Deadline: 14 May 2020

The Andrew Wainwright Reform Trust (AWRT) is not a charitable trust, but a non-profit-making limited company. This means the Trust prioritises grants for political and pressure group work that a registered charity could not support. The AWRT has a wide-ranging remit, striving for a just and democratic society, redressing political and social injustices.

The Andrew Wainwright Reform Trust Ltd takes its name from Andrew Wainwright, a lifelong campaigner for radical reform who taught at Hlekweni rural training centre in Zimababwe in 1970, a time when the movement for freedom and democracy was gathering strength.

Objectives

• The objectives of the Trust are framed in general terms to work for a just and democratic society and to redress political and social injustices. It is a wide-ranging remit for reform, but the Trust will prioritise organisations that are ineligible for charitable funding because they are considered too political or radical to come within the Charity Commission’s guidelines. The Trust’s approach is similar to that of the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust with which it maintains informal links;
• The Trust will support work undertaken at both regional and national level and may also consider pioneering projects operating on a more local basis that have a potentially wider impact;
• The Trust normally gives grants only to groups or organisations, but in very exceptional cases it may consider an application from an individual with proven experience or skill in their chosen field or it may make a personal award to an individual in support of outstanding commitment and effectiveness relevant to the Trust’s interests;
• As a general rule the Trust provides either specific project funding or start up grants for a limited period to enable campaigns to get off the ground and attract alternative sources of finance.

Funding Information

• The Trust administers investments producing a grant budget that currently varies between about £90,000 and £110,000 a year;
• The majority of recent grants have ranged between £1,500 and £10,000. The Trust does occasionally make awards of larger amounts, but is constrained by the impact this has on its limited overall funds given the high numbers of applications received;
• For this reason the Trust is also unlikely to support organizations with an annual income/expenditure that exceeds £250,000 approximately.

What the Trust does not fund?

The Trust does not fund:

• Applications from registered charities;
• Activities that could be funded from charitable sources:
  • The Trust decisions are informed by Charity Commission guidance on the descriptions of charitable purposes and permissible campaigning and political activities by charities;
  • Applications that meet all the Trust requirements, except that they are eligible for charitable funding, should therefore be sent to the Scurrah Wainwright Charity.
• Campaigns outside the UK;
• General appeals;
• Activities that seek to promote a particular political party or parties, or to influence the outcome of an election.

How to Apply

There is no standard application form and applicants are asked to submit:

• A completed registration form, which can be downloaded via given website;
• Up to four A4 pages setting out your proposal;
• A full budget for the project;
• Your most recent audited annual accounts or an up-to-date statement of income & expenditure (if only recently formed).

Applicants are expected to provide a complete description and explanation of their project and organisation. It is not helpful to refer to other sources of information, such as websites, as trustees will not see them.

Writing your Proposal

You should attempt to answer the following questions:

• What is the purpose of your application?
• Who are you?
• What do you want to do?
• Why are you applying to the Trust?
• How much will it cost?

Once a grant has been given

It is a condition of the grant that:

• Any proposed change in use of a grant should be notified to the administrator for trustees’ approval before change is enacted; and
• A report is provided between 12 and 15 months after the grant was made, and:
• Trustees expect that evaluation and reporting should be included in the planning of your project;
• Grantees should not wait to be reminded about sending a report back;
• Reports should begin by stating the amount awarded and when the grant started.

Re-applying

Re-applications will not be considered:

• Within 12 months of any previous application, whether successful or not; nor
• Before trustees have received a report back on any previous grant by the Trust.

If you choose to re-apply, you should:

• Submit a full application as if trustees have never heard of you before; and
• Include details of any previous applications to the Trust, whether successful or not.

For more information, visit http://www.wainwrighttrusts.org.uk/awrt.html