The Shears Foundation welcomes applications for grants of £5,500 from charitable organisations who are working in one of our priority areas. These are currently:

  • The development of culture and the arts.
  • The development and provision of educational opportunities for adults and / or children.
  • Protection, preservation or enhancement of the natural environment.
  • Creating stronger / better / more sustainable communities.
  • Promoting health and medicine, with an emphasis on research or education. We currently don't consider applications from Hospices.

We place a great deal of emphasis in supporting organisations whose work is in the Tyne & Wear and Northumberland regions. Around 55-60% of our grant making is in this region. We are also developing our support for groups in Harrogate & York, The City of Bradford and Greater Manchester. Due to the volume of applications for really great projects in these core areas, it is unlikely that applications from outside these areas will be successful.

The Shears Foundation will support core costs, including staffing but will not contribute to capital projects - by capital projects we mean we won't contribute to the cost of buildings, vehicles, large equipment etc.

If you have any questions, or need some help completing your application then please call Bruce on 07544 380316. We have provided links to some useful tools and documents at the bottom of this page, which you will also find useful when considering whether or not to make an application to The Shears Foundation. We recognise that grant applications take considerable time and effort and we hope that these tools are useful in helping you to decide whether or not to apply.

Here are some useful tips for making your application.

  • Please give us all the information that you can to help our trustees make a decision.
  • Ensure that the financial section of your application is accurate and balances.
  • Our trustees look more favourably on applications where your project is being funded from a range of sources.
  • Our trustees are less favourable to applications where we are shown as the sole funder.
  • Our trustees look more favourably on applications where you can show you are working collaboratively with other groups, organisations and charities.
  • All our grants to non-core groups are fixed at £5,500.
  • You can make an application at any time and this will scored, some applications are rejected at this stage.
  • Applications which make it through to the next stage are considered at the end of each quarter by our trustees.
  • Please make sure you've given us a call before you make an application.

Our Trustees consider applications on a quarterly basis

In order to be as equitable as possible to all applicants our trustees consider applications on a quarterly basis, with a fixed grant making budget each quarter. Our quarters run as follows:

  • From 1st April to 30th June, with all applications received during this period considered in June and early July. Please note the application deadline for this quarter is 31st May.
  • From 1st July to 30th September, with all applications received during this period considered in early October. Please note the application deadline for this quarter is 31st August.
  • From 1st October to 31st December, with all applications received during this period considered in December and early January. Please note the application deadline for this quarter is 30th November.
  • From 1st January to 31st March, with all applications received during this period considered in March and early April. Please note the application deadline for this quarter is 28th February.

Applicants will be informed if their grant application has been successful within six weeks after the deadline date.

To get started with your application please follow the get started link or click on the big red button on this page.

If you would like to know how we handle your data please read our Privacy Policy.

If you would like a copy of our full Grants Making Policy, this can be downloaded here.

If you would like to see the scoring system we use when assessing applications, this can be downloaded here

You can save your application as you go along but, if you’d like to look at our application form before you start, this can be downloaded here.