Sir Jules Thorn’s endowment was provided primarily for medical research and medical care. Sir Jules was also a great humanitarian and, in accordance with his wishes, the Trustees allocate resources each year to support smaller charities across the UK.
The Ann Rylands Small Donations programme makes grants to support charities’ core costs with a maximum award of up to £5,000.
The programme was re-launched in January 2022 to enable the Trust to increase support for smaller charities whose work aligns with our mission to improve provision in health and care.
The programme is designed to help smaller charities provide practical and emotional support to people with – or at high risk of – physical or mental ill health, people living with disability, and their families and carers.
We accept applications from charities which offer practical and emotional support to improve health and care for:
General information and examples of previous awards in these priority areas can be found on the Trust’s website.
The Ann Rylands Small Donations Grant Programme is now closed and will reopen in January 2024.
If you have already submitted an application and are waiting for a decision, this is under review and we will contact you.
If you have saved an incomplete application, you will need to submit this application once the fund is reopened in January 2024.
Applications are only accepted from charities registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales or equivalent regulators in other parts of the UK.
Potential applicants should note that it is not possible for the Trust to make donations under this programme to:
We are very conscious of the level of work involved in applying for funding and would encourage charities to consider whether their work aligns with the Trust’s priorities before submitting an application.
All applications must be submitted using the online application form. Applications sent by letter or email will not be considered.
Before applying charities should ensure that they have read and comply with the guidelines for the programme.
As part of the application process applicants will be asked to submit:
Charities must take care to attach both their signed accounts and a recent bank statement when submitting their online application form. Unfortunately, we cannot consider applications without this supporting information. Incomplete applications will be automatically rejected, and the charity will not be eligible to submit a fresh application for 12 months.
If successful, we ask grant recipients to confirm receipt of the donation by email. There are no reporting requirements for awards made under this programme to minimise the workload for recipients. For the same reason, we ask charities not to add the Trust to mailing lists for newsletters or marketing materials.
There are no specific dates for submitting applications. Appeals may be made whenever the online application system is open and will be considered by the Trustees as soon as possible. We normally aim to assess applications within 6-8 weeks, but this may vary depending on the volume of applications. We will write to all applicants to notify them of the outcome of their appeal, including those who are unsuccessful.
Not more than one application can be accepted within 12 months.
Applicants should contact the Trust, should they have any further questions on [email protected].
More information about previous awards given under this programme can be found in the Previous Awards section of our website.