The Henry Smith Foundation: Domestic Abuse Fund

Overview

Summary 

• Grant amount: £250k (£50k per year)
• Length: five years
• Focus: 'led by and for' organisations providing specialist domestic abuse services
• Eligible organisations: formally registered, not-for-profit organisations with a charitable purpose (e.g. registered charity, CIC, community benefit society) providing direct service delivery
• Annual income: no minimum or maximum income requirement
• Location: open across all four UK nations

This programme is specifically for organisations led by and for people from marginalised and minoritised communities.

They aim to ensure a spread of grants across a range of communities and will also seek to fund work in a range of geographical locations. If they receive more fundable applications than they are able to fund, they will prioritise organisations as required in order to help them achieve this.

They define ‘led by and for’ organisations as those run, designed and delivered by and for people who are from marginalised and minoritised communities that face additional forms of discrimination, and structural and systemic inequality. These include communities such as LGBT+ people, d/Deaf and disabled people and those from racially minoritised communities. Organisations will provide specialist services for individuals who are experiencing domestic abuse. 

See Guidelines for further advice.

What they’re looking to fund:

• Strong track record – your organisation has at least three years’ experience of providing specialist domestic abuse services to your community. You have a clear understanding of the intersecting needs of victim-survivors from marginalised and minoritised communities and are well embedded within your community. Your staff have the relevant expertise and experience to safely support the people you work with.
• In-depth and consistent – you offer ongoing support that responds to an individual's changing needs. They won’t fund organisations that are only providing short-term interventions or helplines.
• Person-centred – your services are tailored to the unique needs of each individual. One-to-one support, such as casework, is a core part of your approach. The type of support should be developed with the individual, so they shape what it looks like and have choice and control throughout. They won’t fund organisations that only offer group-based support.
• Holistic – you provide wrap-around support that addresses an individual’s range of needs. This means that ideally you will provide a number of services such as counselling, safe accommodation, casework, immigration advice and practical support. Where you are unable to meet an individual’s needs you will work in partnership with other organisations and help them to access this wider support.

Objectives

They want to fund organisations that can clearly show the difference they make to the people they support. The following is not prescriptive, but the expectations is that your work contributes to meaningful, lasting change for victim-survivors of domestic abuse. Examples of outcomes for your service-users might include:

• Feeling more able to disclose abuse and seek support
• Feeling safer
• Feeling less isolated
• Having more choice and control
• Being able to access safe housing
• Being able to secure their rights and entitlements
• Having improved knowledge
• Having improved understanding
• Experiencing improved (mental) health and wellbeing

Eligibility Criteria

You can only apply to this fund if your organisation meets all of the following criteria:

• You are a ‘led by and for’ organisation
• You provide specialist domestic abuse services
• Your organisation is a registered not-for-profit organisation with a charitable purpose. This can include registered charity, CIO or CIC.
• Your organisation must have published your first annual accounts
• Your organisation has a safeguarding policy
• Your organisation primarily operates in the UK
• If you have an active Henry Smith Foundation grant, you must be in the final year. Please contact your Grant Manager if you are unsure.

See Guidelines for full details