The Fore

The Fore is a charity registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales (charity number 1204122).

The Fore is creating a society that solves its own problems, identifying, supporting and connecting the people and resources needed to turn promising grassroots ideas for social and environmental change into solutions with nationwide impact. It gives unrestricted, multi-year grants of up to £45,000, awarded through an equitable application process. The Fore runs three funding rounds each year, in Spring, Summer and Autumn.

Priority Areas

The Fore funds small charities that make a big impact and describes its wider work as supporting grassroots charities and social enterprises with ideas for social and environmental change. Its grants are unrestricted and intended to strengthen the whole organisation, supporting growth, structure, sustainability or efficiency. It accepts eligible charities and social enterprises, subject to its legal-form, income and UK-registration conditions. Applicants may work in any location or sector; it encourages organisations working with underserved communities and those that have struggled to access trust and foundation funding.

Geographic Focus

Within the UK.

Organisations register through the form when a funding round opens. Those allocated a place by email submit a full application document via a secure web link.

Deadlines:

• Registration is open for one week at the beginning of each funding round.
• Applicants allocated a place have around three weeks to complete their application.

Application windows:

• Spring: Registration opens in March and closes in April.
• Summer: Registration opens and closes in July.
• Autumn: Registration opens in November and closes in December.

Who can apply:

• Registered charities (including those constituted as charitable trusts, charitable unincorporated associations, charitable incorporated organisations and charitable companies limited by guarantee), Community Interest Companies (CICs) limited by guarantee, or Community Benefit Societies (CBSs) that are either Charitable CBSs or non-charitable CBSs with an asset lock.
• Your annual revenue should be less than £500k.
• Applicants in any location or sector, but you need to be registered in the UK.

What to send:

• The key contact’s name, job title and email address.
• Your organisation’s name, legal form and registration number.
• Your organisation address, telephone number, annual income for the last complete financial year, the sector(s) your work covers and areas where you do your work.
• Whether you have applied for or received funding from us in the past.
• A three page application document, no longer than three A4 pages including the financial table, in Word or PDF format.
• The latest set of signed-off annual accounts; if these are not available, upload the latest management accounts or another recent financial report.

Applying again: If you are unsuccessful, you can reapply. If you have an active grant, you can’t reapply until your existing grant has closed and you’ve had a “grant closure” call with our team.

What the charity says:

• Applications from organisations working with underserved communities or that have struggled to access trust and foundation funding are encouraged.
• An ongoing forecast deficit is less likely to progress when the funding ask does not strengthen the organisation’s financial position.
• Organisations with no reserves, or whose request would not improve very low reserves, are generally less likely to succeed; exceptional reasons should be explained.
• The foundation looks for impact that continues beyond the grant period, rather than an organisation returning to square one when funding ends.
• A request forming a small part of a much larger capital project is less likely to progress.
• A previous grantee should show a new, significant leap that would not happen without The Fore’s support.
• A request for a fundraising role should set out a well-considered strategy and a realistic, sustainable plan for success.
• Funding panels assess the grant’s potential impact on the applicant organisation, strategic aims and risks.
• Grantees should expect an annual phone call about progress against agreed targets and a short survey; they do not have to submit a written report.