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Donation policy

What we fund

The Skipton Building Society Charitable Foundation has identified two focus areas through which it aims to drive social impact.

Helping people experiencing hardship and/or underserved groups to:

  • access a place to call home
  • and improve financial wellbeing.

The trustees will select charities based on their alignment with one or both focus areas. The Foundation has committed to fund UK registered charities, where successful, up to a maximum of £5,000.

Focus areas

A place to call home

We have two target outcomes which support our purpose of helping people experiencing hardship and/or underserved access to a place to call home.

The target outcomes include:

  1. People have access and support into a safe and secure permanent place to call home. We want to support charities that enable people most in need to live independently.
  2. People have access and support into a safe and secure temporary home in times of crisis. Enabling people into temporary accommodation in emergency situations such as homelessness, palliative or end of life, or for those experiencing domestic abuse.


Financial wellbeing

We have two target outcomes which support our purpose of helping people experiencing hardship and/or underserved groups to improve financial wellbeing.

The target outcomes include:

  1. People have the support needed to prevent and/or address financial difficulty. We want to support charities who provide help and guidance on how to manage money and improve financial wellbeing.
  2. People have access to financial education. Many people throughout the UK don't have a good understanding on how to manage their money, we want to change this through education. That's why we are looking to support charities whose work will support financial independence and education.
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Important

The trustees will only support charities serving people in the top 50% of the UK Index of Multiple Deprivation.

Eligibility criteria

The Foundation will only consider charities that meet the following eligibility criteria:

  • Charities registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales, the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland, and the Scottish Charity Regulator.
  • Charities which have been established at least three years - we require three years of accounts published on the relevant Charity Commission as noted above.
  • Charities which have a direct benefit to people in the UK.
  • Applications which provide full details of the charity and the funding requirement.
  • 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 one year before reapplying.
  • The Foundation will only fund charities supporting people in the top 50% of the UK Index of Multiple Deprivation. To find out more visit Consumer Data Research Centre - Index of Multiple Deprivation and enter your postcode where it says 'jump to postcode' to identify the level of deprivation from 1 (most deprived) to 10 (least deprived).
  • A successful charity must complete the reporting requirement within one year of receiving the grant.

What we fund vs won’t fund

What the Foundation will fund

If your charity's mission meets one or more of our target outcomes, the Foundation will consider funding core costs, project costs and small capital contributions, for example:

  • Salary requests for personnel delivering the proposed project should be structured to ensure they are longer-term and sustainable. Applicants must provide evidence that funding has been secured to cover the full cost of these salaries.
  • Overhead expenses such as rent or utilities.
  • Scaling up successful programmes or developing new ones.
  • Investing in infrastructure or technology to improve operations.
  • Daily essentials such as pots, pans and white goods for people who have secured a permanent place to call home.
  • Aids such as a ramp/stairlift in a community centre in order to remove any physical barriers to access for local people.
  • Books or resources which support financial education.
  • Laptops or online systems used to deliver digital competence sessions.

What the Foundation won't fund

  • Unregistered charities.
  • Organisations with fewer than three trustees/directors and/or those with an issue of significant control in their leadership.
  • Charities with more than one year late reporting to the Charity Commission.
  • Grants to individuals or sponsorship.
  • Overseas travel and/or work that does not have a direct benefit in the UK.
  • Organisations which discriminate or primarily promote political or religious viewpoints to the people they support.
  • Organisations who discriminate based on race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, or any other protected characteristic.

Apply for funding

You will be redirected to a third-party site through YourCause by Blackbaud where you can complete the application to the Skipton Building Society Charitable Foundation.

Please note that YourCause has its own Terms & Conditions, Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy, which may differ from ours.

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