This page lists current funding pots that mental health user-led community groups and organisations may be interested in applying for. New funding we become aware of will also be shared in our weekly NSUN member’s bulletin, which you can sign up for by becoming a member for free here.
These are external funding opportunities. NSUN sometimes runs grants programmes for members, and any current grants will be advertised on the Our Grants page.
Please get in touch if you know of funds that might be useful for community-led mental health groups and we can add them.
You can also get in touch with us if you are involved in running a user-led group and would like advice and support around making funding applications.
Other funding directories
- A directory of funders from Edge Fund.
- The Charity Excellence Framework have a directory of grant funders for small UK charities and community groups.
- Local councils sometimes offer funding for community projects: you can search with your postcode.
You may also be interested in Disability Rights UK’s Locating funding: An online resource to support Disabled People’s Organisations (DPOs).
To explore other useful resources for user-led groups, visit our Resources for Groups page.
Design. Build. Act: Community responses to hate 2025/26
Protection Approaches is inviting 10 community-based organisations in London to co-design and deliver new anti-hate initiatives with funding, training, and ongoing support.
Successful Applicants will:
- Co-design and implement a hate crime prevention or victim support project funded with up to £5,000.
- Increase their knowledge and understanding of hate crime and develop the skills they need to support and advocate for victims.
- Build solid foundations for the sustained mobilisation of their communities.
Deadline Extended: 5pm on Friday 19th September
More information and application.
London Catalyst Main Grants Programme
Main Grants Programme deadline: 15th September
Our Main Grants Programme aims to address factors that influence health outcomes including poverty, housing, education, employment, discrimination and isolation.
We fund registered charity organisations with an income of £500,000 or less, based and operating in London. Organisations can apply for grants for Unrestricted costs, Core costs or Project costs (existing or new projects).
Our funding is for a minimum of 1 year and a maximum of 3 years. Our maximum grant for one year is £10,000. We apply a two-stage application for multi-year funding.
More information and application.
Creative Communities
Our Creative Communities fund will go towards supporting organisations, festivals, fairs and community groups that develop and deliver initiatives focusing on culture and creative arts in their local area.
For projects under £10,000 and under, the Hugo Burge Foundation is happy to fund the whole project. For applicants asking for more than £10,000, we ask that a minimum of 30% of the project budget is covered via alternate funding sources. The maximum award is £15,000.
We do have limited number of multiyear grants available which will provide funding for a maximum of 3 years.
We are accepting grants through Submittable from September 1st to September 30th.
More information and application.
Emerging Justice fund
Our Emerging Justice fund aims to create opportunities for ‘by and for’organisations to explore ways that the law could help them to achieve the change they seek.
Are you a community organisation that:
- Is ‘by and for’, that is, led by the communities you serve?
- Is working to protect and promote rights and equality?
- Would like to explore how to add legal tools to your campaigning work?
You will have some understanding of the law as it relates to the issues you are working on but may not have previously used the law as a tool for change.
You can apply at any time but we make decisions on grants under £50,000 four times a year and larger grants twice a year.
More information and application.
Funding for tackling the housing crisis
London has a housing crisis. We believe all Londoners should be able to live in a stable, good quality, affordable home close to their work, school or family.
Our tackling the housing crisis priority remains open for applications, but is very oversubscribed. Please read through all the information carefully to make sure you’re a fit and speak to the team before applying.
We will prioritise funding housing advice services for:
- existing relationships in outer London
- organisations with specialist, skilled staff
- advice organisations with established strong collaboration with local policy and community partners
More information and application.
Funding for racial justice
Race and poverty in the UK are clearly linked. Black Londoners are twice as likely to be in poverty as white Londoners.
The racial justice fund aims to change this by economically empowering Black and minority groups. It’s jointly funded by the City Bridge Foundation, Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales and Trust for London. Our focus is on long-term change. We’ll fund work that addresses the causes of racial injustice, not just the symptoms.
More information and application.
LGBT+ Fund: Collective Nurture Fund
Consortium are pleased to launch a new fund which focuses on supporting LGBT+ global majority community groups and organisations across the UK.
A total amount of £30,000 to distribute comes from a partnership with The Funding Network and GiveOut, under the badge of City for LGBT+ – a live crowdfunding event which is held annually.
The fund will close to new applications on Wednesday 3rd September 2025 at 12pm midday.
More information and application.
Deaf and Disabled people’s organisations fund, Lloyds Bank Foundation
This programme is for small and local charities, CICs and CIOs with an income between £25,000 to £500,000 that are led by and working with Deaf and Disabled people who are experiencing poverty. Organisations can apply for a three-year unrestricted grant of £75,000.
Your organisation will work directly with Deaf and Disabled people over the long term to support them to have more choice and control over their lives, access their rights and entitlements, and challenge the barriers they face.
The closing date for applications is 4 September 2025 at 5pm.
More information and application.
The National Mikey Powell Memorial Family Fund
On 7th September 2015, the twelfth anniversary of the death of Mikey Powell, who was killed in the custody of West Midlands Police, campaigning news group 4WardEver UK, (which was set up in June 2006 by his cousin Tippa Naphtali), launched the National Mikey Powell Memorial Family Fund (NMPMFF) online appeal.
The fund is the first permanent national resource of its kind for those affected by deaths and killings in state custody, making small grants available for families and their campaign groups across the UK to provide practical wellbeing and domestic assistance, to further the work of their own campaigns or to assist them in engaging in other local, regional or national campaigns, events and initiatives.
More information and application.
The Clothworkers Foundation
Our Open Grants Programme accepts applications from UK registered charities or not-for-profits and who meet our eligibility criteria, for funding towards capital projects (related to buildings purchase, construction, renovation or refurbishment; fittings, fixtures, and equipment; vehicles).
The work of the organisation must fit within one or more of our specified programme areas:
- Communities Experiencing Racial Inequalities
- Disabilities (including Mental Health & Visual Impairment)
- Domestic & Sexual Abuse
- Economic Disadvantage
- Homelessness
- LGBT+ Communities
- Older People Facing Disadvantage
- Prison & Rehabilitation
- Substance Misuse & Addiction
- Young People Facing Disadvantage
Deadline: ongoing.
More information and application.
Paul Hamlyn Foundation
The Paul Hamlyn Foundation works collaboratively with organisations and individuals who are working to build a just society. They often have several open grants programmes at once, focussing on arts, education and learning, migration and young people.
More information about open grants programmes via the Paul Hamlyn website.
National Lottery Community Fund programmes including Awards for All
The NLCF has reopened its “Awards for All” funding for Voluntary and Community Organisations in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. This funding aims to provide a quicker way to apply for smaller amounts of funding between £300-£10,000 for up to one year.
“Our funding can be used to deliver activities, but also to help your organisation recover, adapt and thrive. This includes supporting you to become more financially resilient and operate in a more digital world. We can cover core costs to help your organisation develop, share learning with others, support you to test activity designed to help your organisation work in new ways and help you better understand the difference you make.”
Deadline: this is an ongoing/rolling funding opportunity.
You can find out more about Awards for All and their other funding programmes via the NLCF website.
Blagrave Trust
The Blagrave Trust funds and collaborates with partners to bring lasting change to the lives of young people. They often have several open grants programmes at once, across four areas:
- Investing in youth organisations
- Investing in young people directly
- Investing in youth organising
- Investing in better youth policy
More information about open grants programmes via the Blagrave website.
Cost of Living Grants
Over recent months an increasing number of UK households have been struggling with rising prices for food, fuel and other essential goods leading to a cost of living crisis.
To alleviate the impact of the cost of living crisis, support organisations such as charities and community groups, as well as individuals can apply for a range of grants. Funding may be available from a range of sources including:
- Central Government
- Local Authorities
- Community Foundations
- Grant Making Bodies
The Andrew Wainwright Reform Trust
The objectives of the Trust are framed in general terms to work for a just and democratic society and to redress political and social injustices. It is a wide-ranging remit for reform, but the Trust will prioritise organisations that are ineligible for charitable funding because they are considered too political or radical to come within the Charity Commission’s guidelines. The Trust’s approach is similar to that of the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust with which it maintains informal links.
The Trust will support work undertaken at both regional and national level and may also consider pioneering projects operating on a more local basis that have a potentially wider impact.
Deadline: this is an ongoing/rolling funding opportunity with decisions being made at specific points in the year.
More information and apply via The Wainwright Trusts website.
The Critical Social Policy Solidarity Fund
Critical Social Policy has and continues to be a political project grounded in international socialist, feminist, anti-racist and radical perspectives, relating to the experiences of people struggling within or against the state within national and global contexts. The Critical Social Policy Solidarity Fund seeks to support activist projects that align with the aims and mission of Critical Social Policy.
The Critical Social Policy Solidarity Fund recognizes the struggles of resistance, emancipation, and political transformation for social justice in order to counteract unequal power relations of exclusion, subordination and domination, due to oppressive constructions of identity, representation and position. In a small, but hopefully effective way, The Critical Social Policy Solidarity Fund will enable activist, advocate, practitioner, and users of service groups in their actions to promote people before profit approaches to social policy, welfare and the state.
The Fund will support:
- Hard to fund activist projects.
- ‘Pump priming’ activism (small amount of funding provided to help lay the foundation for an activity)
- Overheads
- Activist training and development projects
- One off activist events
- Dissemination of activism
- Other activist projects
Deadline: this fund appears to be continually open but they state that they have a deadline each year of the 20th May.
More information and information on how to apply here.
City Bridge Trust
City Bridge Trust is London’s largest independent funder. Their vision is for London to be a city where all individuals and communities can thrive, especially those experiencing disadvantage and marginalisation.”
At any one time they usually have several open grants organised under different themes. Previous themes have included “deaf and disabled people: inclusive services and better access”, “mental health”, and “strengthening voice and leadership”.
Deadline: varied.
More information on City Bridge Funding programmes via their website.
Supporting Small Scale Change – The Wakeham Trust
The Wakeham Trust provides grants to help people rebuild their communities. They are particularly interested in neighbourhood projects, community arts projects, projects involving community service by young people, or projects set up by those who are socially excluded. They favour small projects – often, but not always, start-ups and they try to break the vicious circle whereby you have to be established to get funding from major charities, but you have to get funding to get established. The best way to understand the kinds of projects they support is to look at their website.
Application: Apply in writing by email
Deadline: ongoing.
Email: TheWakehamTrust@icloud.com
Funding for research – Wellcome
Wellcome funds research to improve life, health and wellbeing through new knowledge and understanding. They fund lead applicants at various stages of their research careers. They currently have strategic programmes around ‘Discovery Research‘ and also health challenge areas including mental health.