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Skipton Charitable Foundation. Giving something back…

About us

The Skipton Building Society Charitable Foundation (“the Charitable Foundation”) was established in February 2000 supporting registered charities throughout the UK and distributing donations. Skipton Building Society makes an annual payment to the Charitable Foundation to fund these donations.

Independent of Skipton Building Society, the Charitable Foundation’s decisions are made by its Board of Trustees.

The Charitable Foundation is run by eight trustees, including six who are independent of Skipton Building Society. The Trustees decide which good causes will benefit from the Charitable Foundation’s support. The Charitable Foundation is supported by volunteer administrators.

We’ve given away over £2.9 million since our first donations in 2000.

We’ve given donations to over 500 amazing causes in the last 5 years.

We’ve donated over £295,233 to around 136 good causes in 2022.

Donation policy

Skipton Building Society Charitable Foundation aims to improve the wellbeing, welfare and education of children and adults in communities throughout the UK by making donations of up to £6,000 to registered charities.

Who can apply?

UK registered charities whose purpose is to:

  • benefit children and adults particularly those living in socially deprived areas, through education to develop core skills and support wellbeing and mental health.
  • benefit the wellbeing and welfare of children and adults by preventing or reducing poverty and homelessness in the community.
  • support the elderly and improve their wellbeing by reducing isolation, helping reduce the effects of Dementia and Alzheimer's and support later life/palliative care.

Application requirements

  • Application should provide full details of the work carried out by the charity, the funding request including a breakdown of how the donation will be spent, identifying clear benefit to the beneficiaries plus information on the number of people who will benefit.
  • Applications must fund items or activities that have tangible benefit to the beneficiaries.
  • Charities must be registered UK charities that have submitted their trustee annual report, annual return and latest audited accounts to the Charity Commission.
  • Donations requests should be up to a maximum of £6,000
  • Following a successful application, a charity must wait for a minimum of three years before reapplying. If a charity has been unsuccessful, a charity must wait for two years before reapplying.

Skipton Building Society Charitable Foundation is unable to fund applications that meet one or more of the following criteria

  • Applications in excess of £6,000.
  • Donations for single beneficiaries including sponsorship.
  • Activities which are primarily the responsibility of a central or local government, the NHS, or some other responsible body.
  • Donations for running costs, including rent, upkeep or construction work, administration equipment for a charity's own use such as telephones, computers or other IT equipment, venue hire, utility bills, salaries, expenses, training of employed staff, volunteer expenses, advertising and printing/ copying costs.
  • Promotion of ethnic, racial, political, or religious views.
  • Donations for vehicle purchase or its running costs.
  • Counselling costs.
  • Support of political activities.
  • Activities which collect funds for subsequent distribution to other charities or individuals.
  • Applications by animal welfare organisations.
  • General fundraising events or activities.
  • Medical research.
  • Loans or business finance.
  • Overseas Travel.

Please note: following a successful application, a charity must wait 3 years before re-applying. If an application was unsuccessful a charity must wait 2 years before re-applying.

Case studies

Boxes of Basics Logo

Boxes of Basics

Boxes of Basics was founded to provide reassurance, support, and most importantly ‘Boxes of Basics’ for those in crisis. We help people out of food insecurity, helplessness and deep financial stress, so they can stand on their own feet again with dignity.

The Skipton Building Society Charitable Foundation helped us to support the most vulnerable of society combat malnourishment, eating disorders, or plain social exclusion which no young person should know of. Through this donation, we are able to send boxes of food and nourishing meals, which provide immediate relief for these people.

More than that, we are helping these people help themselves, giving them the dignity they deserve, thus transforming vulnerability into stability. Boxes of Basics send a message of caring, a message that they are not alone, and a message that tomorrow will be better.

Dorothy House Logo

Dorothy House

This grant was used to purchase a fantastic new piece of technology for use in our Day Patient Service. This is called ‘RITA’ (Reminiscence Interactive Therapy Activity) and is specially designed for hospital and hospice settings to bring entertainment and laughter to patients and an opportunity for much-needed fun.

Research had shown that this technology could be particularly valuable for patients with dementia and other cognitive impairments: that using it could increase patients’ confidence, provide distraction from uncomfortable symptoms and encourage interaction. This focus on the quality of life of our patients is at the very heart of our care, making RITA an exciting and promising prospect.

Read for Good Logo

Read for Good

Reading for pleasure can transform a child’s life. For over 35 years, Read for Good has been motivating children to love reading through its tailor-made programmes in schools, hospitals and communities. Countless studies show that a love of reading at an early age changes lives, from educational outcomes to social mobility and emotional well-being.

For children in hospital, books and stories are vital, bringing comfort, reassurance, distraction and entertainment. We are very grateful to the Skipton Building Society Charitable Foundation for their generous donation towards our 6-weekly delivery of brand new books and regular resident Storyteller visits to brighten the days of children and young people on the wards of Leeds Children’s Hospital.

Thanks to your very kind gift, the Read for Good bookcase, filled to the brim with lots of new and exciting books, continues to be wheeled through the wards, and our storytellers visits to tell their mesmerising stories, entertaining, engaging, and introducing children of all ages to the magic and joy of storytelling, books and stories.

How we work

Step 1

How the application process works

Complete the online application form, you will receive a confirmation email on submission.

Our Board of Trustees will review each application against our donations policy and decide which good causes will benefit from our support. Responsibility rest with the applicant charity to submit a complete and accurate application form which complies with our donations policy.

Step 2

Meeting dates

The trustees meet at the beginning of March, June, September and December. Submission deadline dates are the 1st of the month prior to each meeting.

Please note: Applications received after the cut-off date will be presented at the following quarterly meeting.

Step 3

Following the meeting

We will contact you via email following the meeting with the outcome, this can take up to 28 days.

The successful charities will be notified via secure email (from ) and will be asked to provide charity bank details within 2 weeks.

We will then transfer the funds via an electronic bank payment to the charity bank account.

We may contact you to seek your permission to feature your charity on our website following a successful application. With your charity’s permission, these details will be published on www.skiptoncharitablefoundation.co.uk

FAQs

The Trustees meet quarterly in March, June, September and December. Please see details of our cut off dates for the consideration of applications on the “How We Work” section. Following the meeting we will contact you by e-mail to let you know the outcome of you application.

The Charitable Foundation only supports charities registered with one of the following:

  • The Charity Commission for England and Wales
  • The Charity Commission in Northern Ireland
  • The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator

Charities that apply to the Charitable Foundation will be considered for donations up to £6,000.

The Charitable Foundation's emphasis is on smaller amounts with the aim of supporting as many good causes as possible throughout the UK.

When considering requests for donations we may need to ask for additional information from the applicant or from third parties to substantiate the application and should the application be successful we may request evidence of payments made.

(e.g. copy invoices/proof of price and/or purchase, references and evidence as to how our support will benefit/has benefited recipients)

The Charitable Foundation will only consider donations to registered charities based in the UK.

The Charitable Foundation only supports charities with at least one year of published accounts covering a 12 month period.

Once you have received your automated response to your online application you don’t need to do anything. We will contact you following the Trustee meeting with the outcome of your application.

No. The Charitable Foundation was established by Skipton Building Society and is funded by an annual donation from Skipton Building Society but makes its decisions independently.

The Charitable Foundation's support is limited to beneficiaries within the UK. Following a successfully application, a charity must wait 3 years before re-applying. If an application was unsuccessful a charity must wait 2 years before re-applying.

No. However, the Charitable Foundation may consider applications for specific items as part of a wider appeal.

For any other queries contact

How to apply

Our application form contains full details of how to apply and the information required.

Online application form