THE MASONIC CHARITABLE FOUNDATION: GRANTS FOR PEOPLE WITH DEMENTIA AND THEIR CARERS
Small Grants of up to £5,000 for each of 3 years and Large Grants of up to £60,000 for each of 3 years are available for local and national charities that are working with people living with dementia and their Carers in England and Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.
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o Application deadline: none – applications may be made at any time, initially by completing an Eligibility Checklist.
o Funder: The Masonic Charitable Foundation (founded 2015. Charity number 1164703. Total charitable expenditure for the year ended 31 March 2023: £97,086,000).
o Who can apply: registered charities in England and Wales.
o Key words: Dementia, Carers, Reducing Loneliness, Improving Physical Health and Cognitive Abilities, Improving Independence, Guernsey, Jersey, Isle of Man, England, Wales.
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The Masonic Charitable Foundation’s website states that it is “estimated that by 2030, the number of people in the UK living with dementia will be 1.1 million (Alzheimer’s Research UK, 2023). There are a number of inequalities in care for dementia, with key factors including local service provision, ethnicity, whether your care is self-funded or paid for by local authorities, and whether you are diagnosed earlier or later in the illness.
“Research suggests that having close ties to friends and family, participating in meaningful social activities may help people maintain their thinking skills in later life, and slow down cognitive decline.”
The Foundation’s Grants for People with Dementia and their Carers programme is designed to support targeted interventions such as carers support and social group working with people with dementia and their Carers, using Maintenance Cognitive Simulation Therapy or other interventions working to achieve outcomes such as the following (please note that this is not an exclusive list):
o Improved ability of carers to meet the needs of people with dementia (for example, resources, knowledge, skills).
o Reducing loneliness, isolation and creating social connections.
o Improvements to physical health and cognitive functions.
o Better access to support services, and/or
o Increased independence and influence over their own life and treatment.
As part of its commitment to being an evidence-led funder, the Foundation will consider funding the evaluation costs of projects, particularly when it is a new project and the charity will then be able to use the evaluation to support its future funding proposition.
The following funding is available:
1. Small Grants – grants of between £1,000 and £5,000 per year for up to three years are available to charities with an income of between £25,000 and £500,000. Small grants are unrestricted and do not have to be used on a specific purpose, although grant recipients are required to report on how they used the funding.
2. Large grants – between £10,000 and £60,000 in total which can be spread over three years are available to charities with an annual income of between £500,000 and £5 million. Large grants are restricted for specific projects with defined goals and budgets, and may be spent on, for example, salaries, equipment, training, monitoring and administration.
Eligible organisation may only apply for either a Small Grant or a Large Grant.
Registered charities in England and Wales that meet the following criteria may apply:
o Registered with the Charity Commission or relevant Central registry of the respective Guernsey, Jersey or Isle of Man’s government.
o Have at least one year of independently examined or audited accounts published on the Charity Commission website for the registered charity number they are applying from.
o Have beneficiaries based in England and/or Wales, and
o Have their own bank account
There is a long list of exclusions for this Fund, which can be found in the guidance for the scheme. Alternatively, charities interested in applying to the scheme can test their eligibility by completing the Eligibility Checklist.
Applications may be made at any time, initially by initially completing the Eligibility Checklist on the Foundation’s website. Eligible organisations may then complete an Expression of Interest form. Following this, applicants will be invited to complete a full application form for either a Small Grant or Large Grant. Applicants should allow a period of 3 months for completing the application process for a Small Grant and 6 months for completing the application process of a Large Grant.
Further information and guidance can be found on the Foundation’s website.
Applications may be made at any time.