GrantRadar

Cambridgeshire Community Foundation

Outlook Fund

The Outlook Fund, held at Cambridgeshire Community Foundation, supports non-profit projects in Cambridgeshire (including Peterborough) that help children and young people with experience of the care system, and occasionally projects that reduce the risk of children going into care. The average single-year grant is £4,000; projects of up to three years can apply for up to £12,000 in total, paid in annual instalments. Deadlines are 1 May and 1 November; the fund awards about £28,000 a year in total.

Apply on the funder’s site
You could get
Up to £12,000
Closes in
14 days left
1 November
Effort
Moderate
full application with documents

Who can apply

  • Community-focused, not-for-profit organisations, which must be legally registered if their income is above £5,000: registered, exempt and excepted charities; CIOs; religious organisations if the project benefits the wider community and has no religious content; parish and town councils, village halls and parochial church councils; CICs, social enterprises and companies limited by guarantee (established and running for at least one year, with additional eligibility criteria); co-operatives and community benefit societies; schools; and sports clubs that are CASCs, affiliated to a national governing body or have income under £5,000
  • National organisations can apply for projects delivered locally if the funding is restricted to the area of benefit
  • Organisations need a signed governing document with a not-for-profit and dissolution clause, and three independent, unconnected committee members/trustees
  • Projects must benefit children and young people in Cambridgeshire (including Peterborough)

What it funds

Projects supporting looked after children and care-experienced young people, with priority to work achieving outcomes such as:

  • More new looked after children taking part in an activity
  • Increased confidence and emotional wellbeing
  • New opportunities and experiences
  • New skills or qualifications
  • Healthier lifestyles
  • More volunteering opportunities
  • New hobbies (e.g. sports, art, music)
  • At least 50% of funding goes directly to organisations supporting looked after children. The fund also supports projects reducing the risk of children going into care, such as:
  • Building on family strengths
  • Interventions on behaviour, attachment and resilience
  • Support for families in crisis (domestic violence, substance misuse, parents in prison)
  • Support for kinship care families

Multi-year projects (up to 3 years) are paid in annual instalments subject to satisfactory progress reports.

What it will not fund

  • Organisation types not listed in the Foundation's eligibility guidance, or projects not charitable in focus
  • Activities or projects which have already taken place
  • Sponsored events or fundraising activities
  • Debt or loans
  • Grant-making bodies or activities (usually)
  • Improvements to land or buildings not open to the general public at convenient hours
  • Projects promoting political activities or lobbying
  • The practice of religion or projects that promote religion or a belief system
  • Animal welfare projects
  • Overseas travel
  • Statutory obligations (activities that replace government funding)

How to apply

  1. Check your organisation and project are eligible using the Foundation's Application guidance page
  2. Prepare the required supporting documents
  3. Complete the online general application form for the winter round (linked from the fund page), stating the Outlook Fund as your preferred fund
  4. Submit the form and documents by 11:59am on 1 November 2026
  5. The Grants Team may phone you for an assessment call; an internal panel and then the fund panel decide, and outcomes are sent by email
  6. Successful applicants sign and return the grant offer letter (two signatures) and complete an end-of-project report online

Each round has its own form; an unfinished form is lost when the round closes. The Foundation recommends only one application per round via the general form.

The fund panel may fund fully or partially, and an application may be passed to other Foundation funds.

Have ready

  • Signed governing document (e.g. constitution or articles of association) confirming not-for-profit status and containing a dissolution clause
  • Accounts for the past year (small unincorporated groups may give an income and expenditure statement; organisations under a year old give income and expenditure to date)
  • Bank statement or paying-in slip from the last 3 months showing bank name and logo, account name, sort code and account number (screenshots not accepted)
  • Names of three independent/unconnected management committee members, trustees or directors, and two unconnected cheque signatories
  • Three quotes for any capital item or equipment costing over £500
  • CICs: CIC 36 form (registered in last 12 months) or latest CIC 34 annual report
  • Co-operatives/community benefit societies: FCA registration form or latest AR30
  • Evidence of a long-term lease if funding is for land or a building you do not own

Documents must be submitted with the application by the deadline or it may be declined; supporting documents sent to the Foundation in the last two years need not be resent unless there have been significant changes. Safeguarding and equality policies need not be uploaded but you must con…

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