Charitable grants are one-off payments, goods or services you never repay. This starter guide explains who offers them, how to search for funds that fit your circumstances and what applying involves.
Need to know
- A charitable grant is money, goods or services from a charity that you never repay, and most funds help people who cannot claim benefits.
- Funds set their own eligibility criteria, often based on low income, past or current work, health conditions, location or family circumstances.
- Free search tools such as the Turn2us Grants Search cover more than 1,500 grant-giving charities; search separately for each family member.
- Charities will not usually fund debts, legal fees, luxury items or costs you have already paid, and most expect you to claim all benefits first.
- If a charity turns you down, council welfare assistance, benefit advances and other funds remain options; you can apply to more than one charity.
If a broken fridge, a gap in your income or an unexpected bill has left you short, a charitable grant is one option worth checking before you borrow anything. Grants are one-off payments, goods or services from charities and trusts that you never have to pay back. This guide explains how they work, who offers them and what applying involves.
What a Charitable Grant Is and Why You Never Repay It
A grant is financial assistance given by a charitable organisation, often called a grant-giving fund, to someone in need. It can arrive as money, as a product such as a cooker or a bed, or as a service. Whatever form it takes, there is nothing to repay and no interest or charges. That is the main difference between a grant and every borrowing option, including interest-free ones. A budgeting advance, for example, charges no interest but is still deducted from your future benefits payments, as we explain in Budgeting Loans and Advances: Interest-Free Help With Essential Costs.
Every fund sets its own qualifying rules, usually called eligibility criteria: the conditions you must meet before it can consider helping you. In general you will need to show financial need or a low income, but each charity applies its own version of that test. A number of funds extend help to family members connected to someone they already support, including partners, former partners and children who depend on them, so a fund built around one person’s job or condition may help the whole household.
One point worth knowing early: if your immigration status means you cannot claim welfare benefits, often described as having no recourse to public funds, that does not stop you applying to a charitable fund. Most funds exist precisely to help people who cannot claim benefits. And if a grant cannot be found and you do end up weighing up credit instead, our guide to Alternatives to Payday Loans: What to Consider First sets out the options in order of cost.
Who Offers Grants: Charities, Trusts and Occupational Funds
Grant makers fall into three broad groups. General charities help people in financial need who share something in common, such as a health condition, a job history or where they live. Occupational funds support people who work or worked in particular jobs; examples include the Retail Trust for people in retail, the Teaching Staff Trust for those with at least five years behind them in a school or nursery role, and CABA for chartered accountants and their dependants. Military charities generally help those with a service background in the forces or the Merchant Navy, covering people who did National Service or served in the Home Guard, and frequently their relatives too.
Charities are not the only source of help you never repay. Councils run their own schemes for people facing a financial crisis, which we cover separately in Getting Started With Local Welfare Assistance Schemes.
Some funds give cash and let you choose what to buy. Others provide the item itself or a voucher. Three examples of funds that help with household essentials:
| Fund | Who it can help | Typical help |
|---|---|---|
| Family Fund | Households in the UK caring for a child with a disability or a serious illness; its Emergency Essentials Fund helps children and young people up to 18 in a crisis and accepts direct applications | Essential household items, including furniture |
| Glasspool | People in financial need | Many small awards covering appliances such as fridges and washing machines, beds and bedding, children’s clothes and items for babies |
| Buttle UK | Children and young people and their families or carers | Support that can include beds and wider packages, with applications submitted by a registered support worker |
How to Search for Grants You Might Qualify For
You do not need to know which charity helps people like you before you start. Free search tools do the matching for you. The Turn2us Grants Search, for instance, covers more than 1,500 grant-giving charities and asks for basic details such as your age and postcode, then narrows the results using your circumstances, including the work you do now or did in the past and any health conditions you have. The information you enter is anonymous and is not shared with anyone. The Lightning Reach Portal is another free tool that matches people to grant opportunities and other support, such as cheaper energy tariffs and school uniform grants.
Because funds help people with a shared background, run a search for each person who might qualify. You can also apply to more than one charity at the same time, so a single search is rarely the whole picture.
Helpful step
Search separately for yourself, your partner and any child or adult you care for. Each search can return different funds, and searching for a dependant sometimes opens doors that your own search does not.
What Applications Usually Ask For
Each charity runs its own process and should tell you what it needs. Requests vary, but commonly include:
- why you need the money
- what money comes into the household, from working and from benefits alike (for example Carer’s Allowance, Tax Credits, the State Retirement Pension and workplace or personal pensions)
- what you hold in savings, investments and other assets, sometimes backed up with recent bank statements
Some charities ask a professional to apply on your behalf, such as a social worker, health visitor or GP, or an advice organisation. Without a support worker of your own, your local Citizens Advice office should be able to help you put an application together. Before spending time on any form, check that you meet the fund’s eligibility criteria. Charities apply firm rules about who they can assist, and applying to a fund whose rules exclude you wastes effort on both sides.
What Grants Typically Cover, and What They Don’t
Grants are aimed at needs, not wants. Depending on the fund, help can cover food, clothing, household goods and appliances, disability equipment, travel costs, and housing maintenance, repairs or removal costs. Funds normally cap the size of an award.
Just as useful is knowing what charities will not pay for. Most will not fund luxury items, foreign holidays, legal fees or debts. Most will not pay for items or services you have already bought, so if you are thinking of buying something first and claiming the cost back afterwards, research grants before you spend. Most charities will also only help if you are already claiming all the benefits you are entitled to, and they expect the council, the NHS or a government scheme to cover anything that falls within their responsibilities rather than filling that gap themselves.
If You’re Turned Down: Other Avenues to Try
A refusal does not mean you did anything wrong. Funds have fixed budgets and narrow rules, and some run out of money before the year ends. If one fund says no, apply to others.
Council help is the next obvious stop. Local welfare assistance schemes provide grants, vouchers or goods for people on low incomes facing a financial crisis, and each part of the UK runs things differently. In England, this support sits within the Crisis and Resilience Fund; Scotland runs the Scottish Welfare Fund; Northern Ireland has the Discretionary Support Fund. You do not have to be receiving benefits to get help from your council.
If a grant is not available and you claim benefits, an advance on your benefits can bridge a gap, though it is repaid from your future payments. Your local council, and schemes run by energy and water companies, may also offer help with bills and essentials that sits alongside anything a charity provides.
A sensible first step is to set aside fifteen minutes to enter your details into a free grants search tool and note down two or three funds that look like a match.
Your questions answered
Q: Do I have to repay a charitable grant?
A: No. Grants are given as money, products or services and never have to be paid back, with no interest or charges attached.
Q: Can I apply for a grant if I have no recourse to public funds?
A: Yes. Most charitable funds help people who cannot claim welfare benefits because of their immigration status, so a fund application is still possible.
Q: How much can I get from a charity grant?
A: Amounts vary by fund and there is usually a cap on the size of an award. Some funds give cash, while others provide the item itself or a voucher.
Q: What happens if I am turned down?
A: A refusal is not a judgment on you; funds have limited budgets and strict rules. You can apply to other charities and check your local council’s welfare assistance scheme.
This guide is general information, not financial advice. Late repayment can cause you serious money problems. For help, go to moneyhelper.org.uk. We don’t arrange loans or work with lenders. Before borrowing, check the lender is authorised on the FCA register, and consider free debt advice from MoneyHelper, StepChange, National Debtline or Citizens Advice.