Charity Grants
This section is for charities and organisations. If you are an individual interested in our bursaries and travel awards, please go to the Bursaries and Travel Awards page. If you are interested in research grants, please go to the Academic Research Grants page.
Important note for charities and organisations
We can only support applications which will directly benefit vision-impaired people and for which funds are received and accounted for within the UK.
Our policy on reviewing grant applications has changed recently.
The Trustees will now group applications by category and consider all applications within that category at the same time. The categories are:
Employment and education
Information and support for people with sight loss and their families
Non-UK eye health care and training
Wellbeing, including mental health and access to arts, culture and sport
The dates for submission, and the dates for 2026 meetings at which those applications will be considered, are set out below.
Please check to make sure that your project will meet the criteria set out below under “Application Requirements“ and take note of the submission and meeting dates.
If you have any questions, please email charity@spectaclemakers.com
Application Requirements
The Spectacle Makers’ Charity will consider applications for grants from registered UK charities having a visible and meaningful impact on the lives of vision impaired people.
The Charity will not consider:
- grants which do not directly relate to vision
- more general disaster/emergency appeals
- direct grants outside the UK
The trustees will consider grants towards specific projects as well as co-funding larger projects where it can make a meaningful contribution. Charitable grants given by this Charity to organisations are usually small amounts to support particular projects. Most grants will be for amounts between £1,000-5,000. The Trustees may award larger amounts, but this would be very unusual.
The Spectacle Makers’ Charity (together with its founder member, The Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers) is interested in developing mutually beneficial relationships with those that it supports. The impact of each grant made is very important to us. Honest reporting of outcomes and an analysis of the long-term benefits delivered by past projects will form a major part of our decision making if a benefiting charity decides to re-apply for funding.
Application Process
The Trustees meet four times a year. At each meeting throughout the year, the Trustees will review grant applications which fall within a specific theme. The four themes are: information and support; non-UK eye health care and training; employment and education; wellbeing.
Applications can only be accepted online, using the online form below. The Trustees will not respond to speculative applications received by letter or glossy marketing documents.
Here are the deadlines for the receipt of applications before each of the Trustees' themed meetings in 2026.
11 February 2026 meeting - grants relating to Information and Support. Applications must be received by 2 January 2026.
13 May meeting - applications for funding for Non-UK eye health care and training. Applications must be received by 13 March 2026.
21 September 2026 meeting - applications relating to Employment and Education. Applications must be received by 31 July 2026.
16 November 2026 meeting - focus on Wellbeing (eg mental health and access to arts, culture and sport). Applications must be received by 2 October 2026.
If you have a vision impairment and/or would have difficulty in submitting an online form, please call us on 020 7236 2932 and we will be pleased to suggest an alternative.
