What we learned from our 2026 grant round

1What do we mean by Southwark-based?

We fund organisations whose main focus is Southwark. Usually, this means they were founded in Southwark and mainly operate here, often exclusively. Southwark has a rich, home-grown voluntary and community sector, and our strategy is to strengthen it.

Being truly place-based is hard to define, so we use a few practical indicators. For example:

• your headquarters should be in Southwark
• at least 70% of the core grant should be spent on work in the borough – without needing to be ringfenced or turned into a restricted project

We recognise that these indicators are not perfect. Last year, we spent a lot of time in discussion with organisations asking us if they were “Southwark enough”. Some even considered relocating their headquarters to become eligible. We don’t advise that, and it won’t change the essence of what we’re looking for.

As a guide, your organisation is less likely to be awarded funding if your delivery extends significantly beyond Southwark (though it can include neighbouring Lambeth and Lewisham) – for example, delivering across wider East and South London or north of the river. The same may apply if your organisation plans to quickly expand into other boroughs when new opportunities arise, such as winning contracts elsewhere.

We value the important work that pan-London charities do for Southwark residents, but our core grants are designed to strengthen an organisation as a whole, so we usually award them to groups whose primary focus is here.

2What types of community efforts do we support?

As a place-based funder, we support all communities in Southwark, whether they are united by place, identity, experience or interests – and we look for work that responds to today’s needs while helping to build stronger communities for the future.

Applications may be more competitive where they create opportunities for people to connect with one another over time. This might include community spaces, youth clubs, networks or activities that help people from different walks of life build lasting relationships, bridge division, foster a sense of belonging, care and joy, and strengthen community spirit. These efforts are often open and accessible, and designed to serve groups rather than individuals alone.

We also fund more specialised offers: one-to-one services and referral-only routes that work for particular identities, experiences, disabilities or health conditions – vital for addressing exclusion, discrimination and inequity.

No type of need is more important than another. But because our overall portfolio has to balance across communities, experiences and approaches, the volume of funding available for connective, group-facing work and for specialist, individual-facing work isn’t always equal in any given round. Southwark is diverse yet unequal, and its specialist sector is particularly well developed. This means we often receive more strong applications for individualised, specialist support than we are able to fund.

We value the important contributions of generalist and specialist offers across Southwark.

3How do we make the process lighter, while keeping it human?

We want to respect your time. We know that applying for funding takes energy and hope, and that community groups are stretched. We also know how difficult it can be to wait for a decision when staff and communities may be depending on the outcome.

In times of AI, we are leaning into what makes us human – connection, personal relationships, deep listening. We think being accessible and connected is valuable beyond your current application, because we too are local, like you.

• Less writing. We’ve cut the time you invest in writing – 3 questions at stage 1. No more.
• Less waiting. We’ve reduced emotional labour – getting you an initial decision 3 weeks earlier. No more stage two.
• Reuse what works. We urge you to reuse wording from past applications. If it works for you and is still true, don’t change it for us.

We heard that our conversations and video calls in stage 1 were valuable to some, but possibly too long for others. We still want to get to know you – we don’t apologise for that. But we will be clearer up front about what to expect:

• Calls will be kept to 45 minutes.
• We would like to speak with the person in your organisation who knows your ethos, history and vision for the future. Most commonly, that is your leader.
• To make it worth your while, we will share what we have noticed in your application, make connections where helpful, and offer any advice we can.
• Afterwards, we will send you an optional transcript, which others have found useful for funding applications with third parties.
• We’ll continue to visit organisations at the final stage of selection. Visits help us understand your work in context and build relationships beyond the application process – whatever the outcome.