Funding opportunities in July 2025
Howard Lake | 17 July 2025 | News
Here’s another round-up of funding opportunities and funder developments for July 2025. This month we range from a closing deadline tomorrow for a London-based community fund, to the largest funding round to date from a corporate funder, a fund for communities to reduce their energy costs, and a £1 million boost to a racial justice fund.
Greenwich Peninsula Community Fund deadline is imminent
Applications to the Greenwich Peninsula Community Fund close at midday on Friday 18th July 2025.
Grants of between £5,000 to £20,000 is available for community projects based in the Greenwich Peninsula, thanks to our the London Community Foundation’s partners Knight Dragon.
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While the Fund will support community projects directly delivered within the Greenwich Peninsula ward boundary a charity or organisation does not need to be registered within the Greenwich Peninsula ward to apply for this fund.
BGF Foundation makes largest strategic funding round to date
The BGF Foundation, the independent charitable arm of BGF (the UK and Ireland’s most active growth capital investor), has just announced its largest and most strategic funding round to date.
- £650,000+ in unrestricted, multi-year grants
- Seven high-impact charities supporting young people across the UK
- A model built on trust, long-term support and pro bono professional services
The seven funded charities are Access Sport, Social Mobility Foundation, Think Forward, Sister System, Team Domenica, Go Beyond, and Jon Egging Trust. Together they span the UK, reaching young people across the regions that BGF operates in, including London, Oxfordshire, Manchester, Birmingham, Brighton, Cardiff, Kent, Nottingham, Leeds, Newcastle, Bristol, Cornwall, North Wales, and beyond.
They work across areas such as education, employability, mental health, and physical wellbeing.
Charlotte Moses Rains, COO of the BGF Foundation, said:
“We’ve designed our funding approach to provide long-term support, unrestricted funding,
and the backing of our entire BGF community through pro bono and skills-based
volunteering”.
The Foundation has already engaged over 100 BGF staff in volunteering, mentoring, and
operational charity support, and is scaling that offering as part of this latest funding round.
New fund to help communities reduce their carbon footprint and energy costs
A new fund has opened to support communities in lowering their carbon footprint, saving energy costs and improving energy-efficiency ratings.
This Summer, National Grid’s Electricity Distribution business, in partnership with Localgiving, will be delivering grants to charitable organisations supporting communities and hubs working hard to improve their resilience in the energy transition. The Low Carbon Communities Fund can be used to support energy-efficient initiatives to lower carbon footprint, save energy costs and improve energy-efficiency ratings. These projects can be delivered in a building, or within the wider community.
The fund, part of the long -unning National Grid Community Matters Fund, aims to support economically disadvantaged areas and to target grassroots organisations that serve historically underrepresented and marginalised groups. Applications which clearly define the long-term and measurable impact (e.g. energy bills, carbon footprint, energy efficiency) are especially encouraged as well.
Successful projects will need to meet one or more of the following themes:
- Improving energy efficiency and lowering bills for community centres and halls (e.g.
insulation and glazing upgrades, smart thermostats, energy efficient lighting systems) - Education and advice from STEM-qualified professionals on sustainability, renewable
energy, and retrofit - Promoting sustainable transport infrastructure (e.g. supporting active transport
schemes, cycling racks, electric car charging points)
The Fund is not open to training projects based around creating or cultivating green spaces
(e.g. community gardens, gardening workshops).
Registered charities or non-profit companies limited by guarantee can apply for up to £5,000;
constituted charitable organisations with no charity number can apply for up to £2,000.
Applications opened on Wednesday 9th July and will close on 5pm Friday 1st August 2025.
Funds will be distributed late August.
Community Matters Fund
The Community Matters Fund is an annual fund, which supports grassroots groups, charities and councils. The fund distributes the money, which is provided entirely by the National Grid’s shareholders and managed by Localgiving in a number of themed phases each year.
Since it began in 2021, the Community Matters Fund has provided grants totalling £11.5 million to community groups across the South West, South Wales and the Midlands.
Stewardship exceeds £100 million in grants for second year running
Christian charity and Donor Advice Fund Stewardship has reported another record year in grants to its 12,000 church, charity and individual partners, according to its 2024 Annual Report.
Founded over a century ago, last year it handled £108 million in income from over 30,000 donors and donated £106 million to charitable causes.
Loans to church and charity partners grew by 20% to £34 million.
£1 million boost to racial justice fund
Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales has added £1 million to the racial justice fund. As a result the fund will provide £5 million in total to Black and minority-led London-based groups by 2026.
The fund has so far given out £2 million to 13 organisations.
The Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales now joins Trust for London and City Bridge Foundation in leading the fund.
The racial justice fund is focused on projects working for long-lasting change, rather than immediate relief such as service delivery.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.