Grant Making
General Information
The Company has several categories of grant making. The principle areas of support
are:General Welfare (including care for the elderly)
Please note this is restricted to charities working in Greater London and known
areas of deprivation in the South East of England.
Education
Please note there is a strong geographical priority for work in London and in
particular areas of the West Midlands-Walsall, Sandwell and Telford.
Support for the Christian Faith
Under our programme of support for the Christian faith, applications are also considered from those parts of the UK where the Mercers'
Company has close links with particular churches and communities. (See church
patronage click here)
Heritage and a small Arts budget
No current geographical priorities
Before making an application under one of the above programmes please note:
We only make grants to UK registered charities or UK charities that are exempt from registration.
We can only consider one application from an organisation within a three year period. This guideline applies whether or not you were awarded a grant. For recipients of instalment grants please note that this rule normally applies from the date of the last payment, not the date of the original application.Most of our grants are single payment grants. We currently have geographic restrictions from our welfare grant making and educational grant making. Please see individual programmes for details.
We can not support capital projects that are submitted by public health or education
authorities. Whilst we normally consider a range of capital projects from charities,
in the current economic climate we have decided to concentrate our support on
maintaining service delivery.
Our capital support is restricted to appeals that are within the last 20% of their target and for which support in the region of £5,000-£20,000 will make a difference, are
not awaiting an outstanding lottery decision and include a realistic business plan showing how the building will be used and future revenue predictions.
Processing Applications
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With every application we shall assess whether:
i) the organisation is managed well and its finances are in order
ii) the organisation has planned its projects well, and that it will meet an identified
need
iii) the organisation's procedures are in line with good practice |
All applications are handled by the grants department. Our grants officers are
happy to give advice by telephone or e-mail. Click here for our contact details.
Officers work closely with committee chairmen in the processing of applications.
The Company appoints committees to review applications within each category and
to make recommendations to the Court of Assistants. The final decision is made
by the Court, which meets two to three weeks after the committee meeting.
Please note that we receive many more qualifying applications than we are able
to support.
General Exclusions
These should be read alongside the exclusions for the particular category into
which your application falls.
Animal welfare charitiesEndowment appealsWork overseas (unless there is a significant relationship with the organisation)Projects that are primarily politicalActivities that are the responsibility of the local, health or education authority or other similar bodyActivities that have already taken placeOther grant making trustsSponsorship or marketing appealsFundraising eventsLoans or business financeRunning costs such as rent and service charges
