John Lyon’s Charity awards grants to a range of organisations that seek to promote the life-chances of children and young people through education. Please see the following types of organisations we fund below:

• Registered charities including CIOs (charitable incorporated organisations)
• Local authorities  in limited circumstances. Please get in touch with the Grants Team for further information
• Exempt charities (i.e. churches)
• National organisations with a track record and reputation in the Charity’s Beneficial Area

Schools

Primary, secondary and special schools within the Beneficial Area are all eligible to apply to any of our Grant Funds, specifically:

• State maintained schools with an open admissions policy
• Independent schools with charitable status can apply

Please note – Schools must be Ofsted / ISI inspected.

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 and includes an explanation of what this includes.

Apprenticeships

We will provide funding for apprenticeships in the charitable sector in vocations not covered by government programmes, such as the Arts.  Funding can be used as a contribution towards salary costs where statutory funding programmes create a shortfall for an organisation.

Equipment

Grants can be used as a contribution towards specialist pieces of equipment that are not paid for by statutory sources.  Applications may also be made by voluntary sector organisations for small items of IT e.g. laptops.

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.

• Community Interest Companies (CIC)
• Individuals
• Organisations that do not have charitable status or those acting as a conduit
• National charities with no track record of delivery in the Charity’s Beneficial Area
• Not-for-profit organisations that are not registered charities
• Registered Social Landlords
• Schools that have not yet been inspected by Ofsted
• State maintained schools which do not have an open admissions policy
• Hospitals, hospices or Clinical Commissioning Groups
• Registered charities that have applied on behalf of organisations that are not registered with the Charity Commission