Grants for Merseyside

Before You Apply:

Is your work charitable?
Do you produce annual accounts (if over one year old)?
Do you have a written set of rules?
Do you have a bank account in the name of the group which requires at least two unrelated signatories?
Does your project fall within the criteria?

What Happens Next?

Once you have submitted your application form to the foundation, as a general rule, you should allow 3-5 months, for a decision to be made for Merseyside applications. JMF operates a two stage process and you will hear from us within three months to inform you about an outcome of the first stage, if appropriate, you will then be visited by a member of our staff. You are welcome to phone or e-mail us anytime and ask for an update.

What Else?

Trustees will continue to review the Foundation’s grant making policy at regular intervals.

No grants are made to individuals, nor are grants made for capital building projects or for work that clearly falls under statutory responsibility. Please see What We Do Not Fund for a complete list of our exclusions.

The size of grant varies, but we prefer to give smaller grants to a larger number of projects. Small schemes are preferred because capacity and ambition are likely to be better matched and people are more likely to be stimulated to further effort.

Applications may be refused where we feel that the organisation concerned is already well funded or has large reserves.

If your group is not a registered charity (e.g. a CIC), you may apply for funding as long as the work you do is charitable in law. However, we prefer that your organisation is run by a Board where the majority of unrelated members are not paid by the organisation and that it produces accounts that detail its sources of income and breaks down its expenditure.

The types of organisations / projects that we like to support

Those that are:

trying to help communities to come together to work effectively on the issues that matter to them
working in partnership with others to build trust and cohesive communities
providing advice and support
trying to change attitudes and broaden horizons

People we would like the organisation/project to support

Those suffering from poverty and financial crisis
Those in or at risk poor physical or mental health
Those in social, physical and cultural isolation
Black, Asian and minority ethnic people
Refugees
Women including girls, especially those at risk of violence and abuse
Children and young people aged 5 and over
Those suffering discrimination
Families needing support
Homeless people
Carers
Adults with few or no educational qualifications

NOTE: Unsolicited applications that fall outside our policy criteria are not considered

Examples of grants awarded in 2024-2025

£17,500 to a group supporting carers, towards the salary costs of a dementia-focused adult carer Support Worker, over three years.
£17,869 to a youth provision towards the salary of the Play/Family Support Worker, over three years.
£30,000 to an equality-promoting centre, over three years.
£10,000 to an organisation working with young people for the salaries of the sessional Youth Workers and rent.
£17,500 to a community centre for a part-time Youth/Play Worker, over three years.
£2,400 to a group offering activities for people living with disabilities towards running costs of a gardening project.
£4,000 towards running costs to a domestic violence service.
£5,000 towards counselling sessions across Knowsley and Wirral.
£9,900 for an initiative building resilient leadership for refugee, migration, and racial equity.

Merseyside grant making statistics 2023/24

During the year 2023/24, the Foundation received 183 applications of which 114 were from Merseyside and 69 from Northern Ireland.

In 2023/24, in Merseyside, John Moores Foundation awarded grants to 62% of the organisations that applied for funding. In total, these organisations requested £2,809,079 and John Moores Foundation awarded £734,200 (26.14%) of this via one, two and three year grants.

Approximately 31% of grants given in Merseyside were for £5,000 or less with an average of £7,437.