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What you can spend the money on

What can you spend the funding on

  • staff costs, including sessional workers
  • development work – like testing new ideas, staff training, improving governance, upgrading IT, or sharing learning
  • transport
  • utilities and running costs
  • volunteer expenses
  • learning and evaluation
  • equipment
  • capital costs – though these should be a small part of your funding request
  • translation or interpretation costs, for example to deliver your project in Welsh

What we mean by campaigning and political activity

We can fund campaigning or political activity as long as:

  • it’s not party political
  • it supports your cause and benefits the public

We will not fund projects that exist mainly to promote or oppose a political party.
If your project includes campaigning, we’ll discuss this with you at the next stage.

We will not fund:

  • statutory activities and activities that replace government funding
  • large capital or building projects
  • loans, endowments or interest
  • paying someone else to write your application
  • activities where a profit will be distributed for private gain
  • fundraising activities
  • VAT you can reclaim
  • alcohol
  • things you’ve spent money on in the past and are looking to claim for now (retrospective costs)
  • items which will only benefit an individual, rather than the wider community
  • religious activities (we can fund religious organisations if their project benefits the wider community and does not include religious content)

UK’s subsidy control commitments

Our grants come from public funds and successful applications will be asked to comply with the UK's International Subsidy Control Commitments listed on the GOV.UK website [link]. You should seek independent legal advice if you need more guidance.

Delivering your project in Wales

If one of the countries you will be working in is Wales, you will need to deliver your services bilingually (in Welsh and English). This is part of our grant condition; remember to include the costs in your budget. Read our guidance on managing your project bilingually.