By Vedat Mizrahi, Co-founder · 12 June 2026

We re-checked four big-name funders this week. Only one is truly open to applications.

If your funding spreadsheet still says "Trust for London — apply any time" or "Tudor Trust — rolling applications", this post will save you a wasted application. On 12 June 2026 we verified the current position of four well-known UK funders on their own websites — not from a database, not from a cached listing. Two of the four no longer accept applications at all, and one has quietly changed what it funds in a way that rules out a large share of the charities still applying. I'm Vedat Mizrahi, co-founder of GrantNest; here's what we found, with the caveats that matter.

Full disclosure first: one of these checks caught our own listing being out of date. We'd rather tell you that than pretend otherwise — it's the whole reason we re-verify.

1. Trust for London — open, but not for the work most applicants pitch

Trust for London still runs rolling applications (an expression of interest, then a second stage — shortlisting takes around two months, decisions around four). So "open" is technically true. But their October 2025 funding update changed the substance: the Trust now funds root-cause and systems-change work only. Projects that are advice or service delivery alone — running a foodbank, delivering a counselling service, frontline casework with nothing aimed at changing the underlying system — are no longer what they fund. Their migration priority is closed to applications pending review, and the disability and racial justice funds operate their own processes, so check each fund's page. Work must benefit Londoners.

• Fits: London organisations tackling the causes of poverty and inequality — policy, campaigning, organising, or services designed explicitly to change a system, with project or unrestricted funding typically in the tens of thousands.
• Doesn't fit: service-delivery-only projects, however good — and anything outside London. If your application describes what you deliver but not what you're trying to change, rework it or look elsewhere.

This is the listing we had wrong: until this week our record said "rolling — apply any time" with none of these caveats. It's corrected on our open-grants list now, with the date we checked.

2. Foundation Scotland — genuinely open, several funds live right now

The clear "yes" of the four. Foundation Scotland's portal showed seven Scotland-wide funds available when we checked, alongside dozens of local funds searchable by council area. Among the live national ones: the Essentia Foundation Fund (up to £3,000 for children and young people's health and employment work) and the Cockaigne Fund (up to £5,000 for music). One flag: the Social Investment Fund (up to £250,000) is blended grant-and-loan — it's investment, not a pure grant, so read the repayment terms before treating it as grant income.

• Fits: Scottish charities and community groups of most sizes — the local-authority-area funds are particularly accessible for small organisations.
• Doesn't fit: organisations outside Scotland, and anyone who can't take on repayment shouldn't reach for the Social Investment Fund just because the number is big.

3. Pears Foundation — invitation only, in their own words

The Pears Foundation homepage states it plainly: "We are an invitation-only foundation." They identify partners through their own research and networks, and they do not accept applications. No hidden side door, no EOI form. If a funding list shows Pears as somewhere to apply, that list hasn't been checked.

• What to do instead: nothing application-shaped. Do good work, be visible in your field, and put your application hours into funders who actually read applications.

4. The Tudor Trust — no open applications under the new model

Tudor has completed its transformation to a learning-led, invitation-based model under its racial-justice "Change We Seek" strategy. The Trust researches and invites partners; conversations replace applications. Their own site says it "cannot respond meaningfully to speculative requests for funding." Plenty of databases still describe Tudor's old open programme — that programme is gone. We'll re-check if they announce an open round.

The pattern, and what it costs you

Four household-name funders, four different answers: one fully open (Foundation Scotland), one open-but-narrowed (Trust for London), two closed to applications entirely (Pears, Tudor). A directory that lists all four as "grant-makers to approach" isn't lying — it's just describing 2023. The cost lands on the small charity that spends two days on a Tudor application nobody will read, or pitches a service-delivery project at a funder that now only funds systems change.

Our rule stays the same: every entry on our list is verified on the funder's own page and carries a last-checked date — and when we get one wrong, we say so and fix it. Always read the funder's page before you write a word.