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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 £3.4 million since our first donations in 2000.

We’ve given donations to over 650 amazing causes in the last 5 years.

We’ve donated over £451,811 to around 228 good causes in 2023.

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

  • An 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.

FAQs

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

The Charitable Foundation only supports charities with at least one year of published accounts covering a 12 month period. If your charity is noted as recently registered on the Charity Commission website, we cannot accept an application.

Applications must fund items or activities that have tangible benefit to the charity's beneficiaries. For example, equipment to support young people transition from homelessness to new accommodation such as toiletries, bedding, cooking utensils. Or equipment to engage the elderly in activities, exercise and experiences to help improve mental and physical wellbeing such as a large, digital interactive activity table for a care setting.

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)

Any costs which contribute towards the running of the charity or its projects do not meet the criteria in the Donation Policy. Where we state salaries and expenses, this includes both people employed by your charity and payment of external people such as a facilitator or short-term support for your charity.

We understand that running costs are a key aspect of ensuring a charity can remain functional and support its community, however the Foundation wants to provide charities with a donation that provides a new, tangible and direct benefit to its people for years to come.

The trustees score each application based on alignment to the donations policy, the long term benefit of the items requested, the quality and detail provided, and the number of beneficiaries - with clear evidence of this.

The trustees favour applications with a detailed cost breakdown and specific costings such as 'Taurus Plastic Stackable Chairs without arms (Cost Cutter) £39 x 40 = £1,560.00'. Applications which include general statements such as 'Games = £500', or 'activities for young people = £2,000', will not be prioritised.

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.

No the trustees can only review the information provided in the application form.

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

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.

For any other queries contact

How we work

Step 1

How the application process works

Complete the online application form. You will receive a confirmation email on submission. A member of the administration team will review your application to ensure this meets the Donation Policy.

Our Board of Trustees will review each application against our donations policy and decide which good causes will benefit from our support. Responsibility rests 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 quarterly: at the beginning of March, June, September and December. Submission deadlines for each meeting are as follows:

Meeting Submission deadline
March 31 January at 5pm
June 30 April at 5pm
September 31 July at 5pm
December 31 October at 5pm

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 ) to the email address you supplied on the application form. You 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

How to apply

Please read and accept the statement below, then follow the link to the online application form to apply. Make sure to complete all the information required enabling the trustees to make an informed decision about your charity and the funding request.

  1. I am applying on behalf of a charity registered with either:
    • The Charity Commission for England and Wales, or
    • The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, or
    • The Charity Commission in Northern Ireland,
    and the charity has at least one year of published accounts covering a 12 month period.
  2. I am NOT applying for items outside of policy including the following running costs or project costs:
    • Salaries
    • Facilitator/contractor fees and expenses
    • Counselling/therapy/mentor costs
    • Volunteer expenses
    • Venue hire/rent
    • Bills
    • Admin costs i.e. insurance, overheads, IT equipment for the charities own use
    • Staff and volunteer training
    • Advertising and printing/copying costs
    • Vehicle purchase or its running costs
  3. I am NOT applying for a donation towards construction, upkeep or restoration of buildings.
  4. I am NOT applying for a donation for subsequent distribution to other charities or individuals.
  5. I have prepared a detailed cost breakdown noting the specific items or activities which will be purchased and their actual cost. Examples such as 'art and crafts equipment', 'games' or 'food costs' would be too vague.
  6. I have waited the correct duration of time following a previous successful or unsuccessful application. Successful applicants must wait 3 years and unsuccessful applicants must wait 2 years.
Online application form