By Vedat Mizrahi, Co-founder · 22 June 2026

Grants with no deadline: UK funders you can apply to any time (June 2026) — and the ones that only look open

"Rolling" is one of the most misleading words in grant funding. A directory tags a programme "rolling, no deadline" and leaves it there for a year — but some of those funds open in fixed rounds, some have quietly closed because the money ran out, and some never took open applications at all. I'm Vedat Mizrahi, co-founder of GrantNest. In the week up to 21 June 2026 we re-checked the main UK funders on their own websites. Here are the ones you genuinely can apply to at any time right now — and, just as usefully, the "rolling" funds that are actually shut today.

Genuinely open, any time — verified on the funder's own page

1. The National Lottery Community Fund — England (UK-wide variants too)

The largest open door for most UK charities. Two England programmes are both open with no deadline, verified 21 June 2026:

• Awards for All England — £300–£20,000, projects up to two years, decision in about 16 weeks.
• Reaching Communities England — £20,001 upwards, projects up to five years, decision in about 40 weeks. One change worth knowing: since 1 June 2026 Reaching Communities funds single-region projects only — it no longer takes national or multi-region applications.

• Fits: community and health/social-care charities of almost any size that want flexible project funding and can wait for the decision window.
• Doesn't fit: organisations needing money in a hurry — even the smaller award takes around four months.

2. Garfield Weston Foundation — UK-wide

Open on a rolling basis with no deadlines, verified 21 June 2026, at two levels:

• Regular Grants — up to £100,000 for core, project or capital costs; you complete an eligibility quiz, then apply online, with a decision in roughly four months.
• Major Grants — £100,000+, but only where the total project cost is £1m or more (and core-cost applicants need income of £1m+). It runs as an Expression of Interest with bespoke guidance within 10 working days.

• Fits: UK registered charities and CIOs working across welfare, youth, community, arts, faith, environment, education, health, museums and heritage.
• Doesn't fit: very early-stage or unregistered groups — and Major Grants are genuinely for large capital and project budgets.

3. Esmée Fairbairn Foundation — UK-wide

A rolling Expression of Interest with no deadline, verified 16 June 2026. The main grants programme starts at £30,000 with no upper limit, over three to five years, for core, project or unrestricted costs. Read the exclusions before you start: it does not fund organisations with turnover under £100k, capital costs, healthcare, religious activity, independent education, or grants under £30,000.

• Fits: established charities (turnover £100k+) working in environment, culture, or social-change priorities and wanting substantial, longer-term funding.
• Doesn't fit: smaller organisations under the £100k turnover floor, or anyone seeking capital or healthcare funding.

4. Paul Hamlyn Foundation — UK-wide

Three funds open on a rolling basis, verified 16 June 2026, with decisions in around four months — PHF explicitly prioritises work outside London:

• Youth Fund — up to £150,000 over three years for charitable work with young people aged 14–25.
• Migration Fund — multi-year funding for work with and for migrants.
• Arts-based Learning Fund — £30,000–£300,000 over one to four years for arts organisations and schools.

5. BBC Children in Need — UK-wide, under-18s

Both streams state "no application deadline — apply at any time," verified 16 June 2026, for work with children and young people aged 18 and under. Core (organisational) costs run to £40,000 a year (up to £120,000 over three years) but only for organisations with turnover under £1m; Project costs are £1,000–£40,000 a year for up to three years. Both start with an Expression of Interest.

6. National Lottery Heritage Fund — UK-wide

For heritage projects, Heritage Grants of £10,000–£250,000 are rolling with no deadline and an eight-week decision, verified 14 June 2026. Note the contrast that proves the point of this article: the fund's larger tier (£250,000–£10m) is not rolling — it runs to fixed deadlines, with the next at noon on 6 August 2026.

"Rolling" in a directory, but closed today

These are the entries that catch charities out. Each one is commonly listed as open or rolling somewhere — and each was verified shut to new applications when we last checked it:

• Greggs Foundation — Community Action Fund. Often listed as rolling; the funder's own page says it "opens for funding four times a year" and was closed to new applications on 16 June 2026. It is round-based and location-restricted per round — not open all year.
• Henry Smith Charity — Holiday Grants. The funder's page states it is closed for this period "as the funds have been allocated." It reopens on 20 August 2026 (for trips between 1 October and 31 December). Checked 18 June 2026.
• Volant Charitable Trust — Large Grants. Closed to new applicants and reopening in July 2026; only Volant's Small Grants programme is open now. Checked 15 June 2026.
• The Fore. Not rolling at all — it runs registration windows. The next one opens at noon on 8 July and closes at noon on 15 July 2026. Checked 8 June 2026.

And two big names that take no open applications regardless of what aggregators say: the Pears Foundation ("we are an invitation-only foundation") and the Tudor Trust, which now researches and invites partners rather than accepting requests.

The point: a "rolling" tag is a starting guess, not a status

Genuinely rolling funders — the National Lottery Community Fund, Garfield Weston, Esmée Fairbairn, Paul Hamlyn, BBC Children in Need — are a gift, because you apply when you're ready. But "rolling" copied from last year's listing is exactly how charities waste an afternoon on a fund that closed in spring. The only reliable test is the funder's own page, on the day you apply.

That's what every programme on our open-grants list carries: a plain-English status and a last-checked date, read off the funder's own site rather than a directory. If you'd like the new open calls that fit your charity — and a heads-up when a round like The Fore's actually opens — the free Friday email below is the simplest way to stay current.