Aims

1.The Lipman-Miliband Trust exists to fund:

• “study and research into socialist ideas and practice and other allied fields and the dissemination of the results thereof to the public;
• and educational activities that raise public awareness and understanding of struggles and movements for peace, human rights and co-operation and a more equal, diverse, cooperative and democratic society.”

We have a broad interpretation of these aims but they are at the heart of what we do. All applications must demonstrate how the work furthers these aims.

2.This grants programme is focused on supporting the development of sustainable and effective infrastructure and capabilities for the aims outlined above in point 1. We are looking to fund organisations thinking in long-term and strategic ways about how these aims can be furthered within and across movements.

To get a better idea of how we apply these aims in our funding, we recommend reading our mission statement, looking at our impact page to see what we have previously funded.

How much money is available?

Up to £30,000 over three years (maximum of £10,000 per year).

We expect applicants to apply for a minimum of £9,000 per year (minimum £27,000 in total).

Who is eligible?

• Organisations that meet the following requirements:
• Were established (i.e. registered with the Charity Commission, Companies House, the Financial Conduct Authority or the Certification Officer) a minimum of two years ago.
• Can demonstrate impact from work carried out in the last two years.
• Are based in the UK, with a UK bank account (please see below for an exception relating to organisations based in the Republic of Ireland).
• Have a board made up of at least three people who are not closely related to each other. This means board members should not be family members, partners, or live at the same address.
• Had an income of between £5,000 and £500,000 in the most recent financial year.

Union branches

If you are applying from a union branch, the eligibility criteria apply to the branch itself, rather than the central union. This means the branch must have been established for at least two years, have evidence of impact from the past two years, be UK-based with a UK bank account, and have had an income between £5,000 and £500,000 in its most recent financial year.

To be eligible, the work you are applying to fund must take place at the local branch level. We are particularly keen to support grassroots initiatives rooted in local organising.

Faith organisations

Faith-based organisations are eligible to apply, provided the proposed work is open to people of all faiths and none and does not involve promoting or recruiting individuals into a particular faith.

Organisations based in the Republic of Ireland

Organisations and individuals based in the Republic of Ireland are eligible, provided some of the the work they are applying to fund takes place in Northern Ireland or aims to create impact in Northern Ireland or the UK. These organisations must have a bank account based either in the Republic of Ireland or in the UK.

Fiscally hosted organisations

The trust will accept applications from organisations that are fiscally hosted by larger organisations, as long as the hosted organisation was established at least two years ago, with an annual income between £5,000 and £500,000. The Trust will require the following additional information from fiscally hosted organisations:

• A copy of your contract with the hosting organisation.
• Governing documents outlining the governance structure of the hosted organisation.
• A short outline of the reasoning for the fiscal hosting and any plans to become an independent organisation.

Who is not eligible?

• Individuals
• If you are an individual looking for grant funding, please see our small grants programme.
• Unincorporated/un-registered organisations.
• Organisations with an income of less than £5,000 or more than £500,000 in the most recent financial year.
• Organisations based outside of the UK.

What we fund

• Running costs.
• Core costs (as long as you can clearly demonstrate how these will contribute to the aims of the grants programme).
• Work that aims to create transformative change with demonstrable impact.
• Work that demonstrates clear engagement with their proposed audiences and that promotes active outcomes.
• We want to fund work all over the UK, so we actively encourage applications from areas outside of London and the South-East of England.

What we do not fund

• Any element of undergraduate or postgraduate studies or research e.g. tuition fees, costs of carrying out research for an assignment or dissertation or living costs while studying.
• Work focused primarily on service provision rather than educational activities. For example, an application by a foodbank or homelessness charity where the main focus is providing support to service users, rather than carrying out educational activities related to our aims. We appreciate that in some cases these things can be linked and encourage you to contact us ahead of applying if you’re unsure about which category your work falls into.
• Work connected to political parties, or with party political aims; or that does not adhere to both Charity Commission guidance on campaigning and political activity and, during election periods, Charity Commission guidance on elections and referendums. Please be aware that work carried out with this funding must adhere to this guidance regardless of whether or not the recipient is a charity.
• Retrospective costs (i.e. applications cannot be made for expenditure that has already occurred or will occur before the grant is received).

What makes a good application?

• Please try to write as clearly and straightforwardly as possible. Even if one or more of our trustees is familiar with your work, we can only make decisions based on the information provided in the application.
• We encourage you to read our mission statement and visit our impact page and read about previously funded projects to see how we apply these aims in our funding.
• We are looking for applications that demonstrate how the work will contribute to transformative change, and have an enduring presence or impact. We want this grants programme to fund work that is aimed at supporting the development of sustainable and effective infrastructure or capabilities within and across movements.
• Please make sure you double-check the numbers given in your budget breakdown. We need to see that you can understand and manage a budget.

How long does the application process take?

The application process has two stages. The first is a short application form, where you’ll briefly outline the work you’re asking us to fund.

Trustees will review the first round of applications and select a number of applicants to invite to the second round. You will receive a decision on whether or not your application has been selected for the second round within six weeks of completing the first application form.

If you are successfully invited to the second round of applications, you will be sent a link to a longer application form, requesting more details on things like the impact you’re hoping to achieve and your budget.

We try to keep our application form as concise as possible. You can read through the questions on the application form here.

Timeline:

• Applications open: 1st November 2025
• First round application deadline: 26th February 2026
• Decisions on first round communicated: by 20th March 2026
• Second round application deadline: 1st May 2026
• Final decisions communicated: 3rd July 2026

Grants are then distributed within 4 weeks of the decision being communicated.

Please take this timeline into account when planning your work, to ensure that your start date is realistic.

What happens if I’m successful?

If you are successful, we will aim to transfer the grant to you within four weeks of communicating the grant decision.

You will need to provide a bank statement from the last three months for your organisation’s bank account.

Do you provide feedback?

As we’re a very small organisation, we are unfortunately unable to provide in-depth feedback on applications but will provide some light-touch feedback within two months of the grant decisions being communicated.

Examples of previously funded work

This is a new grants programme, launched in Autumn 2024. So far, two organisations have received funding:

• Corporate Watch
  Corporate Watch is an anti-capitalist research and training group that helps people stand up against corporate power using “information for action”. The large grant will support Corporate Watch’s training sessions on investigating industries and companies, as well as updating and publishing materials on the same topic.
• The Greater Manchester Tenants Union
  The large grant will enable GMTU to embed a political education programme within their tenant organising. This will include training to support members to develop into leadership roles within the union, public education events and commissioning writing on aspects of GMTU’s work.

Support for your application

As we’re a very small organisation with only one member of staff, we’re unfortunately unable to carry out one to one calls with potential applicants. However, we will be running two drop-in sessions on Zoom, to allow potential applicants to speak to our Trust Coordinator and ask questions about the grant programme and application process.

• Large grants programme drop-in session one:
  Monday 6th October, 10.00am – 11.00am
  Register for the session one here
• Large grants programme drop-in session two:
  Wednesday 8th October, 6.00pm – 7.00pm
  Register for the session two here

Enquiries

We can also respond to your questions by email. If you have any questions about applying for funding from The Lipman-Miliband Trust, please contact the Trust Coordinator, Oonagh Ryder, at info@lipman-miliband.org.uk.