Grants are available for charitable organisations across the UK that work with and provide services for blind and partially sighted people to improve resilience, responsiveness, and sustainability.
This fund aims to support improved resilience and responsiveness in organisations that support blind and partially sighted people and have been affected by an uncertain post-pandemic economic climate and the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.
Funding will enable groups across the sight-loss sector to continue to adapt and respond to ongoing needs and increased costs.
“Our social impact funding supports projects that are designed to improve the experience of being blind or partially sighted, or at risk of sight loss, in the UK. We are an evidence-led funder and base our programmes on where we feel our money can have the greatest impact.
We recognise applying for funding can be challenging, time consuming and stressful. Please get in touch with our team by emailing grants@visionfoundation.org.uk if you have ideas but are not sure if they fit our criteria, or if you would like any help with our application process.
Our grantmaking principles
Reflect our vision, values and strategy
Be intelligent and evidence-based
Be courageous and impact driven
Encourage collaboration and be empowering
Be meaningful and effective
Offer stability but encourage sustainability.
Our next funding round has 2 elements:
A National Resilience Fund open to organisations across the UK, who can apply for up to £10,000 of unrestricted funding.
A London-specific programme dedicated to reducing the levels of loneliness and/or isolation experienced by blind and partially sighted people living, working or visiting London. This programme has been made possible through our partnership with the City Bridge Foundation.
Across both funding streams, we’re particularly keen to support organisations who demonstrate a strong commitment to involving experts by experience, i.e. blind and partially sighted people or people at particular risk of sight loss, in their work.
National Resilience Fund
Organisations across the country have risen valiantly to meet the challenges of an uncertain post-pandemic climate. But the current cost of living crisis poses a threat to the sustainability of many organisations providing support to blind and partially sighted people: a group who have been disproportionately affected by the ways that Covid19 changed how we live and work.
We also know that blind and partially sighted people in parts of the UK lack access to basic support services and that organisations operating in these areas struggle to remain sustainable and resilient. Our funding is therefore intended to support improved resilience and responsiveness of the sector as a whole.”
The funding might be used to manage increases in core costs: the funding can be used for up to 12 months, covering any core (running) costs including contributions to rent, salaries, or strengthening operational systems and processes. Alternatively, the funding might be used to fund work to combine/merge organisations.
We’re particularly keen to hear from grassroots organisations and organisations in parts of the country where there are significant gaps in support for blind and partially sighted people.
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