GrantRadar

The Ulverscroft Foundation

Ulverscroft Foundation Grants

The Ulverscroft Foundation, a Leicestershire-based charity founded by the founder of Ulverscroft Large Print Books, funds projects that help visually impaired people, in the UK and overseas. It supports local sight loss societies, schools, libraries, sports and social groups, eye clinics and hospitals, and university eye research, mostly for equipment, specific projects and capital items; it generally does not pay staff salaries or running costs. Applicants need not be charities (CICs and social groups can apply), grants have ranged from around £100 to £500,000, and trustees meet quarterly.

Apply on the funder’s site
You could get
Amount not specified
Deadline
44 days left
1 December
Effort
Moderate
full application with documents

Who can apply

  • Organisations anywhere in the UK or overseas that help visually impaired people
  • Applicants need not be a charity: CICs and social groups can apply, and the Foundation also funds universities, eye clinics, hospitals, schools and colleges, public libraries (additional to core service), national and local blind and partially sighted societies, and sports and social organisations for VI people
  • The application form asks whether you are a UK registered charity, non-UK charity or other
  • Applicants must have a safeguarding policy and an equal opportunities policy, and trustees examine audited accounts to judge financial viability
  • An organisation that has received a grant, or had an application considered, cannot apply again for 18 months

What it funds

Projects that help visually impaired people, where the visual impairment element is significant. Examples from the Foundation's pages and grants list:

  • Demonstration and assistive technology equipment
  • Low vision kits
  • Braille embossers
  • Audio description equipment
  • Talking newspapers and newsletters in accessible formats
  • Reading and book clubs
  • Sensory rooms
  • Tandems and sports equipment
  • Activities, courses and outings for VI people
  • Befriending services
  • Minibuses and vehicles
  • Eye clinics and hospitals (building and equipment)
  • Public library projects that add to the local authority's core service
  • Academic and clinical research into eye disease (separate Research Grant Guidelines 2026)

Staffing costs for specific, time-limited projects and research salaries may be considered at the trustees' discretion.

Preference goes to sustainable projects with longer-term benefits after funding ends, value for money, and financially viable organisations; the Foundation may pledge money to be released only when other funding is secured.

What it will not fund

  • Projects where the visual impairment element is not significant
  • In general, staff salaries or ongoing running costs (except time-limited project staffing or research salaries at trustees' discretion)
  • Organisations that have received a grant or had an application considered in the last 18 months
  • Public library services that are part of the local authority's core service
  • Public libraries run by private companies (highly unlikely to be supported)
  • Volunteer-run libraries not supported in cash or in kind by the local authority
  • Charities applying on behalf of other charities doing similar work (the beneficiary organisation should apply directly)
  • Short-lived projects such as a one-off audio-described performance (unlikely to succeed)

How to apply

  1. Read the Grant Application Guidelines, Criteria for Awarding Grants and Specific Categories of Bids (and the Research Grant Guidelines 2026 for research bids)
  2. Download the Grant Application Form (PDF) and complete it: your details, organisation aims, project title and description, action plan, project manager, milestones, total cost and itemised costs, amount requested, other funding sources, and how you will measure outcomes and report back
  3. Save the completed form as a PDF and email it with your audited accounts, safeguarding policy and equality policy to foundation@ulverscroft.co.uk (a posted application is also accepted), by the deadline for the next quarterly trustees' meeting: 1 December for January, 15 March for April, 15 June for July, 15 September for October

If you have received a grant over £10,000, you will need to provide periodic progress updates and show the grant was spent as awarded; variations need approval.

Meeting dates may change. Trustees may seek independent specialist advice on applications.

Have ready

  • Completed Grant Application Form (PDF)
  • Latest annual report and audited accounts
  • Safeguarding policy
  • Equality/equal opportunities policy

The guidelines also ask for details of current VI services, estimated numbers of VI users now and in future, and funding received, pledged or applied for elsewhere (covered in the form). A covering letter is optional. Scanned copies or photos of documents are accepted; if you cannot include them at the time, contact the Foundation.

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