New funding for community and shared transport for disabled people
Howard Lake | 27 August 2025 | News
The Motability Foundation is offering new grants to support community and shared transport services that enable disabled people to make the journeys they choose and live with greater dignity and independence.
The grants are part of Motability Foundation’s new funding rounds, which were announced last month alongside the charity’s new five-year strategy.
Charities and organisations can apply for grants to enhance existing services or launch new initiatives that improve transport access for disabled people. Funding can be used for staffing, vehicles, operational costs, and infrastructure.
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The Motability Foundation has also updated its eligibility criteria to widen access. It now welcomes applications from organisations that have been active for at least three years and have a turnover of £50,000 or more.
Grant programmes
There are two grant programmes now on offer:
- Large Grants: £150,000 to £1 million
- Small Grants: £50,000 to £150,000
The large grant funding round is open now, and the small grant round launches on Thursday 4 September.
Organisations that have previously received funding from the Motability Foundation are encouraged to speak with their grant manager before submitting a new application.
Ruba Aljarf, Programme Director at the Motability Foundation, said:
“We’re proud to launch these transformative funding rounds to support organisations making a real difference in disabled people’s lives. Through these funding rounds we want to create immediate impact and build a stronger, more innovative community and shared transport sector for the future.
“Accessible transport is essential for ensuring disabled people can live the lives they choose, and we want to collaborate with a range of organisations to build transport equity together.”
Another fund to invest in innovation and sector resilience
Alongside direct service funding, the Motability Foundation is also launching a dedicated funding round to support innovation and resilience in the community transport sector. This includes projects exploring new operating models, shared infrastructure, collaborative approaches, and volunteer development.
Funding for these projects range from £50,000 to £1 million over one to three years.
For this funding the Motability Foundation is particularly interested in applications from DDPOs (Deaf and Disabled People’s Organisations), charities and not-for-profit organisations, community transport operators, social enterprises, research and innovation bodies.
Full details and application guidance are available from Motability.
- Motability Foundation launches five new funding rounds (18 July 2025)
- UK business collaborate on Winter support for local charities (15 January 2025)
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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.