Our vision is to transform communities by making Jesus known, through providing grant funding and support to Christian charities.

Our current focus is on providing support for community-focused initiatives in areas of deprivation within the UK.

We are willing to fund both new and existing work (including staffing and other running costs): for a smaller charity, this may comprise its entire operation.

We would always expect to see:

  • A project that is working towards the advancement of the Christian faith, transforming communities by making Jesus known.
  • A project working in an area of deprivation – i.e., where the community has been negatively impacted by any or all of the following Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) categories: income, employment, education, health/disability, crime, barriers to housing/services and living environments.
  • Applications from small to mid-sized charities, registered and working in the UK and operating at grassroots level, with clear management and governance in place (including a minimum of three trustees).
  • A clear project that needs support of between £10-£50k/year (for up to 3 years) and with a maximum of 50% of project funding coming from the Trust.
  • A project that isn’t about the purchase of property or building work.

We would usually expect to see:

  • Charities that have a charitable object relating to promotion of the Christian faith.
  • A project that is working in one of the more deprived areas of the UK, defined as the project postcode being in Decile 1 (most deprived) to Decile 4, out of the 10 deciles within the government Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) for England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.
  • Charities with an annual income of less than £1m.
  • Other funding already raised, or clear plans as to the funding pipeline.

For some examples of the kinds of projects which The Lauderdale Trust is currently funding, please see our case studies.

The Lauderdale Trust is committed to engaging in meaningful relationships with the charities with whom we partner. For us this means:

  • Being willing to fund with larger amounts (between £10,000 and £50,000 per year)
  • Offering multi-year funding (for up to three years)
  • Allowing budgets to incorporate inflationary increases
  • Allowing successful applicants to re-apply once their award has ended without requiring a gap
  • Asking for regular but light-touch reporting and prayer points
  • Engaging with the charity during the lifetime of the award, including visits where that is possible without disrupting the work

That said, only a limited amount of funds may be deployed for grant support within any given financial year: this means that, unfortunately, we are unable to fund more than 50% of project costs in relation to any individual application; in addition, a significant number of applications will not receive grant funding even if they fit within the priorities and criteria of the Trust. We will always keep projects informed about the outcome of their application.