Grants from UK Scouts
Quick links
We know money can be tight.
We know young people miss out.
We want to change that.
Our grant schemes
Click on the images below for more information on the grants we have available:
Startup Grants
Coming soon
What you need to know before applying
- Check you are eligible to apply
- Know what the grant will be spent on
- Tell your Chair and Lead Volunteer before applying.
- Provide a Scout bank statement dated within the last three months. Grants can only be paid into Scout accounts.
- Know that we only fund future projects and activities.
What happens once you've applied
We aim to review all applications within 14 days. Once approved, payments are usually made within 30 days of your application.
- Data check: We check your application, attachments and bank statement. We’ll contact you if we need any more information.
- Volunteer Line Manager Decision: We ask your Chair and Lead Volunteer to approve the application in line with POR, so please make sure they’re aware you’ve applied.
- Review: We carry out a final review of the application and supporting information.
- Offer letter: We send an offer letter and grant agreement to the key contact or Lead Volunteer to approve.
- Payment: Once the offer is accepted, we’ll process payment within 14 days.
What happens after you've received the grant
All grant recipients must complete a short report after their project ends to tell us how you spent the grant. We’ll email you a link to the report form.
Your report will usually include:
- What you did
- The difference it made
- How many people benefited
You will need to attach:
- Copies of receipts
- A completed Receipt Record Template with the file name, date and amount for each receipt
Make sure you:
- Know what the money was used for
- Keep all receipts linked to your grant spend
- Find out how it has benefited the recipients
Are you eligible?
Please check the individual grant scheme criteria before applying.
Some grants have eligibility criteria based on the level of deprivation in a geographic area, we measure this using your IMD.
Indices/Index of Multiple Deprivation
The Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) are used to measure levels of deprivation across the UK. In Northern Ireland, these are known as Multiple Deprivation Measures (MDMs).
At Scouts, we use the postcode of your regular meeting place to identify your level of deprivation.
Each nation ranks areas from most deprived to least deprived and groups them into bands:
- England: 1–10
- Scotland: 1–10
- Wales: 1–5
- Northern Ireland: 1–5
A ranking of 1 always represents the highest level of deprivation.
Use the link below to find your Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) number. Enter the postcode for your meeting place and your IMD number will appear:
Can we still apply when...
- the IMD of our regular meeting place is not eligible?
- most of our young people live in areas that are eligible?
Yes. Use our postcode log:
A spreadsheet to log:
- the initials of each young person in your application
- their postcode
- their IMD
When both of these are true:
- Your regular meeting place is ineligible
- 50% or more of your young people live in an IMD that meets the eligibility criteria
As an example:
- A grant scheme is only available to applicants in IMD 1-3.
- Your regular meeting place is in IMD 5.
- At least 50% of your young people live in IMD 1-3.
- Congratulations, you can apply!
- Download a copy
- Complete the table beneath the yellow box and save it
- Upload the completed postcode log to your application form
Advice and support
Contact us for further information or if you have a question.
Email the Grants Team
Anything else you need to know?
1. All grants must be paid into a Scout bank account. Individuals never receive payments.
2. Most grants are provided on a matched funding basis, where local Scouts contribute to the project cost. If you're happy to fund something, we generally are too.
3. We only fund future projects, not ones that have already taken place.
4. The grant can only be used for the purpose applied for. Changes to material circumstances must be approved by us in writing before the activity can take place.
5. We may request a repayment when:
a. condition 4 isn't adhered to
b. there's project underspend
c. the grant is spent on anything illicit
6. You'll submit a brief grant report about how you used the money by the report deadline in our grant offer, which is typically one - three months from the date of our offer. You can submit the grant report as soon as you've spent the money. We'll send you this link in our approval email and grant report reminder emails.
- Open the PDF
- Click the 'Print' button
- In the 'Select Printer' dropdown menu, choose 'Save as PDF'
- In the 'Pages' section, choose the relevant page numbers
- Click 'Save'
- Name accordingly and save in the desired location
This will save the pages you've chosen as a new document.