Grant-making trust or foundation · Registered charity 1123800
Making a Difference Locally: grants and who they fund
Making a Difference Locally published 3,000 grants to organisations from 11 Jan 2024 to 18 Dec 2025, worth £1.9m in total. The typical (median) grant was £500.
Stated aims
What the charity says it does (Charity Commission register):
Donation-making charity to good causes and charities operating across the UK, nominated by members of Nisa Retail and approved by the Making a Difference Locally Board of Trustees, established to make a difference to local communities.
Charitable objects (governing document):
To support such charitable purposes as the Trustees may from time to time determine.
Where it operates (Charity Commission register):
- Throughout England and Wales
- Scotland
- Northern Ireland
Grant sizes
Grants to organisations from 11 Jan 2024 to 18 Dec 2025. Smallest £3, largest £27k, average £649.
| Grant size | Grants | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Under £1,000 | 2,345 | 78% |
| £1,000 to £4,999 | 643 | 21% |
| £5,000 to £9,999 | 9 | 0% |
| £10,000 to £49,999 | 3 | 0% |
| Year | Grants | Total |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 1,450 | £1.1m |
| 2024 | 1,550 | £895k |
Grant programmes
Programmes named most often in the published grants.
| Programme | Grants | Median grant |
|---|---|---|
| Health and Wellbeing - Sport and Social Activities | 636 | £500 |
| Shelter and Security - Strengthened communities | 619 | £500 |
| Education and Employment | 467 | £500 |
| Food Poverty | 366 | £450 |
| Health and Wellbeing - Health and Social Care | 278 | £500 |
| Shelter and Security - Rescue | 166 | £124 |
| Health and Wellbeing - Mental Wellbeing | 152 | £500 |
| Health and Wellbeing - Disability | 102 | £400 |
Example recipients
Registered organisations that received grants, largest first. Organisations only: grants to individuals are never shown.
| Organisation | Grants | Total | Latest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cancer Research UK | 2 | £27k | 10 Nov 2025 |
| London Community Kitchen | 1 | £26k | 3 May 2024 |
| Maggie Keswick Jencks Cancer | 1 | £25k | 8 Oct 2024 |
| Rapid Relief Team | 61 | £16k | 17 Dec 2024 |
| Together for Short Lives | 5 | £14k | 6 Dec 2024 |
| MLSS | 5 | £12k | 4 Apr 2025 |
| FareShare South West | 19 | £11k | 17 Nov 2025 |
| The Peel Project | 5 | £10k | 5 Dec 2025 |
| Swansea Bay Foundation | 8 | £10k | 10 Nov 2025 |
| Glasgow Children's Hospital Charity | 12 | £9,695 | 4 Apr 2025 |
| GOSH | 7 | £7,838 | 17 Jun 2025 |
| New Milton Youth Trust | 4 | £7,500 | 28 Jul 2025 |
| Pavilion On The Park | 4 | £7,250 | 21 Jul 2025 |
| Guru Nanak Gurdwara Warrington | 5 | £7,250 | 27 Jan 2025 |
| Mansfield town ability counts FC | 4 | £7,161 | 17 Nov 2025 |
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Source: grants data published by Making a Difference Locally through 360Giving (GrantNav data, fetched 23 Oct 2026), licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). Figures are our own summary of that data: 3,000 grants to organisations awarded 11 Jan 2024 to 18 Dec 2025 (from the most recent records published). Stated aims, charity number and areas of operation are from the Charity Commission register.
Licence: Contains public sector information from the Charity Commission for England and Wales, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Open Government Licence v3.0. Grants data from Making a Difference Locally, CC BY 4.0.
Last updated: 23 October 2026. Information only, not funding advice; check the funder's own guidance before applying. Brightbench is not connected to Making a Difference Locally.