GrantRadar

The Headley Trust (Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts)

The Headley Trust

The Headley Trust is one of the Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts. It accepts initial enquiries from charities in defined areas, though it finds many grantees through its own research. In the UK it funds regional museums and galleries (curators, acquisitions, British ceramics), industrial, maritime and built heritage, archaeology, and repair of Anglican cathedrals and large pre-1850 churches. It also funds heritage-skills and music/dance bursaries through institutions and primary-school music tuition. Its health and social welfare strand supports older people's independence and projects for disadvantaged families and young people, including care leavers. It also has overseas strands in anglophone Africa and South Eastern Europe. No grant sizes are published.

Apply on the funder’s site
You could get
Amount not specified
no fixed round
Deadline
Rolling
apply any time
Effort
Light
short form, little evidence needed

Who can apply

  • Registered charities and charitable organisations with clearly defined charitable purposes; the enquiry form says it only accepts enquiries from registered charities, CICs, CIOs, social enterprises or organisations registered as exempt charities
  • UK-wide for the UK strands (the form covers all English regions, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland)
  • Cathedral funding is for Anglican cathedrals, Major Churches Network parish church cathedrals and large pre-1850 churches of exceptional merit, not parish churches
  • Education bursaries go through training institutions, not to individuals
  • Overseas applicants must be locally led organisations in the named African countries with a verifiable reference or partner
  • No income limits are published
  • The trust finds many grantees through its own research, so enquiries are competitive

What it funds

Arts & Heritage UK:

  • Regional museums and galleries (including local authority museums), especially curator support and acquisitions
  • Display, study and acquisition of British ceramics
  • Conservation of industrial, maritime and built heritage
  • Archaeology
  • Arts education including digitisation and outreach

Cathedrals (Anglican only): restoration or repair of the fabric of ancient cathedrals, parish church cathedrals in the Major Churches Network, and large churches of exceptional architectural merit built before 1850; also conservation of monuments, energy-efficiency measures as part of a wider fabric appeal, fire and burglar alarms, and solar panels.

Education: bursaries through institutions for vocational training in UK conservation and heritage skills (stained glass, stonemasonry, wall painting and textile conservation, boat building and conservation, wood/stone carving, carpentry/joinery); bursaries for UK graduate dance and postgraduate music students; some support for music tuition projects in primary schools.

Health & Social Welfare: projects helping older people live independently at home for as long as possible or improving their quality of life in residential care; projects helping disadvantaged families and young people, especially with access to basic needs, parenting, young people with care experience, and strengthening educational engagement.

Overseas: locally led women and girls' education/employment and WASH/community health projects in Kenya, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Somaliland, Uganda and Zambia.

South Eastern Europe heritage goes through the separate Headley SEE Cultural Heritage Fund.

The Headley Museums Archaeological Acquisition Fund runs alongside the ACE/V&A Purchase Grant Fund.

What it will not fund

  • Parish churches
  • Individuals, expeditions or fees
  • Within cathedral funding: education centres, conferences, exhibition or heritage spaces, organs, clocks, bells, plumbing, kitchens or heating
  • Overseas development projects in countries other than Kenya, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Somaliland, Uganda and Zambia

How to apply

  1. Read the Guidelines for the Headley enquiry form (https://sfct.powerappsportals.com/headley/headley-guidelines/) and check your project fits one of the trust's areas
  2. Complete the online Headley Trust Enquiry Form (https://sfct.powerappsportals.com/headley/): contact and organisation details, charity/company number, category (Arts & Heritage UK, Health & Social Welfare, Overseas, Education), your aims (max 1,745 characters), a project summary and description (max 1,745 characters), total budget, amount needed, funding raised, timescale, previous Sainsbury trust grants, income, expenditure and reserves from your latest accounts; museums and heritage sites also give visitor numbers and admission charges
  3. Attach your safeguarding policy and, if your latest accounts are not online at the Charity Commission or Companies House, a copy of them, then submit
  4. You should receive an email confirming your enquiry is being reviewed; the trust may contact you for more information

Do not email any additional information

South Eastern Europe heritage projects apply to the Headley SEE Cultural Heritage Fund; archaeological acquisitions by museums go through the Headley Museums Archaeological Acquisition Fund

Have ready

  • Safeguarding policy
  • Most recent accounts (only if not available on the Charity Commission or Companies House website, or if those online are not from the last financial year)

More like this

Other grants open to organisations like yours.