Funding

We support organisations to access funding and become financially sustainable through expert guidance and insights.

There are four pages to choose from to help with your funding. Click on the subject below to explore the different ways you can help fund your NGO.

FCDO and institutional grants

Below is a brief guide to funding from some of the largest open grant-funding options for UK-based NGOs including FCDO, Comic Relief, the Big Lottery Fund and the major trusts and foundations. For regularly updated forthcoming funding opportunities, please see the funding opportunities section and sign up to Bond’s newsletter.

FCDO funding

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) funds civil society organisations through several programmes:

UK Aid Connect

Aid Connect invites proposals from consortia of CSOs together with think tanks and public, private and third-sector organisations for funding to help find solutions to complex situations across FCDO’s priority countries. Applications are made through a one-stage process – the submission of a proposal by the consortium lead.

The Terms of Reference for each of the themes set out the background on UK Aid Connect and the process for submitting the proposal.

Applications for Aid Connect are currently closed.

Small Charities Challenge Fund

Small Charities Challenge Fund (SCCF) project grants were launched in July 2017 and closed on 25 March 2021. Applications were reviewed six monthly and there were eight funding round reviews.

Grants of up to £50,000 were available for projects of up to 2 years, and applications for funding were submitted via the UK Aid Direct website.

Applications for the Small Charities Challenge Fund are currently closed.

Find out more

UK Aid Match

UK Aid Match brings charities, the British public and the UK government together to collectively change the lives of some of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people. It is designed to allow the British public to have a say in how UK aid is spent and provide opportunities to engage with international development issues while boosting the impact of the very best civil society projects to reach the poorest people in developing countries.

Applications for UK Aid Match are currently closed.

Find out more

UK Aid Direct

Funded by the UK Government’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, UK Aid Direct supports small and medium-sized civil society organisations to achieve sustained poverty reduction and to achieve the United Nations’ Global Goals.

As of March 2021, 7.9 million people had been supported in 46 countries.

Applications for UK Aid Direct grants are currently closed.

Community partnership grants Impact grant

In-Country funding

FCDO has decentralised country offices around the world which also distribute funding, some of which is available for international NGOs. For the contact details for country offices, go to the country profile page. It is generally not possible to find out about funding opportunities from FCDO country offices here in the UK, but it is possible to see what kind of activities are being funded or planned by searching on AidData.

Find out more

Further reading

FCDO’s Funder Finder is a comprehensive searchable website of all their funding opportunities.

FCDO country offices have all published a country profile. The profiles set out: why FCDO is investing in a country; what UK aid has achieved; what UK aid expects to achieve looking ahead; how FCDO is supporting countries to transition from aid; what is being achieved for the UK; who FCDO is working with; and their country spending plans over the financial years 2017/18 to 2018/2019. This is helpful as it will outline the priorities and programmes that the country office is going to procure.

Try FCDO Funder Finder

Responsible funding series

In late 2021, Bond hosted an exploratory discussion with INGOs and their partners on how organisations can fundraise more responsibly, highlighting the challenges organisations face as they transform how they fundraise.

Find out more

Last year, Bond also collated a series of case studies to help INGOs understand that business models are not just about organisational sustainability; they can also help support strategic objectives and values and shift power to local communities.

Find out more

The National Lottery Community Fund

The National Lottery Community Fund is a government-appointed body responsible for distributing the National Lottery’s profits. Between 2009 and March 2015, the BLF’s International Communities programme was their main source of funding for projects overseas. They have since re-strategised and are now focused on disability and livelihoods with the majority of their portfolio in East Africa through the East Africa Disability Fund. They don’t have any funding open at the moment.

More on National Lottery grants

Comic Relief

Comic Relief is one of the largest UK donors for international development they focus on promoting a just world free from poverty.

Comic Relief focuses its work on four main thematic areas: children survive and thrive, global mental health matters, fighting for gender justice and a safe place to be. They also support social tech investments and sport-for-change approaches that cut across core issues.

Comic Relief operates in all four nations in the UK and key priority countries around the world which include: Sierra Leone, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zimbabwe, India, Nepal and Bangladesh. They aim to split their funding 50/50 between the UK and rest of the world.

More on Comic Relief grants

Contracts and tenders

For those interested in contracts from the major aid agencies, the Development Aid website offers a resource that provides a list of current tenders.

Find out more

Further resources and support