By Vedat Mizrahi, Co-founder · 11 June 2026

Five UK grant programmes genuinely open right now (June 2026) — and who they actually fit

Lists of "open grants" are everywhere. Lists where someone has actually checked the funder's own page this week are rarer. This is the second kind: every programme below was verified as open on the funder's own website on 7 or 8 June 2026, by us. I'm Vedat Mizrahi, co-founder of GrantNest, and in keeping with how we do things, each entry includes who it does not fit — because the wrong application costs you more than no application.

One caveat before we start: things change. A funder can close a round the day after we check. Always read the funder's page before you write a word — that's why we link them.

1. The National Lottery Community Fund — Reaching Communities England and Awards for All

Two open, rolling programmes from the UK's biggest community funder. Awards for All England covers £300 to £20,000 with a decision in around sixteen weeks. Reaching Communities England picks up above £20,000 for larger, longer projects — decisions take much longer, so plan accordingly.

• Fits: community organisations of almost any size doing work led by, and shaped with, the people they serve. Awards for All in particular is one of the most accessible grants in England.
• Doesn't fit: work that can't show genuine community involvement, and anyone needing a fast decision on a large amount — Reaching Communities is deliberately slow and thorough.
• Tip: if your ask is near £20,000, consider whether Awards for All's simpler process serves you better than stretching into Reaching Communities territory.

2. Garfield Weston Foundation — Regular Grants

Rolling, no deadline, up to £100,000 for core, project or capital costs, with a decision in roughly four months. The breadth of causes is unusual: welfare, youth, community, arts, faith, environment, education, health, museums and heritage.

• Fits: UK registered charities and CIOs with a clear track record, including those needing unglamorous core funding.
• Doesn't fit: organisations that aren't registered charities or CIOs, and anyone needing more than £100,000 — the Major Grants stream above that has much stiffer requirements, including £1m+ income for core-cost applicants.
• Tip: start with their online eligibility quiz before drafting anything. It takes minutes and saves the classic wasted afternoon.

3. Esmée Fairbairn Foundation — main funding

A rolling expression-of-interest process, no deadline. Grants start at £30,000 (no fixed maximum), typically run three to five years, and can be core, project or unrestricted — genuinely flexible money for organisations working on their priorities.

• Fits: established organisations whose work sits squarely within Esmée's published priorities and who want multi-year, flexible funding.
• Doesn't fit: this is the entry with the sharpest edges. Organisations with turnover under £100,000 are not funded. Capital costs are not funded. Asks under £30,000 are not funded. If any of those describe you, don't spend an hour on the EOI — it's a hard no, not a maybe.
• Tip: read their thirteen priority areas before anything else. Esmée funds against their strategy, not yours; the fit has to be theirs.

4. BBC Children in Need — Core Costs

No application deadline — apply at any time, via an expression of interest. This funds the running costs of organisations working with disadvantaged children and young people, with a panel deciding twice a year.

• Fits: smaller organisations whose work with children and young people is the heart of what they do, and who need help keeping the lights on rather than launching something new.
• Doesn't fit: there's a hard cap — organisations with turnover of £1 million or more can't apply to this stream. And if children and young people are a side strand of your work rather than the centre of it, you'll struggle.
• Tip: "core costs" here means exactly that. Use the EOI to show the difference your whole organisation makes to children's lives, not to pitch a project in disguise.

5. The Robertson Trust — Wee Grants and Small Grants (Scotland)

Scotland only, with a focus on poverty and trauma. The streams are sized by your income, which makes self-screening unusually easy: Wee Grants (up to £5,000) are for organisations with annual income under £30,000; Small Grants are for organisations with income between £30,000 and £200,000.

• Fits: small Scottish charities and community groups working on poverty or trauma — including very small, volunteer-led ones, which the Wee Grants stream exists precisely to serve.
• Doesn't fit: anyone outside Scotland, full stop. And check your income band carefully — applying to the wrong stream is the most common own goal here.
• Tip: be explicit about the poverty or trauma link in your work. It's their stated focus, and applications that leave it implicit make the assessor do the work.

These five will go stale too — eventually

Everything above was true on the funder's own page when we checked on 7–8 June 2026. It will not stay true forever; that's how grants work, and it's exactly why we built our open-grants list to be re-checked rather than published once and left to rot. Each entry on it links the funder's own page and shows the date we last verified it.

The free, verified list of open UK grants is here — and the funder's page, linked from every entry, always gets the final word.