True Colours Trust

Who they support

Programmes targeted to children, their siblings and families in the UK and Africa

• The average annual spending of grantees has been £2 million
• The average age of charities supported has been years.

Grant criteria

Unsolicited applications for their small grants programmes are accepted. Trustees are keen to make programmes available to as many organisations as possible so it is unlikely they will fund any organisation in consecutive years

Grant details

Small grants programme - UK: The charity supports a large number of local organisations and projects that work with disabled children and their families on a daily basis. Grants provided are up to £10,000. It is open to applications at any time. Grants in this category are usually one-off contributions rather than multi-year grants for on-going revenue costs. The Trustees are particularly keen to support, in no particular order: Hydrotherapy pools Multi-sensory rooms Mini buses Sibling projects Bereavement support Specialised play equipment / access to play and leisure Family support / parent-led peer support Small grants programme - Africa: Funds have been set aside towards a small grants programme to support the development of palliative care across Africa. Applications and approved grants are administered by the African Palliative Care Association (APCA). Funding is primarily for one-off projects, although the Trustees are willing to consider funding for core costs. The size of grants ranges from £500 – £5,000. Trustees favour support for items which directly improve the patient experience and the standard of palliative care services. Priority is given to the following: Equipment for patients. Palliative care for children and young people. Palliative care medicines. Capital improvement costs. Increasing access to palliative care in rural areas. Training courses for palliative care service providers held in Africa

Application procedure

Applications for small grants should be made using an online application form or alternatively, completion of a downloadable version of the form. These should be returned by email as offices are currently closed due to the COVID-19 outbreak and postal submissions will not be accepted. Send no more than 2 pages of A4 covering: The organisation – explaining its charitable aims and objectives, and giving its most recent annual income and expenditure, and current financial position. Please do not send a full set of accounts. The project requiring funding – why it is needed, who will benefit and in what way. The funding – breakdown of costs, any money raised so far, and how the balance will be raised. At this stage please do not send supporting books, brochures, DVDs, annual reports or accounts. All correspondence will be acknowledged by email. If an organisation is a candidate for support, they will hear within twelve weeks of receipt of application. Applicants who do not hear from them within this time may assume they have been unsuccessful