Human Milk Foundation

Registered charity 1172522 · since 2017humanmilkfoundation.org·United Kingdom·Updated 31 October 2026

At a glance

Open to applications

Fixed application deadlines · unsolicited applications welcome

Key takeaways

The Human Milk Foundation suits projects that are research on human milk, donor milk or the health of infants and mothers, led by someone based at a UK university, medical school, hospital or research institute, since those are the people it welcomes research applications from.
Its pilot studies are described as providing up to £12,000 over an anticipated 12-month research period, so a request around that scale matches its own example, though the annual report gave no readable grants total and the register showed no grants to institutions in its latest return, so you cannot judge how much money is available or how competitive it is.
A small or new applicant should not be put off by that alone.
Apply through the form linked from the research page, before the deadline of the grant call you are targeting, since each call has its own deadline.
Do not apply if your organisation receives funding from any body that breaches the WHO Code on the marketing of breastmilk substitutes, because applicants must not.

Overview

Human Milk Foundation is a charity registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales (charity number 1172522).

The Human Milk Foundation is a CIO (charitable incorporated organisation) whose object is protecting and preserving the public health of mothers and infants, mainly through information and advice on human milk banking. It also advances education and research in health, particularly the understanding of human milk, and disseminates the useful results of that research. It makes grants for research and educational purposes and develops education programmes on the science of human milk, but its annual grant total could not be read from its annual report.

What they fund

Priority Areas

The Human Milk Foundation funds research in human milk science, with work directed towards evidence on donor milk and its effects on infant health, maternal physical and mental health and breastfeeding; the composition and variability of human milk; the health-economic, psychosocial and environmental impacts of donor milk; and optimal procedures for its preparation and use. It says it will support pilot and larger project studies and aims to train the next generation of researchers through PhD studentships. Its approach is collaborative, bringing milk donors, patients, mothers, families and supporters together with researchers and healthcare professionals, and it emphasizes evidence-based medicine and communicating research widely. Research applications are welcomed from PhD students, postdoctoral fellows, lecturers, readers, professors, scientists, clinicians and healthcare workers based in UK universities, medical schools, hospitals or research institutes. Its wider charitable aims include information, education and training about human milk and support for parents to feed babies with human milk.

Themes

Donor milk and health
Human milk composition
Donor milk impacts
Donor milk preparation

Geographic Focus

UK.

What they don't fund

Grants only: Applicants must not receive funding from organisations that breach the WHO Code on the marketing of breastmilk substitutes

How to apply

Applicants submit a grant application using the form linked from the research page.

Deadlines: Each grant call has an application deadline.

Where they fund

Where it says it funds

United Kingdom

Five years of accounts

Financial year	Income	Expenditure	Grants paid	Accounts document
year to 31 March 2021	£410,290	£285,821	—	Accounts for year to 31 March 2021
year to 31 March 2022	£469,305	£448,140	—	Accounts for year to 31 March 2022
year to 31 March 2023	£522,422	£555,050	—	Accounts for year to 31 March 2023
year to 31 March 2024	£511,460	£529,638	—	Accounts for year to 31 March 2024
year to 31 March 2025	£518,240	£512,034	—	Accounts for year to 31 March 2025

— No grants figure for those years.

Figures from the charity’s filed accounts and its register entry. The document icon links to the charity’s entry on the Charity Commission register, where its filed accounts can be found.