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: Please check first to make sure that your project will meet the criteria set out below under “Application Requirements“ and note the dates of the theme-based meetings throughout the year. Specifically, we can only support applications which will directly benefit vision-impaired people and for which funds are received and accounted for within the UK.
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.
Standard Application Process
The Trustees meet four times a year. At each meeting throughout the year, Trustees will review grant applications with one of the following specific themes (information and support, non-UK healthcare and training, employment and education, wellbeing (arts, culture and sport).
Applications can only be accepted online. Here are the deadlines for receipt of applications before each of the Trustees themed meetings.
February meeting - consideration of grants with ‘information and support’ themes. Applications must be received by 3 January.
May meeting - consideration of grants with ‘non-UK healthcare and training’ themes. Applications must be received by 4 April.
September meeting - consideration ‘employment and education’ themes. Applications must be received by 1 August.
November meeting - consideration of ‘Wellbeing (arts, culture and sport)’ themes. Applications must be received by 26 September.
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.
