Creating better futures: what we’re looking for in our Youth Fund
Ruth Pryce, our Head of Programme – Young People, explores what we mean by work that goes beyond ‘direct delivery’.
If you have any questions about the Youth Fund criteria or how to apply, sign up for our regular online Question & Answer session.
We want to fund organisations who work with young people (14–25) to drive change so that future generations of young people can thrive.
We believe that services, systems, structures, processes and practice can support young people to thrive. We want young people to have their voices heard, and to have agency and autonomy to drive changes and improvements which transform their transitions to adulthood.
This fund achieves this by:
Our fund focuses both on how organisations work, and what they seek to achieve.
We are interested in funding:
We particularly welcome applications from organisations led by people most impacted by racism, ableism, classism, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia, and/or transphobia.
†The secure estate might include prisons, bail accommodation, youth detention accommodation and approved premises.
We support organisations which:
We fund organisations to drive change so that future generations of young people can thrive.
For us, this means work that does the following:
Ruth Pryce, our Head of Programme – Young People, explores what we mean by work that goes beyond ‘direct delivery’.
We fund organisations who work in an asset-based way. This is a crucial feature of our fund and we look to fund organisations who demonstrate this in their work. For us, this means:
Find out more about what we mean when we talk about ‘asset-based working’ and why we want to fund work that starts by recognising and building on young people’s strengths.
The Youth Fund is designed to be a strategic investment in your organisation, so we only fund:
For work delivered through partnerships, there must be a lead partner who can receive funds and the partnership must already be active.
We provide funding:
In addition to Paul Hamlyn Foundation’s general exclusions, we will not fund:
We recognise that these activities are important but, considering our limited funds, these activities are not currently a priority.
Anti Racist Cumbria
Anti Racist Cumbria (ARC) aims to make Cumbria the UK’s first anti-racist county. The charity goes beyond just campaigning for change and works countywide with public and private sector organisations, schools and communities to support them to become anti-racist.
Youth Fund
Albert Kennedy Trust
The Albert Kennedy Trust (AKT) provides support, advice and guidance to young people aged 16–25 who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer (LGBTQ+) and who are facing or experiencing homelessness, or living in a hostile environment.
Youth Fund
The Youth Fund operates on a rolling basis. This means organisations can apply at any time as there are no deadlines.
Applying to the Youth Fund is a two-step process.
We make 20 grants a year through the Youth Fund and on average, 10–12% of all applicants receive funding.
If you’re interested in applying, we highly recommend you look at our page on asset-based approaches to understand the kind of work we’re looking to support.
If this application process is inaccessible to you at any stage, please get in touch. We can provide pre-application access support and a bursary of up to £750 to help you apply.
We use an online application form.
A sample application form can be downloaded as a word document, also available in large print, for you to review in advance.
Before you start your application, we also suggest you look at:
Log-in or register to our online application form to start your application. If you have questions not answered on our site, please get in touch.