Grant Giving Policy

All grants must meet our principal objective of providing support for people with learning disabilities.
To achieve this, grants are awarded to UK registered or exempt charities and community interest groups that provide services principally to people with mild to moderate needs.
We can also provide support to individuals especially where gifts or legacies have been received accompanied by a Letter of Wishes.

Key Priorities for Support

The following services are eligible for support:
- Residential Care
- Supported Living
- Day Services
- Social Enterprises
- Employment Initiatives
- Skills Training
- Support for Family Carers
- Transition Services for young adults

Grants

These can be awarded for both capital and revenue programmes either as a one off grant or for up to three consecutive years (reviewed each year). This we believe enables organisations to plan ahead with some degree of certainty. Whilst we support current ongoing work we are particularly interested in supporting the developments that enhance independence, social inclusion and support for carers.

We do not accept unsolicited applications so please do not submit an application or make a specific request unless invited to do so. However if your organisation’s turnover is between £1m and £20m and your service or project meets our criteria please forward background information of your work to the secretary to the trustees at:
PO Box 59, Holsworthy, EX22 9BB.

You should include brief information (not exceeding 1000 words) about your work, for example; activities, geographical area covered and annual turnover. At this stage an annual review is not required. The information which you provide will remain on file and be reviewed within our research programme when a new funding window opens.

Main Support

We aim to ensure the most effective use of our funds. With this in mind the main support will be directed towards 6 to 10 charities with an annual turnover of between £1m and £25m. Annual grants of up to £30k are made and can be awarded for up to 3 years. These limitations may be altered at the discretion of the trustees.

The next round of grant making will become available for the year starting April 2026 and applications in line with our grant-making criteria should be received by 30 September 2025.

If your organisation is considered for future support you will be invited to make a formal application using our own application form. Applications are then shortlisted and if selected a visit along with an assessment may be carried out. Once assessments have been completed trustees meet and make a final decision on which charities to support.

The Townsend Discretionary Fund

In recognition of the massive contribution of the Townsend family to the establishment and continued success of Forbes the Trustees have set up a small grants programme to provide one-off grants of up to £5,000. Charities which meet the same5 objectives as in our main grant programme are eligible to apply.

If you would like to apply for consideration of funding from the Townsend Discretionary Fund please use the relevant form above. Please note that we have limited funds available each year to meet such requests.

Reporting

Organisations selected for main grants will be required to report regularly on the progress and outcomes arising from our funding. Progress will be measured against a set of performance criteria agreed with the grantee charity at the time of the grant.