BBC Children in Need

Themes: disadvantaged children and young people

Level of funding: no upper limit, but rarely over £100,000 a year. For up to 3 years

Type of funding: capital & revenue

Area of distribution: all of Wales

Application cycle: quarterly

How to apply: electronic application form

About the funder

Our grants are open to organisations working with disadvantaged children and young people who are 18 years old and under.

Your organisation and project must be based in the UK and you need to be a registered charity or other not-for-profit organisation.

Funding Strands

Our focus is firmly on children and young people experiencing disadvantage. We fund organisations working to combat this disadvantage and to make a real difference to children and young people's lives.

Such disadvantage includes:

  • Illness, distress, abuse or neglect
  • Any kind of disability
  • Behavioural or psychological difficulties
  • Living in poverty or situations of deprivation

We operate two grant schemes:

  • Small grant applications can be for any amount up to £10,000 a year and we are looking for projects where a relatively small grant can make a big difference for children and young people.
  • For main grant applications there is no upper limit but we make very few grants over £100,000 and most grants are for much less. The total amount of money requested each year is far more than we have available to give and requests for larger grants are always more competitive.

What we don’t fund

We don't give grants for...

  • Relief of statutory responsibility
  • Applications from local government or NHS bodies
  • Building projects which are applying to us for more than £20,000
  • The promotion of religion
  • Trips or projects abroad
  • Medical treatment/research
  • Projects for pregnancy testing or advice, information or counselling on pregnancy choices
  • General awareness-raising work
  • Bursaries, sponsored places, fees or equivalent
  • Individuals (unless an eligible organisation is applying on their behalf)
  • Distribution to another/other organisation/s, for example, PTAs applying on behalf of schools
  • General appeals or endowment funds
  • Deficit funding or repayment of loans
  • Retrospective funding (projects taking place before the grant award date)
  • Projects unable to start within 12 months of the grant award date
  • Unspecified expenditure

It is very important that you also refer to our online A To Z Advice. You will find valuable details on our policies here - some are relevant to every project (for example Child Protection) and some are important for certain types of project (for example Equipment or Playgrounds).

Up-coming deadlines

October 15 2011
January 15 2012
April 15 2012
July 15 2012
October 15 2012

Grant enquiries

Please contact Andrea Powell, tel:029 2032 2383 or email

BBC Children in Need, Broadcasting House, Llandaff, Cardiff CF5 2YQ

or visit our website.

Additional information

Application form and guidelines Main Grants
Application form and guidelines Small Grants