What We Fund

What we fund

The Alec Dickson Trust supports young people in the UK who want to use volunteering or community service to do brilliant things in their communities.

We think that young people are amazing and that they have the potential to make the world a better place through volunteering. So, we provide grants of up to £500 to individuals or groups of young people aged 30 or under, to help them put their ideas into action and run projects that benefit the lives of others – particularly the most marginalised and disadvantaged.

When we assess projects, we’re looking for:

Volunteering

We support projects that support and encourage youth volunteering. We particularly like to fund projects that involve lots of volunteers, and/or encourage these young people to stay engaged as volunteers in the long term.

Need

We support young people who run projects that have a positive impact on disadvantaged communities and individuals. We’re looking for projects that identify a specific need, and propose to carry out activities that will clearly help to address this need. We’re particularly interested in projects that will have a deep and meaningful effect on those it reaches, as well as projects that are as long-lasting and sustainable as possible.

Innovation

Ultimately we’re looking for youth volunteering projects that help to improve communities, but if the project is new and exciting then even better! We particularly like to fund volunteer initiatives that are innovative and try to do things a bit differently, such as using social media creatively or using existing resources in new ways.

What we don’t fund

Please note we do not fund overseas trips or gap year projects. We don’t normally fund uniforms, equipment or training for personal benefit (e.g. university course fees, laptop for an individual) or direct expenditure for a fundraising event (such as venue hire).