Applying for funding

Grant applications may be submitted by invitation from the Foundation or in response to a publicly announced call for proposals. 

• For invited grant applications, a Case Officer will be assigned to guide you through the process.

• For grant applications responding to a funding call, please follow the specific instructions provided in the call.

Eligible Organisations

The Foundation does not restrict the types of organisations eligible for funding. However, funding is primarily directed towards, but not limited to, the following types of organisations: 

• Registered Charities: Non-profit organisations with a clear public benefit focus, registered with appropriate charity regulators.

• Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs): Independent organisations that operate internationally or locally to promote social or environmental causes.

• Academic Institutions: Universities and research centres engaging in education, research, or public engagement activities aligned with the Foundation’s goals.

• Non-Profit Organisations: Organisations that reinvest profits into their operations to advance their mission, without distributing earnings to stakeholders.

• Social Enterprises: For-profit businesses with a clear social or environmental purpose, where profit is reinvested into achieving that purpose.

Limits on funding organisations that are not charities

Non-charitable organisations are not bound by the same restrictions of charitable purpose or public benefit. Therefore, when the Foundation considers grant funding for such organisations, it is essential to ensure that the activities, services, or outcomes being funded directly support the Foundation’s charitable objectives and deliver public benefit. 

In line with government guidelines, the Foundation adheres to the following principles when granting funds to non-charitable organisations:

• The Foundation grants must only fund activities, services, or outcomes aligned with its charitable mission.

• Funding for support costs is restricted to specified activities, services, or outcomes.

• Grant terms require recipients to adhere to purpose-related restrictions.

• Grants must not provide personal benefit to individuals involved.

• The Foundation and its Trustees must justify each funding decision as serving the Foundation’s best interests.

• Recipients must use funds for the stated purpose, ensuring public or organisational benefit, not profit.

These principles ensure that all grants to non-charitable organisations remain aligned with the Foundation’s mission and are compliant with relevant regulatory standards.

For applications that are invited, the Case Officer will make you aware of the evaluation criteria.

For calls for proposals, what we are seeking will be specified on the call website.

The Foundation’s overarching principle is that grant funding should support essential, clearly justified expenses that are directly attributable to the project’s outputs and objectives. All costs must be fair, reasonable, and demonstrate good value for money, ensuring resources are effectively utilised to achieve project goals. Types of costs we fund include: 

• Direct Project Costs: These are costs directly attributable to the delivery of the funded project. Examples include:

• Staff gross salaries and benefits for personnel directly involved in the project.

• Travel and subsistence expenses which must be essential, cost-effective, attributable to the project, and aligned with the Foundation’s or the grantee's travel policy.

• Impact evaluation / Expenses associated with impact evaluation and monitoring.

• Consumables and materials directly used in project activities (e.g. educational materials, laboratory supplies).

• Training or capacity-building costs directly related to project objectives.

• Consumables: the Foundation may fund consumables directly used in project activities where clearly justified. Examples include:

• Laptops or basic computing devices for PhD students or project personnel, when integral to research or data processing.

• Project-specific materials or laboratory supplies essential to project success.

• Administrative Overheads: Lloyd’s Register Foundation may consider funding a small proportion of organisational overheads if they are clearly justified, proportionate to the project, and supported by a robust business case. These costs, whether listed separately or incorporated into employee cost rates, must be transparently presented in the application and budget. Arbitrary allowances will not be approved; all requests must include supporting calculations and clear allocation justifications.

• Event & Convening Costs: Costs associated with organising, hosting and delivering events or conferences, including venue hire, marketing, and logistics.

Please note, we always hold 10% back until after the final monitoring report has been received and accepted.

The Foundation will not fund:

• Profit-making Activities: Grants must not be used to generate profit for the recipient organisation.

• Political or Religious Campaigning: Activities that promote a specific political or religious agenda are ineligible.

• Retrospective Costs: Expenses incurred prior to the grant award date.

• Debt Repayments: Grants cannot be used to pay off organisational debts or liabilities.

• Capital Expenditures: Funding is not provided for capital expenditures, such as costs incurred to acquire, upgrade, or maintain physical assets, including property, buildings, technology, or equipment, unless explicitly justified as essential to achieving project outcomes.

• Value Added Tax (VAT): Grants are not subject to VAT, and the Foundation does not cover VAT costs for organisations that can recover VAT on its expenditure. However, if the organisation is unable to reclaim VAT, VAT on eligible expenditure may be included in the grant budget with clear justification.

If you need support on whether an item will be covered, please either talk to your assigned Case Officer or send an email to the address specified in the call for proposals.  

We rely on the institutions we fund to help us demonstrate that we add value to society by showing the impact our funding has. We use a Theory of Change approach which helps us think about the impact we want to achieve. For more information about this approach please see the following link.

Our drivers are impact and excellence – in the work we fund we want to help build and work with world-class teams and exploit the useful results to achieve maximum public good. Key definitions for this Theory of Change approach are outlined below:

What are objectives?

• Objectives are the aims of the project

• They describe what the project hopes to achieve

What are outcomes?

• People referring to ‘evidence of impact’ usually mean the outcomes of research

• Outcomes are the changes that come about as a result of a project

• Described using the ‘language of change’ e.g. reduced, increased, greater, less, etc

• Measured using outcome indicators, such as surveys

What is impact?

• ‘Grand Challenges’, ’Big Picture’, ‘End-game’

• Longer-term effect of an outcome

• The ultimate benefit to society in line with the Foundation’s charitable purpose 

The Foundation is committed to maintaining the highest legal and ethical standards and practices in all aspects of its business and affairs. As part of our assessment of your application, we request evidence of your organisation’s policies on: 

• Anti-Bribery and Corruption

• Anti-Bullying

• Diversity and Inclusion

• Environment and Sustainability

• Health and Safety

• Modern Slavery

• Safeguarding

• Whistleblowing

If your application is successful, you must confirm your and your organisation’s commitment to act at all times in accordance with the highest ethical and legal standards. 

In particular, we will need confirmation that your organisation has in place policies and practices which are fully compliant with UK Legislation as it applies to Anti-Bribery and Corruption, Health and Safety, the Environment, Whistleblowing and Modern Slavery.

If your application is successful, we will draw up a formal contract. Please find a link to the Standard Contract Terms that will be offered should your application be successful. Your full application will form part of this contract. 

No announcement about our funding should be made until this has been signed by both parties.