Grants for organisations working with racially minoritised young men aged 18–25 in contact with the criminal justice system.
What we’re looking to fund
Your organisation will:
- Provide specialist services for racially minoritised young men, that meet their specific needs
- Have a track record of at least 18 months of delivering this type of provision
- Provide person centred, holistic and long-term services
- Have lived experience voice throughout their services, organisation and governance, although this may be less well-developed in some smaller organisations.
Webinar
Sign up to our webinar 23 June 2026, 2-3pm
We’ll be hosting a live webinar where you can find out more about this fund.
We’ll answer questions about what we’re looking to fund, who’s eligible, and how to apply.
A recording and transcript will be available on this page if you’re unable to attend the live event.
Funding guidelines
- Grant amount: £200,000
- Length: three to five years – we will ask you whether you’d like to receive that funding over 3, 4 or 5 years.
- Focus: specialist support for racially minoritised young men in contact with the criminal justice system
- Eligible organisations: registered, not-for-profit organisations with a charitable purpose (e.g. registered charity, CIC, community benefit society) providing direct service delivery
- Location: activity must take place within the UK
- Application deadline: Wednesday 5th August 2026, 5pm
Application process
Applications will open on Wednesday 24th June 2026.
FAQs
Equity in Justice Fund FAQs
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Technical FAQs
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How to apply
- Take our simple online eligibility checker to find out whether your organisation is eligible to apply. Eligible organisations will be able to submit an expression of interest. Expression of Interests open from Wednesday 24th June 2026
- Submit an Expression of Interest (EOI). The deadline to submit your EOI is Wednesday 5th August 2026, 5pm
- We will contact you during the week of the 14th September 2026 to tell you whether you should submit a full application. If we decide not to invite you to apply, we will explain why in writing. We review hundreds of Expressions of Interest, so unfortunately, we cannot provide detailed feedback.
- Submit a full application. If you’re invited to this stage, we’ll ask more detailed questions about your work. Deadline: Friday 9th October, 5pm.
- You’ll have a phone conversation with a member of our team in Mid October to Early November.
- We’ll make around 13 grants following the full application stage and let you know if you’ll receive one by the end of December 2026.
Resources
Full funding guidelines
Download
Sample Expression of Interest form
View
Sample Application form
View
Sample progress and final report
View
Safeguarding
Protecting a person’s right to live in safety, free from abuse and neglect.
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This summary outlines 10 key principles for culturally competent support. These principles have informed the development of the fund. Thank you to Alliance for Youth Justice for allowing us to reproduce this from their report, Bridging gaps and changing tracks: Supporting racially minoritised young people in the transition to adulthood in the criminal justice system. It is not a Henry Smith Foundation document or guidance.

Questions about this fund
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If you have any questions, please contact our Grants team.
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