We offer grants through 2 funding rounds each financial year. The first funding round of 2026 has now opened with a closing date of 3rd May and payouts early August 2026. There is a strict limit to the funds that we make available for each round, so aim to make as good a case as possible as demand is high: success is not guaranteed, even to perfectly worthy and eligible applications. We strongly recommend reading the Notes to Applicants to help make your case a strong one and if you have any further questions, do not hesitate to contact us at info@freshwaterfoundation.org.uk for advice.

Once your application is received we will contact you shortly afterwards about next steps (see below, Deciding on your Application). If your application is successful, we will however not be releasing the monies until after all the applications have been processed and the board has made its decision as to those it deems most worthy to receive funds. You will therefore need to ensure that you only apply for monies that will be needed at the earliest for mid-August 2026 – during the application process, we will advise you of when the funds will be available for that particular round.

Before making your application, make sure you are eligible to receive monies from us:

a) Are You Eligible to Apply?

  • Important Notice: If you are applying as a group from Hounslow or Hillingdon, please take note of the extra criteria shown below in bold italics – these are due to the way we are currently being funded for our work in those boroughs. For more information about these extra criteria, please contact us at info@freshwaterfoundation.org.uk. 
  • Are you a voluntary or community organisation engaging in charitable work? This does not necessarily mean having charitable status, but the project you want funded must be considered charitable according to the charitable purposes set out in law.
  • If you are from Ealing you just need to be a constituted group (you do not need to be registered or otherwise incorporated)? If you are not, we can often help you constitute during the application procedure (to discuss further, or if you are unsure if you are constituted, contact us at info@freshwaterfoundation.org.uk). If you are from Hounslow or Hillingdon you must be incorporated as a CIO, CIC, registered charity or incorporated social enterprise (company limited by guarantee pursuing solely charitable aims) – solely constituted groups are not at present eligible to apply in those boroughs. If you are not incorporated, then we can help with the process of making you so, although this may take some time.
  • Is the proposed spending for a project (whether new or ongoing), or for development or infrastructure (capital)? We would prefer to fund projects where we can see the impact and value to the local community rather than providing day-to-day running costs for your group, although revenue costs will be permitted if needed to support the activity the grant is for. With new groups, we want to help you get started and so have more flexibility. Contact us at info@freshwaterfoundation.org.uk if you have any questions about this.
  • The group must be based in Ealing, Hounslow or Hillingdon, the project must concern the needs of communities in Ealing, Hounslow or Hillingdon and the group should ideally do the bulk of their work in those boroughs. In certain circumstances (at the charity’s discretion), we will consider applications where the bulk of the work of the group is not done within Ealing, Hounslow or Hillingdon. However, a group of people within one or more of the boroughs must benefit very substantially from the the project and your organisation must have strong links to one or more of those boroughs. To discuss further, contact us at info@freshwaterfoundation.org.uk.
  • Is the amount required under £2000? Sorry, but we will not fund amounts above this non-negotiable limit. However, you can apply for funds up to this limit over a maximum of 2 grant rounds (e.g. £1000 for a current project and then the remaining £1000 for a project at a later date).
  • Will the project benefit the community or some group within it (as opposed to a single individual)?
  • The project will preferably be volunteer led, but if not, should promote voluntary charitable and community activity in the area. Ideally, less that 50% of the project expenditure will be on salaries or fees.
  • Both the organisation and the project will be reasonably small. This is difficult to quantify in financial terms, but in general we will probably only consider projects worth around £30,000 or less (note: this is not the amount we will fund, but the total value of the project funded from a number of sources). We’re looking for organisations that have an annual income of around £150,000 or less, but there are plenty of exceptions; churches that have income associated with other activities, small CICs generating fairly large commercial revenues, and small groups in receipt of support funding from the council to fund expensive but necessary aspects of their work – these are just a few that we have come across. If we consider you outstanding in any aspect of importance to us (say you have a large number of volunteers working for you) then we will also consider raising the limit. Please get in touch to discuss further if you exceed the £100,000 limit but nonetheless believe yourself to be a small group or believe yourself to be outstanding in some particular way.
  • Your board or management committee must have at least 3 unrelated members, all with equal voting rights.
  • If you are from Hounslow or Hillingdon, all groups applying for grants must have at least one year’s accounts, which they must be able to show us during the grant assessment process.
  • If you deal with children and/or vulnerable people, then you must have a suitable safeguarding policy in place and your staff should have undergone any relevant training where necessary. If you are from Hounslow or Hillingdon, all groups applying for grants must have a safeguarding policy in place and and a nominated safeguarding lead, with the capacity to act appropriately when necessary. If you do not have one, we can help you set one up during the application process.
  • At The Freshwater Foundation, we are very keen to help groups to set themselves up for the long term. For these groups, we are able to give continued support and in this case, the grant could be used to fund initial day-to-day costs. If you’re interested in creating a life for your group beyond your immediate project, contact us at info@freshwaterfoundation.org.uk and we will send you are our comprehensive guide to setting yourself up as a constituted group, and we can also discuss how else we can give you support during the early stages.
  • We are committed to maintaining the highest standards in public life, so will only consider organisations that conform not merely to the letter, but also the spirit of charity law. In particular this means that we are very unlikely to consider organisations where there appears to be unjustified personal benefit to trustees, where there are trustees whose interests are in regular competition with those of the charity, and of course where there is any suggestion of financial impropriety (or where we are not given sufficient information to make a judgement about a group’s financial probity).

b) How to Apply

c) Deciding on your Application

  • We will consider your application.
  • If it is considered both suitable and worthy, we will contact you to arrange a visit where the project can be discussed further.
  • After that, a report will be written to be discussed by the board at its next quarterly meeting, at which a final decision will be made.
  • All deliberations and discussions by the charity about the application will be strictly confidential and all decisions will be final. We may however, at our discretion, contact unsuccessful applicants to discuss how they might better make any future applications.
  • Just because one application may have been unsuccessful does not necessarily mean that any subsequent ones will be.
  • If successful, we will send you a set of terms and conditions associated with the grant.

Organisations and activities we cannot fund:

  • statutory organisations such as local authorities, schools and the police
  • regional or local offices of a national organisation
  • projects or organisations that exclude beneficiaries on the grounds of religious or political beliefs
  • projects or organisations that do not adhere to our equal opportunities policy
  • arms length public sector organisations that are controlled wholly or in part by, for example a local authority, Primary Care Trust or agencies of these
  • any party political and/or religious activity
  • commercial ventures
  • organisations that are for the sole benefit of the relief of animals or plants
  • services to Asylum Seeker groups which are inconsistent with immigration laws or Home Office policy