Our use of cookies

We use cookies to help our site function and to understand how we can improve our content.

Before you choose, you can read more about the cookies we use on our cookies page.

Youth Fund

Amount: Up to £150,000
Deadline: Rolling application cycle 
Duration: 3 years 
A group of a dozen or so young people are in a room, all cheering. Some have their arms stretched out above their heads while others are clapping
Photo credit: Advocacy Academy

We want to fund organisations who work with young people (14–25) to drive change so that future generations of young people can thrive.

In this section

Aim of the fund

We believe that services, systems, structures, processes and practice can support young people to thrive. We want young people to have their voices heard, and to have agency and autonomy to drive changes and improvements which transform their transitions to adulthood.

This fund achieves this by:

  • Focusing on young people (14–25) who experience systemic inequity. For these young people, transitions are harder due to the way society, systems and structures operate. This often compounds the inequity they experience.
  • Driving change in systems, processes, structures and practice to create more equitable, inclusive, asset based environments and experiences for young people.
  • Tackling the root causes of inequity and injustice which creates barriers and challenges for young people as they transition to adulthood.
  • Centering young people voice, insight and power. Recognizing that many young people are marginalized or excluded, their experiences hidden or less well known and their voices often erased or ignored.

Who we want to support

Our fund focuses both on how organisations work, and what they seek to achieve.

We are interested in funding:

  • organisations working with young people (14–25);
  • targeted work with and for young people who face transitions in their lives which may be challenging or create barriers for example into or out of education, care settings, housing or the secure estate†; and
  • work that recognizes young peoples multiple and overlapping identities (for example race, gender, sexual orientation, class, faith, migration status, ability).

We particularly welcome applications from organisations led by people most impacted by racism, ableism, classism, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia, and/​or transphobia.

†The secure estate might include prisons, bail accommodation, youth detention accommodation and approved premises.

How you work

We support organisations which:

  • work beyond direct delivery to drive strategic and systemic change. We are interested in how your work makes a difference to the future of young people’s transition to adulthood;
  • seek to identify, understand and tackle the root causes of the injustice and inequity that young people face as part of the work;
  • ensure that their work and workforce are representative, respectful, and relevant to the lived experience of the young people they are working with and for; and
  • are committed to anti-racism, which we define as the active work to identify and oppose racism, which includes changing systems, structures, policies and practices, as well as attitudes to create a more equitable society. Organisations will centre anti-racism in the planning and delivery of work and ensure that the processes and approaches are considered through an anti-racist lens. 

What you work on

We fund organisations to drive change so that future generations of young people can thrive.

For us, this means work that does the following:

Asset-based working

We fund organisations who work in an asset-based way. This is a crucial feature of our fund and we look to fund organisations who demonstrate this in their work. For us, this means:

  • Young people are seen for their potential not their current or past experiences
  • Recognising and building on young people’s strengths
  • Centre young people’s power, voice and agency so they can shape decisions that affect them

More on asset-based working

Find out more about what we mean when we talk about ​‘asset-based working’ and why we want to fund work that starts by recognising and building on young people’s strengths.

Asset-based working

What we will fund

The Youth Fund is designed to be a strategic investment in your organisation, so we only fund:

  • for the full three years and at the amount appropriate to your plans to drive change;
  • organisations where at least 50% of the organisation’s focus is on work with and for 14–25 year olds; and
  • not-for-profit organisations which can be charities, community organisations, social enterprises and not-for-profit companies with a turnover over £30,000 and under £3.5 million. Non-charities must clearly declare how funding is for charitable purposes and have an asset lock in place.

For work delivered through partnerships, there must be a lead partner who can receive funds and the partnership must already be active.

We provide funding:

  • up to £50,000 per year for three years (max grant £150,000). We prefer to fund organisations at the maximum amount and term. We do not make grants of less than £30,000 per year;
  • to cover core operating costs (salaries, organisation and delivery costs); and
  • to grow the impact of what you already do. We are not looking to fund new or untested approaches, projects or finite pieces of work.

What we will not fund

In addition to Paul Hamlyn Foundation’s general exclusions, we will not fund:

  • newly registered organisations yet to produce independently audited/​examined accounts;
  • work that is considered a statutory responsibility;
  • project-based activity or work with no scope for impact beyond the organisation’s immediate beneficiaries;
  • service delivery that does not have a specific focus on wider change;
  • research that does not demonstrate a direct link between findings and taking action towards change;
  • work that is focused on young people receiving hospice or end of life care;
  • work delivered by YMCAs unless it seeks to secure significant wider changes in housing provision and entitlements for young people; or
  • work that is focused exclusively on pathways to employment for young people or on pathways to further or higher education, often described as improving young people’s social mobility.

We recognise that these activities are important but, considering our limited funds, these activities are not currently a priority.

Who we have funded

  • Case study

    Anti Racist Cumbria

    Creating a forward-thinking and actively anti-racist Cumbria

    Anti Racist Cumbria (ARC) aims to make Cumbria the UK’s first anti-racist county. The charity goes beyond just campaigning for change and works countywide with public and private sector organisations, schools and communities to support them to become anti-racist.

    Youth Fund

  • Case study

    Albert Kennedy Trust

    Tackling LGBTQ+ youth homelessness

    The Albert Kennedy Trust (AKT) provides support, advice and guidance to young people aged 16–25 who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer (LGBTQ+) and who are facing or experiencing homelessness, or living in a hostile environment.

    Youth Fund

In this section

Application process

The Youth Fund operates on a rolling basis. This means organisations can apply at any time as there are no deadlines.

Applying to the Youth Fund is a two-step process.

How to apply

1
2
Start your application

Getting a decision

1
2

  • We make 20 grants a year through the Youth Fund and on average, 10–12% of all applicants receive funding.

  • If you’re interested in applying, we highly recommend you look at our page on asset-based approaches to understand the kind of work we’re looking to support.

Help with applications

Access support bursary

If this application process is inaccessible to you at any stage, please get in touch. We can provide pre-application access support and a bursary of up to £750 to help you apply.

More about our accessibility support

We use an online application form.

A sample application form can be downloaded as a word document, also available in large print, for you to review in advance.

DOCX
Youth Fund sample application DOCX 
147.851 KB 
DOCX
Youth Fund sample application (large print) DOCX 
39.956 KB 
DOCX
Diversity, equity and inclusion monitoring form DOCX 
136.266 KB 
DOCX
Diversity, equity and inclusion monitoring form (large print) DOCX 
34.268 KB 

Before you start your application, we also suggest you look at:

Three young people are sitting outside, laughing with each other
Photo credit: Youth Access 

Start your application 

Log-in or register to our online application form to start your application. If you have questions not answered on our site, please get in touch.

Apply 020 7812 3300