Funding roundup for May 2026
Howard Lake | 5 May 2026 | News
Funding opportunities for May include those from Tesco and easyfundraising, the DIV Fund, Goldsmiths’ Foundation, Men’s Health Community Fund, and YPF Trust and Henry Smith Foundation.
Tesco and easyfundraising’s community pledge returns
Tesco and easyfundraising have announced the return of their £5,000 community pledge, offering five community organisations £1,000 funding pots each this May. This initiative is designed to support voluntary groups, charities, and CICs facing increasing costs and demand for services.
The partnership, which has seen Tesco donate over £800,000 to good causes through easyfundraising since 2007, is expanding this year to include F&F Clothing purchases as part of the qualifying criteria. Causes can enter the draw by registering for free on easyfundraising. Entries are earned every time one of their supporters shops at Tesco Groceries or F&F Clothing through the easyfundraising platform.
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New Tesco groceries customers also generate a £3 donation for the cause, with existing customers raising 50p per online order.
Tesco spokesperson Jemimah Ngu notes that serving local communities is a core value, while easyfundraising CEO James Moir highlights that the collaboration will create a positive impact.
Once registered, charities simply ask supporters to join and shop with Tesco or F&F by 31st May.
The charity will get a cashback donation and be in with a chance of getting a £1,000 bonus.
DIV Fund in Oxford ahead of call for proposals
The DIV Fund launched its first call for proposals at the end of April. Before that it hosted a session in Oxford alongside the Skoll World Forum to explore “what it takes to move promising ideas to proven, cost-effective impact at scale”.
The Fund grew out of 15 years of work within USAID. It is “an evidence-driven open innovation fund for global development that advances solutions with the potential to cost-effectively improve millions of lives”.
Delegates were able to meet the team behind the DIV Fund and hear lessons from organisations that “have rigorously tested and refined innovative models to generate outsized impact”.
Grantee panelists included:
- Curt Bowen, Executive Director of Semilla Nueva
- Ella Gudwin, CEO of VisionSpring
- Pranav Kothari, CEO of Educational Initiatives
The event was for practitioners, researchers and funder interested in evidence-based approaches to scaling impact.
Goldsmiths’ Foundation
The Goldsmiths’ Foundation has opened applications for its Spring 2026 Open Grants Fund. Grants of £30,000 to £50,000 are available to UK charities and charitable organisations.
The grants are for organisations “whose primary work is craft“, by which they mean :an activity involving skill in making things by hand”.
This could be core craft or craft used in another creative field, such as hand engraving in jewellery making, hand embroidery in the fashion industry or puppet-making for the theatre. The Foundation embraces technology, but we start with human skills. They are seeking applications from charities “where craft skills are taught or practised”.
Applications to the Goldsmiths’ Foundation Open Grants Fund (Spring 2026) round close at 10am on 11 May 2026.
For further help in considering applying, watch this webinar which was held on 25 March 2026.
Men’s Health Community Fund
Coming this summer the Men’s Health Community Fund is a new £6.3 million programme launching across England. It is designed to support projects that improve men’s physical, mental and social wellbeing and tackle health inequalities.
It will be delivered together with the Department of Health and Social Care, Movember and People’s Health Trust.
It is designed to support grassroots work by voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations, and in particular those who are reaching those least likely to engage with traditional health services.
Core Memories Fund
YPF Trust and Henry Smith Foundation have launched the £3 million Core Memories Fund to support vulnerable young people as they transition out of statutory care, school exclusion, or other support systems around age 18.
The fund is committed over three years and operates on a preventative model, shifting the focus from “what has gone wrong” to “what helps young people thrive.”
At 18, the support stops. For young people who are care-experienced, excluded from school, LGBT+, or living with learning disabilities, that moment can arrive across several systems at once.
The fund’s approach is grounded in research on Positive Childhood Experiences, prioritising access to a trusted adult, a sense of belonging, and genuine participation in decision-making, elements the partners call the “foundation of an independent life.” Core Memories aims to invest before a crisis, not after, by backing grassroots organisations that provide continuous, long-term support.
Delivered through YPF Trust’s network of place-based Young People’s Foundations, the fund will provide grants of between £5,000 and £25,000. This investment is expected to reach an estimated 170 to 513 grassroots organisations across six initial areas: Merton, Dorset, Kirklees, Stockton-on-Tees, Medway, and Staffordshire.
The first cohort opens in 2026, with subsequent cohorts following in 2027 and 2028.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.