Reopening our Large Grants Round – Update
We’re pleased to announce that our Large Grants Round will reopen in June 2025, following a temporary pause due to staff transitions.
This round will be invitation only, and is open exclusively to our current large grant partners—organisations with an existing large grant award that ends between January and December 2025. These partners are invited to apply for a continuation grant.
We’ve chosen to limit this round to existing partners because the majority of our large grant funding was already allocated at the beginning of the financial year. We want to be mindful of the time and effort that goes into applying for funding and avoid unnecessary work for organisations that would not be eligible at this time.
What applicants need to know:
- We will be sending invitations to apply to all eligible organisations on Wednesday, 4 June, and will close the round on Wednesday, 25 June.
- Grants will range from £10,000 to £30,000, over 1 or 2 years—you can choose what’s most suitable for your organisation.
- Awards will be made using the same criteria as previous rounds.
- We prefer to provide core funding, where there is a clear benefit to Southwark, rather than project-specific funding.
- We’ll be trialling a one-stage application process—more details will be shared soon.
- We aim to speak to all applicants before making decisions. If we haven’t visited your organisation during April or May 2025, please contact us to arrange a meeting in June.
If you have any questions about this grant round, please contact Jason Charles at jcharles@ustsc.org.uk.
Reflecting on our Small Grounts Round – Results & Update
We also recently closed Round 1 of our Small Grants 2025/26 programme — and received our highest number of applications to date. A total of 88 applications were submitted, requesting over £237,000 in funding. This mirrors a wider trend many funders are currently experiencing, and highlights the increasing demand for resources across the voluntary and community sector.
Given the volume and quality of submissions, the review process has been especially challenging. Many proposals offered strong value for money and demonstrated clear social impact, but difficult decisions had to be made.
Key highlights from this round:
- Peckham saw the highest number of applications, closely followed by Camberwell, Newington, and North Walworth. Funding decisions were made with a view to balancing awards across the borough’s diverse geography.
- There was a great variety of applications, supporting diverse causes across a wide range of communities and age groups.
- Proposals that demonstrated collaboration, and those that included in-kind support or match funding, were particularly valued. While our panel recognised that partnership working is taking place across Southwark, this could be more clearly articulated in future applications.
Over the next months, we’ll be reviewing how we deliver our Small Grants programme to ensure it continues to be as effective and impactful as possible. This will include reflecting on insights from Community Southwark’s recent State of the Sector report, which engaged more than 200 local voluntary and community organisations. The successful applicants from this round will be announced during the week commencing 19 May 2025. We want to extend our thanks to every group that applied — and for your continued dedication to supporting the Southwark community.
Keep an eye on our website for further updates.