Peter Harrison Foundation - Active Lives Grant Programme

Aims/priorities:  The Peter Harrison Foundation supports projects working with children, young people and adults who are disadvantaged or with disabilities. It offer small and major grants to charities and community amateur sports clubs in the UK and south east of England under the following two grant programmes:

  • Active Lives – opportunities through sport and physical activity. 
  • Positive Futures – opportunities for children and young people. (Covered in a separate scheme)

Who can apply? Applications are accepted from UK organisations that:

  • Are either a registered charity or a registered CASC (Community Amateur Sports Club).
  • Have been registered with the charity regulator for two years or more (charity applicants).
  • Have been registered as a CASC for two years or more (CASC applicants).
  • Have produced independently examined or audited accounts for at least one full year of operation.

For small grants, priority will be given to organisations with a turnover of up to £500,000 and for major grants priority will be given to organisations with a turnover of under £5 million.

The Foundation is interested in organisations that meet the following priorities:

  • Focus on deprivation  
    • Provide high-impact, life-enhancing opportunities for those who live in the top 10% of areas of deprivation.
  • Are experienced  
    • Have significant experience using physical activity to engage disabled individuals and/or those who face severe and multiple disadvantage. 
  • Provide high impact opportunities  
    • Focus on using physical activity to provide opportunities for individuals to build their personal skills and self confidence.
    • Committed to removing barriers to participation in these life enhancing opportunities for disabled or disadvantaged people .
  • Prioritise grassroots and community engagement  
    • Prioritise grassroots involvement rather than elite participation in physical activity.
    • Have trustees, staff and beneficiaries who include people with personal and lived experience of the challenges their community faces.
    • Understand their community’s needs.  
  • Demand excellence  
    • Support, implement and disseminate best practice.
    • Seek to have a wider impact, perhaps through training, partnerships and/or dissemination activities [major grants only].
    • Have a strong leadership and can demonstrate the difference the charity has made in its community.
    • Have good governance in place including signed safeguarding and diversity, equity and inclusion policies, and efficient financial processes.
    • Are best placed to deliver the solution.
  • Have an entrepreneurial mindset  
    • Operate with ambition, inspiration and determination.
    • Have a vision for their charity’s future.
    • Seek to find ways to maximise the impact of their work, including the sharing of information with others.
  • Work with integrity  
    • Act responsibly, respectfully, reflectively and transparently.
    • Know their strengths and challenges.
  • Strive for sustainability  
    • Seek to deliver significant outcomes that leave a legacy.
    • Have plans for financial and environmental sustainability for the initiative and organisation.

Grant amount: Two levels of funding are available:

  • Major grants – £5,001 to £30,000 (applications from organisations with a turnover of under £5 million are prioritised).
  • Small grants – up to £5,000 (applications from organisations with a turnover of under £500,000 are prioritised).

Application process: Applications will re-open on Friday 1 November 2024.

Applicants should first register online through the Peter Harrison Foundation's website and then complete an initial application. Successful applicants at this stage will be invited to complete a full application.

NB Organisations seeking small grants for projects in Surrey should apply directly to the Community Foundation Surrey, which manages these grants for PHF. Organisations applying for projects anywhere else in the UK and for major grants can apply directly to PHF.

Deadline: Applications are considered at quarterly meetings. The annual deadlines for applications are:

  • 1 January
  • 1 April
  • 1 July
  • 1 October

Contact information: Email: enquiries@peterharrisonfoundation.org

Website: About our grant programmes | Peter Harrison Foundation