John Lyon’s Charity gives grants to a range of charities and organisations with automatic charitable status that strive to support the life-chances of children and young people up to the age of 25 (or 30 for those with special needs or disabilities) through education. If you are a charity, this section will tell you all you need to know about the Charity’s eligibility criteria and available grants below.

I f you are unsure if you are eligible, then please click on our Eligibility Quiz or visit our FAQs for more information. The Charity does consider applications from schools, but these must be made directly by the school and not by any external fundraising arm like a PTA. If you are a school and interested in our funding opportunities, then please click here.

To be eligible to apply for one of the grants below, you must be a registered charity or have automatic charitable status. Your charity must also operate within the following areas - Barnet, Brent, Camden, Ealing, Harrow, Hammersmith & Fulham, Kensington & Chelsea, the City of Westminster and the City of London.

Who we Fund

Registered charities including Charitable Incorporated Organisations (CIOs)
Exempt charities (i.e. churches)
National organisations with a demonstrable track record and reputation in the Charity’s Beneficial Area

What we fund

John Lyon’s Charity is a flexible funder and grants can be used in a variety of ways. We will support core revenue costs, some salary costs as well as project costs, regardless of whether the project is new or well-established. See types of support below:

A general contribution to the core running costs of an organisation that operates specifically with young people in the Charity’s Beneficial Area. This could be used for overheads (rent, heat, light etc), a contribution towards salary costs not relating to specific projects, or other things that cannot be funded through other sources.

Salary costs - A contribution towards salary costs for roles that engage with young people either in the delivery, planning or coordination of a project or organisation.

Direct project costs - Costs associated with the direct delivery of specific projects. This could be broken down into the following:

Equipment and project related IT
Food
Marketing / Advertising
Sessional staffing costs
Travel
Venue hire
Volunteer expenses

It is also possible to include an element of an organisation’s core running costs and overheads in the project budget as long as this is transparent, proportional and includes an explanation of what this includes.

Capacity Building - We will offer support for organisations to help them better deliver projects in accordance with the Charity’s principles. This can range from PR and media support, training to support supplementary schools and building capacity in the Children and Young People’s sector.

Who we do not fund

Community Interest Companies (CIC) and other legal entities not registered as charities
Not-for-profit organisations that are not registered charities
Registered charities that have applied on behalf of organisations that are not registered with the Charity Commission
PTAs and school fundraising bodies (see School funding criteria here)
Individuals
National charities with no track record of delivery in the Charity’s Beneficial Area
Registered Social Landlords
Hospitals, hospices or Clinical Commissioning Groups
Grant-making organisations

What we do not fund