Minority Rights Group

Registered charity 282305 · since 1981minorityrights.org·Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Hungary, Iraq, Mauritania, Pakistan … [5 more]·Updated 31 October 2026

At a glance

£2.8M

Annual giving, year to 31 December 2024

From the Charity Commission register

Invitation only

Unsolicited applications are not accepted

This funder does not accept unsolicited applications.

Key takeaways

Minority Rights Group's stated theme is minority and Indigenous rights, so a request should centre on that work, and it normally prefers partners that are minority- or Indigenous-led or focused squarely on those rights.
No grant range or geographic focus is given, so do not assume a typical size or an area limit; its annual giving of £2,757,223 does not tell you what an individual award looks like.
The application route is unclear: the register records it as by invitation only and not accepting unsolicited requests, while its how-to-apply section describes an open call for work an organisation has designed for a particular country, so confirm the current position with the charity before writing.
Expect a relationship-led process, since it checks whether a proposed partnership would duplicate existing work and whether its values, skills and strategy fit the partner, and partners must submit narrative and financial reports.
Do not approach it if your work could endanger its independence or its relationships with minority or Indigenous communities, which it says it will not fund.

Overview

Minority Rights Group is a charity registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales (charity number 282305).

Minority Rights Group works with ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities and Indigenous peoples worldwide to secure their rights and promote understanding between communities. It works with 300 community organisations worldwide, co-designing its programmes with partners using human-rights-based approaches. It also supports the advocacy of minority and Indigenous community representatives at national, regional and international levels, and sub-granting is a significant part of its work. Its annual giving is £2,757,223.

What they fund

Priority Areas

Minority Rights Group works with ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities and Indigenous peoples worldwide to secure their rights and promote understanding between communities. It normally prefers to partner with minority- and Indigenous-led organisations or those focused squarely on minority and Indigenous rights. Its programmes are co-designed with partners using human-rights-based approaches that emphasize participation, inclusion, remedies, restitution and sustainability. It supports community representatives’ advocacy and responds to needs identified directly by communities through their representatives, involving affected people in planning activities. Sub-granting is a significant part of this work, but support to partners is not solely financial.

Themes

Minority and Indigenous rights

What they don't fund

Work where it has the potential to endanger our independence or our relationships with minority or indigenous communities

How to apply

Organisations working in a particular country can apply through an open call for a piece of work they have designed.

Application success factors

What the charity says:

It assesses whether the potential partnership duplicates existing work and will not take a duplicate forward.
It assesses whether its values, skills and strategy are a good fit with the partner.
It normally prefers minority- and Indigenous-led organisations or those focused squarely on minority and Indigenous rights.
It expects a wider-focused or majority-led consortium partner to listen to and make space for minority- and Indigenous-led organisations, with opportunities to transfer control to them over time.
Partners must submit narrative and financial reports.

Where they fund

Registered area of operation (Charity Commission)

Bosnia and Herzegovina
Botswana
Dominican Republic
Egypt
Hungary
Iraq
Mauritania
Pakistan
Somalia
Sri Lanka
Turkey
Uganda
Yemen

Five years of accounts

Financial year	Income	Expenditure	Grants paid	Accounts document
year to 31 December 2020	£4,583,946	£4,273,690	—	Accounts for year to 31 December 2020
year to 31 December 2021	£5,136,610	£4,149,225	£1,712,220	Accounts for year to 31 December 2021
year to 31 December 2022	£6,064,532	£5,366,005	£1,965,223	Accounts for year to 31 December 2022
year to 31 December 2023	£6,207,679	£6,658,322	£2,416,368	Accounts for year to 31 December 2023
year to 31 December 2024	£5,911,358	£6,606,855	£2,757,223	Accounts for year to 31 December 2024

Income vs grants paid

IncomeGrants paid

Total value each financial year

YE 2021

£1.7M grants

YE 2022

£2M grants

YE 2023

£2.4M grants

YE 2024

£2.8M grants

Grants paid stayed within income across the 4 years shown.

Grants paid, year to 31 December 2021; year to 31 December 2022; year to 31 December 2023; year to 31 December 2024: grants to institutions, as reported on the charity register (Part B).

— No grants figure for that year.

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.