Our Grants Programmes

Strengthening the Voluntary Sector programme 2012
The Baring Foundation has launched the 2012 round of the Strengthening the Voluntary Sector programme. This will focus on the legal advice sector and reflects the Foundation's on-going commitment to supporting an effective system of social welfare law services. The programme is called Future Advice and has two strands.

The first is the Providers Fund with a budget in the first year of £1 million. This aims to help advice organisations to develop and implement ideas for restructuring and organisational development that will put agencies on a more sustainable footing. The Fund is being run in collaboration with Comic Relief, The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund and Unbound Philanthropy. In 2012, we have decided to run this as a programme by invitation only. Eighty-eight organisations have been contacted and invited to submit expressions of interest. These organisations have been identified through a combination of commissioned research, consultation with experts and our existing knowledge of the field. We anticipate being able to make between 20 and 25 grants. The Foundation considers whether to run closed programmes very carefully. We only use this approach when we judge that there would be an overwhelming response in relation to the resources available which would result in an extremely low ratio of grants to applications and a lot of time spent by applicants in submitting proposals with a very small chance of success.

The second strand is a Strategic Fund which will make grants and commission work that aims to bring about a supportive environment for advice services. The Foundation has made a number of initial grants looking at issues including raising income from individuals, making strategic use of the law so as to widen access to free legal advice services, maintaining policy work on Legal Aid, supporting the further development of Public Legal Education approaches and a longer term initiative to explore the future of social welfare law services. Alongside the grant-making, we will be publishing reports and holding events details of which will be published on this web-site.

Legal Aid Practitioners Group Conference Photograph courtesy of LAPG Photographer Robert Abermam

To find out about the organisations and activities we have funded under the STVS programme click here

Joint International Development grants programme 2012 (in collaboration with the John Ellerman Foundation)
The Joint International Development grants programme is closed. The application deadline was 29th March 2012. New grantees will be announced on this website in October 2012.

To find out about the agencies and projects we have funded under the international programme in previous years click here

Project in South Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo Photograph courtesy of Children in Crisis

Arts Projects programme 2012
The Arts Projects programme 2012 is closed. The application deadline was 30 September 2011. New grantees will be announced on this website in April 2012. This programme is continuing the theme of arts and older people, the grants will support work to link different types of residential care settings into the community around them through the creative power of the arts.

Photograph courtesy of Art in Hospital

To find out more about our new arts grants and other arts organisations we have funded since 2004 click here

Website on Arts and Refugees
From 2004-2009, the Foundation funded arts organisations working with refugees and asylum seekers. As a follow-up to this we have commissioned Refugee Week in collaboration with the Oval House Theatre to produce a website for anyone with an interest in this field as a resource. Click here to access the website www.platforma.org.uk.

Please visit our Publications page to see/download literature relating to the above programmes and our special initiatives.

Please visit our Advice and Sources of Assistance page for information on grant seeking and sources of assistance with organisational development.