,750 are available.

Match Funding Restrictions

Match funding may be required as the Charity may not be able to award successful applicants the full amount requested.

Who Can Apply

Schools, youth groups, not-for-profit organisations and charities in the UK are eligible to apply.

Priority will be given to projects that will benefit disadvantaged and disabled children in the most deprived areas in the UK. This means areas that fall within the bottom 20% according to the National Indices of Deprivation. For groups of children with disabilities, more flexibility will be given regarding the level of deprivation.

Location

United Kingdom

Restrictions

Funding is not available for the following:

• Organisations that cannot provide a copy of their most recent audited or independently inspected annual accounts. If you are a school, this means your latest school inspection report.
• Organisations whose main activity is providing holidays or trips for children. We do not support the running costs of play or holiday schemes.
• Organisations (except schools) with an income or expenditure of over £2 million.
• Organisations that are for-profit or do not have charitable aims.
• Trips outside the four nations of the UK (England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Scotland).
• Trips to high-cost places like theme parks, musicals, or sporting events.
• Trips that have already taken place.
• Trips that will happen in less than five weeks.
• Trips for children over the age of 13.
• Trips that are educational or meet curriculum aims.
• Trips where the main goal is to promote a particular religion or convert children to a faith.
• Trips that include families and not only children.
• Trips where some children might be excluded due to cost.
• Trips over multiple days to multiple venues.
• Trips that spend too much time travelling, the focus should be on the children’s fun experience.
• Organisations already funded or rejected by the Holiday Grants Programme in the same calendar year.
• Organisations that already have an active grant or a pending application with a different grant programme in The Henry Smith Charity.

Eligible Expenditure

Applications can be made for grants towards a single trip, which could be a day trip or a longer residential of up to seven days in length. This could be to a countryside or city location but must be outside the children's immediate locality. Day trips should not involve a disproportionate amount of time spent travelling.

The funders will consider trips which are more local but these should have an emphasis on providing a new experience for the children and broadening their horizons. Examples include camping, trips to adventure activity centres or the seaside.

The funders will sometimes consider applications for groups of children living in deprived circumstances within more affluent areas. In this case, it is essential that the need for support is clearly explained.

Grants are only available to support children who are aged 13 and under.

How To Apply

This fund is open for applications three times a year and applications are accepted based on when the trip is happening. The next rounds are:

• 20 March 2025–21 July 2025 (for trips taking place 1 May–31 August 2025).
• 22 July–19 November 2025 (for trips taking place 1 September–31 December 2025).

Grants are made on a first come, first served basis until the available funding for that round has been fully allocated. All applications should be received at least five weeks before the date of the trip to allow for administrative processing and decision making.

An online application form and a set of guidelines can be found on the Charity's website.