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 the FCDO, Comic Relief, the National Lottery Fund and other 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 FCDO funds civil society organisations through several programmes:

UK Aid Connect

Aid Connect invites funding proposals from consortia of CSOs, together with think tanks and public, private and third-sector organisations, to help find solutions to complex situations across FCDO priority countries. Applications are made through a one-stage process, with proposals submitted 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 in 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 two 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 people in the world who are most in need of support. It is designed to allow the British public to have a say in how UK aid is spent and provides opportunities to engage with international development issues while boosting the impact of civil society projects to reach people with the fewest resources in developing countries.

Applications for UK Aid Match are currently closed.

Find out more

UK Aid Direct

Funded by the FCDO, UK Aid Direct supports small and medium-sized civil society organisations to deliver sustained poverty reduction and achieve the United Nations’ Global Goals.

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

Applications for UK Aid Direct grants are currently closed.

Community partnership grants Impact grant

In-country funding

The FCDO has decentralised country offices around the world. Each distributes funding, some of which is available for INGOs. For country office contact details, 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

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

FCDO country offices all have a Funder Finder profile. This outlines why the FCDO is investing in a country and its country spending plans. This is helpful as it shows each country office’s priorities and programmes.

Try the Funder Finder

Responsible funding series

In 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

Bond has 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 2015, its International Communities programme was its main source of funding for projects overseas. The National Lottery then re-strategised to focus on disability and livelihoods, with the majority of its support directed to East Africa through the East Africa Disability Fund. It doesn’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 and focuses on promoting a just world, free from poverty.

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

Comic Relief operates across the UK and in key priority countries. These countries include Sierra Leone, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zimbabwe, India, Nepal and Bangladesh. It aims to split its 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 provides a list of current tenders.

Find out more

Further resources and support