GrantRadar

JRSST Charitable Trust

UK Democracy Fund

A pooled, strictly non-partisan fund set up by the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust in 2019 and now hosted by the JRSST Charitable Trust, backed by funders including the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Barrow Cadbury Trust, Paul Hamlyn Foundation and others. It funds advocacy, campaigns and research to get more people voting: Automatic Voter Registration, Votes at 16 and residency-based voting rights, raising registration and turnout among low-propensity voters, and democratic education for young people. Grants of £10,000 or less can be sought at any time; larger grants go to quarterly rounds. Applicants need not be charities, but everything funded must fit within charitable purposes.

Apply on the funder’s site
You could get
Amount not specified
no fixed round
Deadline
Rolling
apply any time
Effort
Heavy
budgets, references, often several stages

Who can apply

  • Organisations, and individuals hosted by an organisation (for example an academic or researcher working for a university), working within the UK
  • You do not need to be a registered charity, but because the Fund is hosted by the JRSST Charitable Trust and mostly charitably funded, all the activities you seek funding for must fit within charitable purposes, and the work must be strictly non-partisan (encouraging people to register and vote, never for any particular candidate or party)
  • Funded posts should pay at least the real Living Wage
  • If you will work with young people or vulnerable adults you will need a safeguarding policy
  • Past grantees include campaigning organisations, registered charities and community organisations

What it funds

Non-partisan advocacy, campaigns and research that support the Fund's four goals for 2025-2029:

  • Enabling everyone to vote: building support for reforms for a simple, seamless and accessible voting system fit for the 21st century
  • Extending the right to vote: advocating for the franchise for 16- and 17-year-olds and settled UK residents from overseas
  • Increasing participation of everyone in our elections: raising turnout of low-propensity voters (such as young people, communities experiencing racial inequity, private renters and the vulnerably housed, and people on low incomes)
  • Securing quality democratic education for young people
  • 2026 focus: pushing for meaningful Automatic Voter Registration before the next general election; pressing government to implement Votes at 16 with automatic registration and good democratic education; building support for residency-based voting rights; registering low-propensity voters at scale ahead of the 2027 local and Northern Ireland Assembly elections and the next general election; testing and scaling methods such as trusted messengers; and calling for better access to data on elections and participation
  • Staffing (at the real Living Wage or above), day-rate posts and consultants, direct costs such as printing, venue hire and travel, and a proportion of overheads

The Fund prioritises systems reform and work with impact at scale, and particularly welcomes work at the intersection of its priorities and racial justice.

What it will not fund

  • Partisan activities
  • Work outside the UK
  • Individual campaigners or researchers without a host organisation
  • Work that has already taken place
  • Legal fees or costs
  • Personal support for individuals in need
  • Educational bursaries
  • General appeals
  • Unlikely to fund: academic research without clear learning or campaign impact; movement building
  • Unlikely to fund: by-election and local election activity, or small-scale campaigns or outreach, unless testing something new, generating new learning on reaching a specific audience, or clearly contributing new evidence to the Fund's goals

How to apply

  1. Read the UK Democracy Fund Funding Guide 2026 and the Fund's resources from past campaigns (including the 2019-2024 evaluation)
  2. Email DemocracyFund@jrsst-ct.org.uk with a brief description (one to three paragraphs) of your idea, how it fits the Fund's goals and a rough budget, ideally weeks before the outline deadline; the Fund may arrange a meeting
  3. If it is a good fit, send an outline proposal (maximum two sides of A4, Word or Open Doc) with your organisation's name and legal status, the amount and duration, a draft budget and a summary of what you want to do and change; the Fund aims to respond within three working days
  4. If given the go-ahead, write the full application using the Fund's guidance questions and Word template, with a budget on its template; the Grants Manager gives feedback
  5. Once the Grants Manager approves your application and budget, submit it through the online link they send you, including a non-partisanship statement of up to 250 words
  6. For larger grants, you may be invited to a Zoom meeting with three JRSST-CT trustees (not a decision meeting)

Grants of £10,000 or less can be applied for at any time. Larger grants use the same quarterly deadlines as JRRT: outline by 10am Mon 2 Nov 2026 and final application by 10am Mon 9 Nov 2026; then 8/15 Feb 2027, 17/24 May 2027, 23/31 Aug 2027 and 1/8 Nov 2027 (outline/final).

Access support, including an Access Payment of up to £500, is available to blind, deaf, disabled and neurodivergent applicants.

Have ready

  • Outline proposal (up to two sides of A4) with a draft budget
  • Completed full application document
  • Grant budget on the Fund's budget template
  • Most recent annual report or accounts
  • CV, if applying as an individual
  • Safeguarding policy, if you will work with young people or vulnerable adults (requested by email)

The online form also asks for organisation and governance details, which of the Fund's goals you are applying under, outcomes, a campaign summary, plan, tactics and timeline, grant dates, and a non-partisanship statement of up to 250 words.

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