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Improving the lives of young people up to the age of 25

The Essentia Foundation has announced the launch of a new £1 million funding round aimed at supporting medium-sized charitable organisations. 

With a focus on improving the lives of young people up to the age of 25, the Foundation will award 20 grants of £50,000 each to organisations whose work aligns with the aims of the fund.

The new grants programme is designed to empower charities with an annual income of between £250,000 and £2 million, and is targeted at organisations delivering impactful projects that:

• enable young people with learning disabilities or long-term health conditions to participate fully in society
• support children and young people living in poverty and experiencing inequality
• help those excluded from school to return to education or training
• provide skills and job-readiness training to those furthest from the labour market
• improve the health and welfare of children and young people

Grants may be used over a period of up to three years, which allows for more flexibility in programme delivery, and also for planning sustainably.

For this particular grants programme, the Trustees of the Essentia Foundation are prioritising applications from organisations that can demonstrate the capacity to match or exceed the £50,000 award, in order to maximise the impact of grants. However, all proposals will be assessed with a key emphasis on the tangible benefits that successful projects would deliver.

Key Dates:

• Open for applications on 14th April 2025
• Deadline for applications is 6th June 2025
• Decision to applicants 15th August 2025

The Essentia Foundation recently closed applications for its Large Grant Programme, which offered fixed grants of £250,000 to charitable organisations with an annual income over £2 million. Eight organisations will be offered grants from this highly competitive application round, with decisions due in early May. 

These two one-off programmes will result in some £3m of the charity’s funds being awarded to further its objectives. The trustees are also considering one further programme of £10,000 awards for 50 of the organisations it has supported in the last five years, so a further £500,000 of its brought forward funds to be distributed for good causes. Once these three programmes are completed, the Trustees then intend to wind up the charity’s activities and leave a legacy funding pot of about £1.5m to be administered by long term partner Foundation Scotland in continuing the small grants to small charities award programme.

Read more about the Essentia Foundation mid-sized grants and how to apply here.