Are you fed up with complicated application forms, struggling to find core funding and not getting enough helpful feedback?
Funding Differently seeks to address these challenges and more! It is a unique collaboration between Community Southwark, Partnership Southwark, United St Saviours Charity, Peter Minet Trust and Southwark’s Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS).
In the last two years, £300,000 has been given to VCS groups in Southwark through a grant process that helps remove barriers to funding. These barriers were shared in Community Southwark’s state of the sector research. You can read the most recent learning and impact report here.
This year, £275,000 is available in total. Partnership Southwark has given £200,000, with more funding kindly added by United St Saviour’s Charity and the Peter Minet Trust.
This will be distributed as follows:
- £5,000 will go to 27 VCS groups (for organisations with an annual income of less than £50,000)
- £10,000 will go to 14 VCS groups (for organisations with an annual income of between £40,000 and £100,000)
- You can apply for one grant – either £5,000 or £10,000.
This grant opportunity seeks to reduce health inequalities at a targeted neighbourhood level through strengthening small, local VCS groups.
The whole design of the grant pilot has come from what the VCS has said – via the state-of-the-sector research and the focus groups that took place in April 2023, September 2023, November 2024 and July 2025. VCS groups are also decision-makers about how funds are distributed. The focus groups have helped shape the programme via sharing learning from each round and adapting processes for future grants.
Important dates:
The grant opportunity is open between the Monday 1st September and Monday 13th October. Decisions will be shared with groups by Thursday 11th December 2025 and we aim to distribute funds within 4 weeks.
Eligibility criteria:
- A not-for-profit organisation (including unincorporated groups, CICs, CIOs and more) operating in Southwark
- Supporting people in at least 1 of the following wards: Camberwell Green, Faraday, Old Kent Road, Nunhead and Queen’s Road, Peckham, North Walworth, St Georges, Newington plus the Kingswood Estate (SE21) and Downtown Estate (SE16).You can find ward names and areas on our website.
- An annual income of £50,000 or less for £5,000 grants and between £40,000 and £100,000 for the £10,000 grants.
- A group that supports disabled people and/or promotes positive mental health and wellbeing. This can include preventative work, such as activities that help maintain good mental health. It doesn’t need to be the organisation’s main focus to be eligible.
- Your organisation will need to confirm they have the following: A safeguarding policy, a governing document such as a constitution, and a bank account in your organisation’s name.
- Groups who received funding in previous years CAN apply for funding in 2025/2026.
Please note: The geographic area has been expanded to include 3 more wards for 2025, based on recent decisions made by VCS groups. Your organisation does not need to be based in these wards, but it should be supporting people who live in them.
What the funding can be used for:
- You can use the grant for anything your organisation needs, including running/core/overhead costs. You do not need provide a budget when you submit your application.
- There is no deadline to spend the money, but we hope to start learning about the impact by March 2026. You do not need to spend all the money by then, but it’s helpful if you have some idea of how you might use it or what difference it could make
- You do not need to write a monitoring report if you receive funding
- If your group does not have the required documentation (A safeguarding policy, constitution, bank account), Community Southwark can help you get ready for future funding. Please contact Louis Baxter – louis@communitysouthwark.org.
Important:
VCS groups in Southwark will help decide who gets the grants. This will happen in two stages. If your group reaches stage 2, you will need to read and score 10 other applications, give short feedback and send your scores and feedback online/via email or by phone.
This must be done between Thursday 13 November and Thursday 27 November 2025. To thank you for your time, your group will receive £100. If you do not complete this scoring, your group cannot receive a grant.
To apply:
The Grant Portal is open from the 1st September 2025 and closes at 5pm on Monday 13th October.
To find out more please download our application information here: Grant Pack – Funding Differently 2025
To apply for a £5,000 grant, please apply here: https://ustsc.flexigrant.com/startapplication.aspx?id=15630
To apply for a £10,000 grant, please apply here: https://ustsc.flexigrant.com/startapplication.aspx?id=15668
The links above will take you to the United St Saviour’s Charity online grants portal. You will need to log on (if you have applied for a grant from United St Saviour’s Charity before) or create a new account to start the application process.
Please remember when applying – if you have saved an application and would like to go back and make changes then please click “my applications” which can be found on the left-hand side of the page.
Do you have questions or would you like help with your application?
- There is an online help session taking place on Thursday 11th September 2025, book your place HERE.
- We can offer one-to-one support to explain the grant process, help you understand the questions, and support you with writing your answers. Please contact louis@communitysouthwark.org as soon as possible — we may not be able to help if you get in touch after 1st October.
If you have any feedback or ideas, please contact Katherine de Kretser, Projects Team Manager: katherine@communitysouthwark.org.