Brent Giving Grant

Important links

Apply here
FAQs
Full list of questions to download
Register for Webinars

Are you from Brent, or is your organisation based in Brent? Do you have an idea to solve, or are you tackling poverty in Brent?  Then we want to hear from you. 

This is our first year (woohoo!) and we will be focusing on our four key areas; Harlesden, South Kilburn, Stonebridge and St Raphael’s. Anyone who lives or works in Brent can apply, but keep a look out, we will expand cross the borough over the next year, keeping the community at the heart of every step.

Apply here until 16th Nov! Full timeline here.

Please note that this fund is only open to ideas or projects that take place in our four key areas.

Sections

• About the grant
• Eligibility
• Timeline
• How to apply/What do YOU need to do?
• How are funding decisions made?

ABOUT THE GRANT

What do we want to do? 

We want to end poverty in Brent. 

We are looking for new and existing projects that will transform the way poverty is experienced, felt or talked about. This can be at an individual, community or at a systems level (by systems, we mean, housing, welfare, council, schools, transport etc).  

For example, this could be a meals service for individuals, financial digital training and support services for older people, the start of a micro credit union, or a legislative theatre project designed to influence decision making at a hyper local level.  

At Brent Giving we recognise that poverty takes many forms across our borough, from relative household poverty to period poverty, digital poverty to food poverty. You will be able to specify what kind of poverty you are tackling in the application process. 

Assessments will be made on the level of impact your project will make NOT the type of poverty you are tackling.  

This year our focus is in four key areas. If you are based in one of these areas please apply. However, if you’re just outside of these areas, and your idea still supports and impacts these communities, you’re welcome to apply. Just let us know how your project still reaches the areas we’ve mentioned by contacting [email protected] 

You can apply if you are a:
– Community group or network that is constituted but unincorporated 
– Charity, Not for Profit Organisation, CIC or  Community Benefit Society , with a turnover of £350,000 or less,
– An individual with a burning idea and support to implement their project.

What would you get?

We’re offering grants of £5000 and £10,000 if you need a slightly different amount (less or more) please contact us to discuss your application – nothing is a no at this stage 🙂 

The grant period will last for 9 months and we will be looking for evidence of the difference the grant has made in alleviating poverty around half way through the grant period.

When we say evidence, we are keeping this simple, and we’ll be asking for photos, stories and the number of people involved. We will be talking about impact measurement at the webinar, 1-2pm Wednesday 29th October

– book Webinars here 

Successful grantees who are unincorporated will be fiscally hosted and be able to manage their funds through Open Collective, a platform designed to enable transparent money management for community groups.  As part of the fund, we will cover all platform expenses. 

See here to find out how else our fiscal host, The Social Change Nest, support community groups through this platform. 

In addition to funding, you’ll also become part of a community of changemakers who are sharing and learning from each other as well as gain access to resources and training that could help! 

Eligibility 

What do you need to apply?

• Be a Charity, CIC, CBS or not for profit business/Bcorp, or an unincorporated group/network or an individual with delivery support. 
• Have an activity/project you’d like to test/implement that meets all of the following criteria:
  • Clearly helps your community tackle poverty
  • Demonstrates clear impact in your local community 
  • Be able to spend the grant within 9 months of the start date
  • You and/or your project is based in Harlesden, South Kilburn, Stonebridge and/or St Raphael’s
  • Be keen to share learnings with other groups
• If you are an unincorporated group you will need to provide names of at least two group members to be our points of contact and the admins for your page on Open Collective (don’t worry – if you’re new, we’ll show you how it works)
• This opportunity is open to both groups already hosted by SCN on Open Collective as well as new groups unfamiliar with the platform

What will we NOT fund

Although we deeply understand the struggles of survival that many organisations and community groups are facing currently, we will not be able to fund activities that do not clearly indicate tackling poverty in our four key areas.

Examples of what we cannot fund:

• Onward granting to members of the public
• Paying salaries/stipends for members to carry out business as usual activities outside of this project. 
• Buying core costs to continue business as usual activities, e.g. food bank supplies or stationary outside of this project. 
• Any work which goes against the core values of Brent Giving 
• Any work which promotes specific political parties or is aimed at carrying out specifically religious activities
• Activities already delivered or normally covered by statutory services. 

Examples of what we can fund:

• Providing training for rough sleepers to tackle digital poverty. 
• Starting a supper club to provide free, warm meals for local people. 
• Piloting a programme that would tackle food poverty 
• Influencing a venue to stock free period products to tackle period poverty
• Buying equipment necessary for the sustainability of a poverty programme – e.g. fridges for a food bank
• Researching and piloting a susu (a rotating savings and credit association ROSCA) 
• The full cost of a project, including salaries, core costs and delivery. 

Who can apply? 

• Unincorporated community groups, networks and organisations. You don’t need to be a legally registered organisation to apply for this funding.
• CIC’s, CBS’, and charities with an annual turnover under £350,000.
• Residents with a burning idea and support to implement their project.

Please note that either your or your organisation/network/group MUST be based in Brent or you are NOT eligible in this round. Please visit https://londongiving.org to find a giving scheme in your area. 

Applications are made using this link – you will need to provide a budget, an outline and contacts amongst other things. Please see full questions here. 

You can apply either through writing your application in the form and/or use video to answer the questions if you do not want to write them. You will also be required to upload a budget. More detail in how to apply section. 

Timeline

• Applications process: 15th October –  16th November 2025  at 11pm 
• We will aim to make decisions: November – December 2025
• Checks and contracts: end of January 2026 
• Payment of funds: end of January 2026 
• Project completion: February up to and including Nov 2026 
• Celebrating and learning event Nov 2026.
  

Funding covers work happening between February and Nov 2026. That might mean starting something new, strengthening what you already do, or adding capacity so an existing activity can go further.

Working with other funders? 

We’re happy to be one part of your bigger journey. Maybe you want to keep a great project going, or you need a boost to unlock support from other funders. You can use our grant to top up funds on a larger project you’re collaborating with other funders on. Either way, tell us how this piece of funding fits in and why it matters in the application form. 

How to apply/What do YOU need to do?

We want to make this as easy as possible for you. We just ask that you keep us updated and share your learnings as you go through the project. What does this look like?

• Attend one of our webinars or presentations about applying
• Apply using this application form 
• Download the budget sheet, fill it in, and upload it with your application 
• If successful, join a call to learn how to use the Open Collective platform where you can safely and easily receive and manage your funds (unless you’re already on it or are incorporated)  
• You will be asked to create or demonstrate necessary policies such as  safeguarding and expenses, and/or commit to producing them.
• Attend an informal (virtual) catch-up session halfway through implementation to let us know how things are going
• Join a virtual learning convening at the end of the 9 months where all grant partners can share stories and learnings

How are funding decisions made?

Brent Giving is a participatory grant maker. Decisions about who gets grants are made by the local people from Brent who have joined our decision making process.  Staff are not part of this decision making process.

Please see our full process for resident-led grant making here.

Important links

Apply here
FAQs
Full list of questions to download
Register for Webinars