A group of 4 grant-making Trusts providing capital and some revenue grants up to £25,000 to UK registered charities and churches with exempt status for the promotion of the Christian faith and its values, caring for those in need, and enabling young people to realise their potential. The Trusts will fund overseas projects, but only if the applying organisation has a base in the UK.
The Laing Family Trusts are a group of 4 established grant-making charities, each with their own funding priorities and criteria.
The Beatrice Laing Trust
Grants generally of between £2,000 and £10,000. The Trust's focus is on the relief of poverty and the advancement of the evangelical Christian faith, both at home and abroad. Its priorities are:
- To support new church building, extension or redevelopment projects, with a particular emphasis on churches using their physical resources to communicate Christian faith and respond to needs in their local community.
- To support organisations offering practical services to those who are disadvantaged and vulnerable, with a particular emphasis on Christian organisations seeking to express their faith through practical action to help the elderly, ex-offenders, people who are homeless and ex-servicemen and women.
- To support organisations providing practical services to people with physical, mental and learning difficulties, predominately through: Special schools seeking to make provision for those with increasingly complex needs. Support in the transition from childhood to adulthood and in accessing training and/or meaningful employment opportunities, and
- To support small-scale overseas development projects aimed at building the capacity of local partners to provide long-term solutions to problems in the developing world, principally through Christian organisations working in the English speaking populations in Sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia to Improve educational opportunities and build sustainable livelihoods.
The Kirby Laing Foundation
Grants generally of between £2,000 and £20,000. The Foundation’s main areas of interest are:
- Culture and the environment, with a focus on improving access for young people and the disabled, particularly to projects with a national focus or impact, and on encouraging young talent in opera and the performing arts.
- Education and youth development, focused particularly on STEM education and vocational training in traditional crafts. (STEM education, now also known as STEAM, is a teaching approach that combines science, technology, engineering, the arts and maths.)
- Medical welfare and research, with a particular emphasis on dementia, stroke and neuro-degenerative diseases.
- Overseas development projects, with a special interest in projects benefiting women and girls in low-income countries in Asia, and
- The promotion of the evangelical Christian faith.
The Martin Laing Foundation
Grants generally between £500 and £10,000. Please note that very few unsolicited applications to the Foundation are successful. However, those that are successful should align with the Foundation’s priorities of:
- Environmental and conservation work.
- Overseas development projects in Malta (at the invitation of the founder only), and
- Projects benefiting disadvantaged young people or older people and the infirm in Norfolk, Essex or Hertfordshire - supported through small capital grants to local charities.
The Maurice & Hilda Laing Trust
Grants generally between £5,000 and £25,000. The Trust’s main areas of interest are advancing Christian faith and values, with an emphasis on:
- Making the Christian message relevant to all through innovative 'fresh expressions' of church.
- Projects which develop and affirm Christian faith.
- Resourcing theological training for ordained and lay ministry and pastoral support for those in ministry, and
- Providing support for oppressed Christian communities overseas.
Also, to support organisations offering practical support to those in the UK who are disadvantaged, vulnerable and/or socially isolated with a particular emphasis on Christian organisations seeking to express their faith through practical action to help:
- Prisoners and ex-offenders.
- The homeless.
- Children and young people at risk.
- Refugees, and
- The elderly.
And, the relief of poverty overseas, predominantly through Christian organisations working in the low-income countries of Sub-Saharan Africa, with an emphasis on projects which seek to help:
- Street children.
- Improve educational opportunities.
- Build sustainable livelihoods, and
- Improve the lives of people with disabilities.
In most instances, the Laing Family Trusts will expect UK registered charities and churches with exempt status to have sought and secured matched funding prior to applying.
Applications may be made at any time. The Trust’s Grants Manager will direct each application to the most appropriate Laing Family Trust to consider whether a grant could be awarded.
Please note that there is no application form. Applicants are requested to complete an Eligibility Quiz in the first instance.
Further information and guidance is available on the Laing Family Trusts website.