Grants database

Northern Ireland Youth Forum is a youth-led voluntary organisation delivering projects across Northern Ireland whilst also promoting youth voice in decision making. This grant provides funding for the development of a unified, strategic plan. With guidance from the Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action (NICVA) and the involvement of wider sector stakeholders, they aim to ensure long-term impact, coordination, and sustainability across the youth work landscape.

Consortium is the largest network of LGBT+ groups and organisations in the UK. Their goal is to help groups become stronger and more sustainable, so they can provide essential services and advocate for the rights of individuals in the community. Consortium offer information and guidance on various topics, including managing organisations, finances, fundraising, and creating policy documents.

Spiral delivers local solutions with national significance, empowering underserved young people to overcome systemic barriers and drive change. Spiral Skills is undertaking an 18-month leadership transition to embed lived experience at the heart of its senior team. Funding will support expert-led design of new governance and operational structures, enabling alumni and staff from racialised communities to step into leadership. This will strengthen Spiral’s long-term sustainability and deepen its systemic impact. Learning from the process will be documented and shared to support equity-focused transitions across the youth and social impact sectors.

ProjectChange supports care experienced young people to explore identity and lead change. This grant will expand its co-designed Toolkit, delivering workshops, training, and one-to-one sessions that develop confidence, leadership, and advocacy. Funding will also sustain partnerships and support wider use of its tools across Scotland.

Youth Shedz Cymru provides safe, inclusive spaces where vulnerable young people (11–25) build confidence, resilience, purpose and life skills. This grant will support them to grow and strengthen the charity, enabling Youth Shedz to support more young people with life skills, wellbeing, purpose and a sense of belonging. It will also allow them to develop their community-based learning offer, using tools like Virtual Reality and 3D printing, and help more communities set up their own Shedz, giving young people better opportunities, stronger support networks, and a place where they truly feel at home.

WayMakers seeks to improve opportunities and outcomes for young people aged 14+ who have autism and ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). It seeks to enhance and grow its support for neurodivergent young people through more strategic and youth-led initiatives. Funding will also support capacity-building and strategic development, enabling WayMakers to build and refine these services and sustain long-term growth, ensuring impactful advocacy, increased inclusivity, and sustainable solutions for neurodivergent young people and their communities.

Young Urban Arts Foundation (YUAF) delivers music, arts and culture programmes for young people aged 13–25 in London’s most deprived boroughs. This grant will support them to work with students (aged 11–16 years) and teaching staff in three alternative provision settings in London to deliver the Empowers programme. They will support young people to build their self-esteem, confidence, self-expression and wellbeing through music and podcast production, songwriting and performance, re-engaging with learning, focusing on the English and PHSE curriculum. They also plan to support teaching staff to develop music/arts-based practice.

Scarabeus Theatre uses aerial theatre and circus to engage with children, young people and families nationwide and in challenging community settings. This grant provides funding to underpin Scarabeus’ aerial theatre-based work with schools.

Jessie’s Fund helps children with serious illness or complex needs through the therapeutic or creative use of music. Through working intensively with SEND specialist school settings for a full year, including on school staff’s professional learning, Jessie’s Fund aims to develop whole-school music cultures and teaching practices which ensure that music is embedded in curriculum and practice for the long-term.

Ignition Arts Theatre Company CIC are a dynamic theatre company working in school settings to educate and inspire young people through drama. This grant would enable Ignition to work with four rural/​coastal primary schools in Essex, championing the use of drama; developing teaching in drama, literacy, oracy and PSHE curriculum areas; embedding new practices; and co-producing with students through in-depth, year-round delivery.

Fighting Words Northern Ireland are a creative writing centre running writing programmes with young people and schools across Northern Ireland. This grant supports Fighting Words NI to work with 25 classes of P5 and P6 pupils in Belfast primary schools to explore how a creative, joyful and child-led approach to writing can support outcomes in literacy, confidence and engagement in learning.

National Ugly Mugs (NUM) provides greater access to justice and protection for sex workers who are often exploited and face obstacles to reporting, access to service and police protection. This grant supports the development of programming for 18–25 year olds, which will amplify their voices, and help them share insights with practitioners, policymakers and advocates. It will also enable the expansion of peer-led advocacy to create leadership opportunities, including paid roles, training, and decision-making participation, and provide platforms for young people to share their experiences via toolkits, presentations, eLearning, policy briefings, media, and research.