THE EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY FOUNDATION MAIN FUND PROGRAMME
Grants of up to £30,000 for each of 1-3 years are available to UK registered charities that are working to improve access to education or the quality of education for children and young people under the age of 25, both in the UK and internationally.
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o Application deadline: none – applications may be made at any time using the application form on the Foundation’s website. The Foundation has a 2-stage application process and will assess applications on a rolling basis.
o Funder: The Educational Opportunity Foundation (Royal Charter granted 1906. Charity Commission registration 1964. Charity number 314286. Total charitable expenditure for the year ended 31 December 2023: £1,614,538).
o Who can apply: UK registered charities with an income normally between £25,000 and £2.5 million. Charities must have at least 3 years of continuous accounts submitted to their relevant UK Charity Commission or Regulator.
o Key words: Access to Education, Children and Young People Aged Under 25, Care Experienced Young People, Improving Access to Employment and Training, Overseas, United Kingdom.
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The Educational Opportunity Foundation seeks to enhance the lives of people throughout the world by promoting the advancement of opportunity for education, that is the physical, intellectual, moral, religious and spiritual development of the whole person regardless of ethnicity, nationality or religious belief. It makes grants for educational projects principally to organisations and institutions.
The Foundation has 11 trustees, one of whom is also a trustee of the following 3 charities:
o The Sir Barry Jackson Trust (charity number 211619), which aims to fund the advancement and improvement of education in drama and theatrical production and to develop the public’s appreciation of such art.
o The Sir Barry Jackson County Fund (charity number 517306), which promotes dramatic art in the West Midlands, and
o The Benevolent Fund of Her Majesty’s Inspectors of Schools in England and Wales (charity number 210181). The charity provides loans, grants and other support services to retired HMI and their dependents at times of acute need
The Educational Opportunity Foundation’s Main Fund programme supports charitable organisations working to improve access to education or the quality of education for children and young people under the age of 25, both in the UK and internationally. It awards approximately £900,000 in new grants every year.
The Foundation will fund between £30,000 to £90,000 per project (maximum £30,000 per year for multi-year projects). Funding is available for new or pilot projects, or projects which have started in the past 12 months. Funding is available for 1-3 years.
Please note that annual grant payments cannot exceed 50% of an organisation’s 3-year average income. Educational Opportunity Foundation will fund between 25% to 100% of the total project costs, but will give preference to projects with some degree of matched funding.
For UK based projects, the Educational Opportunity Foundation will only consider applications that are specifically targeted towards care experienced young people. Projects must be interventions designed to improve their educational outcomes and life chances.
Funding is available for:
o Improving educational outcomes – including the support of care experienced young people to attend and engage in mainstream school life, improving access to out of school support and improving education professionals understanding of their needs, and
o Improving life chances – including improving the support for care experienced young people (aged 16-24) to access further education, employment or training opportunities and improving support for them to remain engaged with these opportunities.
The Foundation has a 2-stage application process. Applications, which are assessed on a rolling basis, may be made at any time using the application form on the Foundation’s website, where further information about its Main Grants programme can also be found.