Children in Need COVID-19 Funding Streams

Scheme Provider
Children in Need
Level of Grant Available
Applications can be for £10,001 or more, per year. You can not apply for more than £40,000 per year>
Types of Initiative Funded:

Children in Need – Main Grants Programme

We give grants for:

Children and young people aged 18 years and under experiencing disadvantage through:

  • Illness, distress, abuse or neglect.

  • Any kind of disability.

  • Behavioural or psychological difficulties.

  • Living in poverty or situations of deprivation.

The work we fund make differences in children’s lives that help prevent or overcome the effects of the disadvantages they face. Funded organisations achieve these differences by either working directly with children or seeking to improve their social and physical environments.

What can we apply for?

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have temporarily broadened the types of applications we accept. We are currently offering funding that can be used more flexibly than usual. We encourage applications for:

  • Project delivery (Including staffing and salary costs)

  • Creative solutions to deliver much needed services

  • Organisational costs to support stability and adaptation. (Including the day-to-day running costs of an organisation as opposed to specific project costs)

All applications will have to show how this funding will make a difference to children and young people’s lives during this crisis.

Your application is not limited to one specific project and a request can be made for organisational running costs. We are committed to supporting voluntary groups with these types of grants.

Who can apply?

We only fund organisations who can tell us why they are best placed to deliver their work. This means applicants must be able to tell us about:

  • Their well-established links with young people

  • The skills and expertise they have for the work they are requesting funding for

  • Their track record delivering the work they are requesting funding for. This is especially important for applicants for our Main Grants Programme

  • How they work alongside other organisations in their local community

If you cannot tell us about all these things, we do not recommend applying for funding. It is highly likely that your application will be unsuccessful.

How much can I apply for?

Applications can be for £10,001 or more, per year. You can not apply for more than £40,000 per year. We expect the average grant size to be around 30k per year. If you are applying for three years of funding, we are unlikely to award more than £100,000 in total. We expect most awards to be less than this and proportional to the size and capacity of the organisation. Please only ask for what you need to support children and young people at this time. If you want to apply for less than this, please see our Small Grants Programme.

How do we apply?

All applications must be submitted via our online portal, Children in Need. Once you have logged in, you will be able to complete and submit your application for the Main Grants programme.

Before applying, we strongly recommend you read our Main Grants Application Form Guidance.

We expect that this fund will be over-subscribed and only a proportion of applications will be successful. We also know that you need funding quickly.

The deadline for the current round is 11.30am, August 23rd, 2021

Organisations may only apply for a Main Grant or Small grant in this round, not both. The Small Grants (under £10k per year) opens on 16th August

Priority Groups/Areas:
Opening Dates:
Further Information: