If you run a community group anywhere between the Tweed and the Tees, Community Foundation North East is probably the first local funder someone told you about. It's also one of the easiest to get wrong, because it isn't one grant programme. It's a collection of separate funds, each set up by a different donor, each with its own area, its own size of grant and its own rules.
Families, companies, councils and individuals set up a fund at the Community Foundation, and the Foundation runs it for them. It writes the criteria with the donor, takes the applications, assesses them and makes the awards. So the useful question is never "will the Community Foundation fund us?" It's "which of its funds was set up for work like ours, in our area?"
Where the money goes
The Community Foundation's home patch is Tyne & Wear and Northumberland: Newcastle, Gateshead, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, Sunderland and the county of Northumberland. A few of its funds reach further, into County Durham and the Tees Valley.
Within that, the funds get very local very quickly. Of the funds we found open this week, about half cover the whole of Tyne & Wear and Northumberland. The rest are tied to one borough, one part of a city, or even a single parish, and a fund for one parish gets a fraction of the applications a region-wide fund does.
Funds for organisations, open now
These were all listed as open when we wrote this. Each fund's page on the Community Foundation's website has the current criteria, so check it before you apply.
Across Tyne & Wear and Northumberland
Reeds Grassroots Fund. Up to £3,000 for projects that improve mental health or tackle the disadvantage that limits life chances, especially for children and disadvantaged communities. Hardship support counts too: welfare benefits advice, employment support, food and essentials. You need to be working in an area of high deprivation, and to show you already have a track record of results. It's aimed mainly at organisations with an income of up to £250,000. It won't fund equipment, refurbishment or general sporting activities.
The Jackie Haq Fund. Grants of £1,000 to £1,250 for small grassroots groups with collective action at their core, working on domestic violence, poverty, racism, disadvantage, or mental health and suicide prevention. Project, capital, running and core costs are all eligible.
The Platten Family Fund. £1,000 to £10,000 for charitable organisations running STEM activities or training, including vocational trades and celebrating the region's engineering heritage. This one reaches across the whole North East, including County Durham and the Tees Valley. Applications go to the donors quarterly, so the deadlines are the last day of September, December, March and June. Keep staffing costs to a modest part of the budget. The fund says they need to be well justified.
The 1989 Willan Charitable Trust. For registered charities, and exempted and excepted organisations, whose work benefits people in Tyne & Wear, Northumberland, County Durham or Teesside. Priority goes to work that eases social deprivation or enriches local community life.
Newcastle
Newcastle Culture Investment Fund. Up to £12,000 for not-for-profit organisations bringing creative activity to people in Newcastle upon Tyne. You don't have to be a cultural organisation. Community groups with a creative ethos and strong cultural partners are encouraged too. Decisions are made every two months by an independent panel. Projects need to start within the 2026/27 financial year, and your application needs a one-page statement linking your work to the city's Cultural Strategy.
David Dockray West End Young People's Fund. £1,000 to £15,000 a year for organisations working with children and young people in the west end of Newcastle, with Fenham the priority area. The panel meets in June and November, and each round is announced in advance.
Wembley Stadium Foundation Communities Fund. Up to £5,000 a year for groups with a track record of youth activity rooted in sport, movement or performing arts, for work in Newcastle only. It's part of the build-up to UEFA EURO 2028, and the Community Foundation is giving out £110,000 in Newcastle over two years.
Gateshead and Northumberland
Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Fund, Gateshead. Capital money for voluntary, community and social enterprise groups in Gateshead, listed at up to £25,000. It comes from the levy the council charges on new building developments. Past grants have paid for a new roof, new windows, solar panels and battery storage, and new kitchen and shower facilities. Once the money is allocated the fund closes, so it's worth applying early.
RWE Renewables Kiln Pit Hill Wind Farm Community Fund. Up to £15,000 a year for projects in the parish of Shotley Low Quarter in Northumberland, with a minimum request of £1,000. It covers equipment, trips, sessional workers, repairs to community buildings and start-up costs for new groups.
The Ted Weekes Fund. £1,000 to £4,000 for organisations working with children and young people in Seaton Sluice and New Hartley.
High Sheriff's Awards. Northumberland and Tyne & Wear each have an awards fund of around £1,000 for groups working with young people aged 10 to 25. In Northumberland there's only one round in 2026/27, with awards announced in January or February 2027.
Funds for individuals
This is the part people miss. Several funds pay individuals rather than organisations, but most of them won't take an application from the individual directly. A charity, community group or statutory agency has to apply on the person's behalf, and takes responsibility for the grant. If you work with young people, carers or care leavers, these are worth knowing.
- The Brian Roycroft Fund. Up to £1,000 for care leavers aged 18 to 25 from, or living in, Tyne & Wear or Northumberland, to help with housing, education, work or wellbeing. Most grants are smaller. Past grants have paid for driving lessons and a forklift course.
- The Henderson Family Fund. £300 to £1,000 for young people aged 16 to 25 in Northumberland facing hardship, to cover course fees, rent, travel or tutoring. It's a rolling fund.
- The Curtin PARP Fund. One-off grants of £1,000 to help people into environmental and green careers such as horticulture, parks and sustainable energy, prioritising carers, women and girls, disabled people and others facing disadvantage. Organisations can also apply for up to £7,000 to run accredited training for groups.
- The David Dockray Fund also takes individual applications, from 16 to 25 year olds in Newcastle's west end, for £500 to £2,500 a year towards training and careers. You have to contact the fund before applying.
Two funds do take direct applications. The SWEF Enterprise Fund gives people aged 18 to 30 in Tyne & Wear and Northumberland start-up grants of up to £500, or business development grants of up to £2,000 once a business is earning over £500 a month. The process changes by 1 January 2027, when applicants will first fill in an expression of interest. The Taylor Fund gives up to £1,000 towards study costs for people with close ties to the Parish of Newbottle in Sunderland.
Common reasons applications don't succeed
- Applying from the wrong place. A fund for Seaton Sluice won't fund Blyth, and a Gateshead fund won't fund Newcastle. Check the area before anything else.
- Asking for the wrong size of grant. Jackie Haq tops out at £1,250, while Kiln Pit Hill won't look at less than £1,000. Ask for what the fund actually gives.
- Asking a fund for something it excludes. Reeds won't pay for equipment or general sport. The Community Foundation also won't fund anything it sees as the job of statutory services.
- An individual applying directly to a fund that only accepts applications through an organisation.
- No evidence of results. Several funds ask for a track record. Reeds says so outright.
- Missing the round. Dockray decides twice a year, Platten quarterly, and the Northumberland High Sheriff's Awards only once this year.
How to apply
Every fund has its own page on the Community Foundation's website, with its criteria and a link to apply. Start with the general "Funding and Support" guidance, which applies to every fund, then read the fund's own page. Social enterprises, community interest companies and other non-charities should read the guidance notes carefully, because eligibility for them varies from fund to fund.
Many fund pages name a member of staff to contact. Use them. They'll tell you quickly if a different fund would suit you better.
Finding Community Foundation North East funding on Grants Hub
With this many funds, each with its own area, it's easy to miss the one set up for your patch. Grants Hub tracks the Community Foundation's open funds, with their areas and amounts, alongside 3,800+ live UK funding opportunities from 1,400+ monitored funders, updated daily. Match your organisation once and you'll see the funds that cover where you work. We take 0% commission on anything you win.