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 over £30 million each year. The Charity's capital endowment now 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

One-off 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 flexibilty will be given regarding the level of deprivation.

Location

United Kingdom

Restrictions

Funding is not available for the following:

• Trips outside of the UK.
• Trips to theme parks, sports events or similar high-cost attractions.
• Trips for children over the age of 13 years.
• Trips with a focus on education rather than fun.
• Museum, cultural or theatre trips to meet curriculum requirements.
• Trips for families.
• Trips for individual children.
• Organisations that provide children's holidays.
• The running costs of play or holiday schemes - this includes funding towards an organisation's regular planned activities.
• Trips that have already taken place.
• Organisations with an income of expenditure of over £2 million (unless a school).

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

The next application rounds are open:

• 13 March to 22 July 2024 (for trips taking place 1 May to 31 August 2024).
• 12 July to 19 November 2024 (for trips taking place 1 September to 31 December 2024).

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 six 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.