The Ashworth Charitable Trust

Please note that the Trust has posted the following message on its website: "Due to a very high number of applicants, the Ashworth Trust will temporarily close for applications on 2 March 2026 while we reassess our criteria and process for reviewing grant applications.  We would like to extend our admiration to everyone working on the front line during these challenging times and our thanks for your patience".

This may mean that the Trust's end of August application deadline may not apply in 2026.  Please check the Trust's website for updates.

Grants of up to £5,000 are available to UK registered charities with an annual turnover of under £500,000 that are working in the UK and/or overseas on projects that address humanitarian causes.

The Ashworth Charitable Trust provides small grants, nominally up to £5,000 but usually averaging around £3,000, for project-based work in the UK and overseas.  The Trust gives priority to smaller UK charities.  The Trust’s underlying principles are:

• The oneness of humanity.
• The establishment of true justice.
• The paramount importance of education for all.
• The need to address the situation of the very poor and of those at the margins of society.
• That all people everywhere should be able to share the fruits of and be empowered to participate in the construction of a just, prosperous and sustainable society, and
• That to achieve these aims, it is necessary to build the capacity of individuals, communities and institutions.
• Humanitarianism is usually accepted to be “an active belief in the value of human life, whereby humans practice benevolent treatment and provide assistance to other humans to reduce suffering and improve the conditions of humanity for moral, altruistic, and emotional reasons".

In the past, grants have been awarded to:

• Charities addressing social, physical, or educational rehabilitation.
• Charities offering information, support, relief or equipment for illness or disability.
• Charities supporting those members of society who may be considered as isolated, vulnerable, at risk or disadvantaged.
• Charities supporting victims of torture or human rights abuses.
• Charities helping to support carers.
• Holidays for disadvantaged children.
• Youth clubs, especially in disadvantaged areas.
• Women’s refuges.
• Homeless shelters.
• Orphanages.
• Charities supplying micro-loans, or other business enterprises in the Developing World, and
• Charities helping to provide access to medical care, food or water supplies in the Developing World.

The Trust has two application deadlines each year, as follows:

28 February annually for consideration at the Trust’s June meeting, and
31 August annually for consideration at the Trust’s November meeting.

Further information, guidance, Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and an online application form is available on the Trust’s website.