How much funding can we apply for?
All applications are for a grant of £200,000 over three to five years. You don’t need to request a specific amount or submit a budget, but we will ask you whether you’d like to receive that funding over three, four or five years, it’s up to you.
What do you mean by ‘led by and for’ organisations?
We are defining a ‘led by and for’ organisation as one where 50% of trustees/directors and 50% of staff are from the racially minoritised community they represent.
We are defining racially minoritised to include Black and Global Majority communities alongside all other communities which may experience racial injustice in the UK such as Gypsy, Roma, Traveller and Jewish communities.
We also recognise that Muslim men are disproportionately represented in the prison system so will be funding work with this community. Although they are not one race Muslims are still racialised in that their treatment is based on assumptions about their beliefs, traditions or politics. Muslims also tend to be from an ethnic minority, so there is overlap between religion and ethnicity.
Why are you prioritising ‘led-by-and-for’ organisations?
Research from the Alliance for Youth Justice emphasises the vital contribution of specialist ‘led by and for’ organisations in providing high quality, culturally responsive support for racially minoritised young people.
The report also highlights that these organisations experience chronic underfunding, constrained capacity, and persistent barriers in commissioning systems. Despite delivering tailored, trusted, and highly effective support, these ‘led by and for’ organisations are frequently sidelined in both funding decisions and partnership opportunities.
We are a national organisation, can we apply?
Yes. We understand some organisations work across wide geographic areas, especially when delivering services in prisons. We are happy to fund national organisations.
We work outside the UK, can we apply?
Henry Smith Foundation does not fund any work outside the UK and your organisation must be based in the UK. However, we can support UK based organisations with their UK based project work, even if they also work overseas.
Does my organisation need to have under or over a certain income to qualify?
We welcome applications from organisations of all sizes. There are no minimum or maximum income thresholds. Smaller organisations will be prioritised over larger ones, recognising that larger organisations in the criminal justice sector can often secure a higher proportion of statutory contract income than smaller organisations, who are more reliant on Trusts and Foundations.
We recognise that income impacts both capacity and resources of organisations, particularly when it comes to fundraising. We will take this into consideration when reviewing applications to ensure fairness.
Can we apply as a partnership?
No, we are not accepting partnership applications for this fund.
Will you fund work with young men under 18?
If you are delivering services in a prison or other secure setting, we won’t fund work with young people under 18.
In the community we understand your services may intentionally work across the cliff edge of support at 18, so we will fund organisations who work in this way. Our funding is directed at people aged 18-25. You will need to demonstrate your focus on this age group.
Will you fund work with young men over 25?
Yes, our main target age group is 18-25 and we would expect the majority of young men to be in that group, but we understand that creating a cliff edge of support at 25 will not best meet the needs of the young men you support so understand some young people who you support may be older than 25.
We support a lot of racially minoritised young men via our generic services, can we apply?
No, this fund is for specialist services, specifically designed to meet racially minoritised young men’s needs.
What do you mean by sustained contact?
We are looking to fund work that supports young men who have sustained contact with the criminal justice system. This could be in prison or in the community; where support might be post-arrest, on a community sentence or post release.
We will not fund prevention work with people at risk of contact with the criminal justice system, or who have had brief contact, for example people who have been stopped and searched.
What do you mean by persistent and consistent?
We are looking for organisations that ‘show up’ for the young people they support. Young people with lived experience told us how important this is. They identified services which had proactively kept in touch with then, reactivated contact when they dropped out and continued to believe in them to be the most effective.
Do we need to receive referrals from prison or probation to receive funding?
No. While it’s ideal for your organisation to work with multiagency partners who can refer young men to your services, which may include prison and probation, this isn’t essential. If you don’t receive referrals, you’ll need to explain how you proactively and intentionally reach racially minoritised young men in contact with the criminal justice system.
Will you fund new work, projects or organisations?
No. This fund is designed to support organisations with an established track record. To be eligible you must have:
- At least 18 months experience delivering specialist services for racially minoritised young men in contact with the criminal justice system
- your first set of published annual accounts
We recognise more specialist services across the UK are needed, but this fund is focused on strengthening existing services and organisations and ensuring their long-term sustainability.
Why do we need 18 months of experience?
We want to fund organisations who have a track record of delivering specialist services for racially minoritised young men in contact with the criminal justice system.
18 months allows time for you to have developed your service and understand the impact of your support.
We run workshops and other short-term interventions, are we eligible?
This fund is focused on long-term support, built through a steady, trusted presence.
We understand there may be aspects of your support that are time-limited. And that workshops and other brief interventions can be a good way to engage young people -that’s fine. What matters is that your organisation offers young men consistent, long-term engagement.
How do you define long-term intervention?
We define this as 12 weeks or more. We would typically expect to see longer term support than 12 weeks, but we know that can be challenging in some settings, so this is the minimum length of support we will consider.
We are a mosque/church/temple that conducts worship every week/day etc. and we run a specialist service for racially minoritised young men involved with the criminal justice system. Are we eligible?
We don’t fund organisations whose primary charitable objective is the advancement of religion, so we wouldn’t fund a mosque/church/temple.
We are happy to fund specialist services delivered by faith-based organisations, providing their primary purpose is supporting the community, not promotion of faith.
For example, we would not fund a church delivering services for racially minoritised young men involved with the criminal justice system. However, we could fund a Community Chaplaincy service which is providing specialist support to racially minoritised young men in contact with the criminal justice system where worship is included in the support provided.
We’re not sure if we meet the criteria, can we speak to someone?
Absolutely. If you’re unsure whether your organisation is a good fit, we’re happy to talk it through.
You can call us on 020 7264 4970 or email us at saferfutures@henrysmith.foundation
How will you choose between equally fundable applications?
If we receive more applications than we are able to fund, we will prioritise.
Initial prioritisation will be for organisations which are led-by-and-for the racially minoritised communities they serve, and at least 50% of the budget will be ring-fenced for them.
We’ll aim to fund a diverse range of communities and geographic areas, and to support work in both prison and the community. The full list of prioritisation areas can be found in the funding guidelines.
If we receive more fundable applications than we can support, we’ll prioritise those that help us achieve this balance.
What level of time commitment is expected from funded organisations in relation to non-grant related activities like networking, convening or policy activities?
We would love to provide opportunities for funded organisations to learn, connect and share experiences, and are planning to work with a learning/movement building partner, but this won’t be a requirement of the grant. How much an organisation would like to engage with us or other grant holders is completely down to them.
We’re a current grant holder, can we apply?
Yes. If you currently hold another Henry Smith Foundation grant you can apply for this fund, however you can only hold one grant from the Equity in Justice fund.
We have applied to Henry Smith Foundation before but were declined, can we apply again?
If you’ve previously applied to the Foundation for funding and were declined, this won’t impact your new application. If you’re unsure or have concerns about applying again, we encourage you to contact us first.
You can call us on 020 7264 4970 or email us at saferfutures@henrysmith.foundation
Will there be future funding opportunities for organisations working in the criminal justice system beyond this current round?
Yes, the Equity in Justice Fund will open for applications in June in 2027 and 2028. At this point we will carry out a review and confirm if further funding rounds will be launched.
Can I use AI to help with my application?
That’s up to you. We won’t reject an application because AI was used. We understand AI tools have the potential to level the playing field for smaller groups and charities who don’t have paid staff or fundraisers to help them – and we know they can be a huge time-saver for grassroots community groups and charities when it comes to writing and submitting applications.
However, we’re also noticing that applications relying too heavily on AI risk sounding too generic or vague, lacking the authenticity that people assessing applications really value.
This can make it hard to distinguish between applications when making decisions. It’s important to consider this when writing your application. While AI applications are often well written and meet the assessment criteria, they often lack the personality, insight and specificity that really help us understand what makes each project truly special.
See more on AI in applications.