Sir Jules Thorn Charitable Trust has a long track record of supporting capital investment to improve services or facilities for people living with serious long-term or life-limiting conditions. Following a strategic review, the Innovation and Improvement in Health and Care Fund was launched in 2022 to support the development of new models of health and care and the integration of health and care services.
Please review the guidance below to determine your organisation’s eligibility for the Innovation and Improvement in Health and Care Fund before applying.
If you submitted an application in our most recent round, we aim to notify you of the outcome of your Expression of Interest in January 2025.
Our Funding
What is the purpose of the programme?
This grant programme supports the implementation and scaling up of innovative models of health and care that will improve outcomes for people living with serious long-term or life-limiting conditions. Applications may address any area of physical or mental health, physical or learning disability, or end-of-life care.
The Trust is seeking to fund tested models, which are scalable/replicable by other organisations, and where the applicant has a clear road map showing how they intend to secure long-term funding to sustain and expand the model beyond the period that the Trust is being asked to support.
Applications must provide robust evidence that the model is effective and will start to deliver meaningful outcomes within two years of an award.
The Trust will not fund incremental changes in a single setting or provide revenue funding to maintain existing provisions, however worthwhile these may be.
What projects will we fund?
The Trust is seeking to support innovative models of health and care for which there is robust evidence demonstrating both the effectiveness of the model and that it is ready to be implemented at a larger scale. Projects could include, for example:
The Trust will support the up-front investment necessary to roll out or scale up the model, and will therefore consider applications to support:
What projects will we not fund?
The fund will not support:
What level of funding is available?
In previous years, the value of individual awards under this programme has typically been in the range of £150,000 – £500,000. Given the type and scale of projects that the Trust is seeking to support, it will not consider applications for awards of less than £100,000.
Will the programme fund staff costs?
As set out under “What the Trust will fund”, the Trust will consider requests for staff costs where these are an essential element of the up-front investment needed to scale-up or roll-out the model. Where applications include staff costs, applicants should note that:
Will the programme fund overhead costs?
The Trust recognises that delivering a project will make some demands on the organisation’s core services (such as space, IT, or other resources). Budgets may therefore include a reasonable contribution to overheads.
Organisations should not seek to recover overheads by including fractional salary contributions for staff who are not making a substantial contribution to the project.
What is the funding period?
Any funding from the Trust must be spent down within two years from the award date (expected to be in November 2025).
If an application does not begin to deliver meaningful outcomes within the first two years and does not present a robust plan to complete the project, this is likely to raise questions about the effectiveness of the model and/or the commitment of the organisations contributing to the project.
Applicant Organisations
What organisations are eligible to apply?
The programme is open to registered and exempt charities in the UK and to NHS organisations. The applicant’s primary activities must focus on the delivery and improvement of health and care.
Applicant organisations must have an annual income of at least £10 million (as recorded in their most recent audited financial statements).
The Trust recognises that many excellent services in health and care are delivered by organisations whose income falls below this threshold but is also very conscious of the level of work and resources required to prepare an application. The experience of previous funding rounds has shown that – whatever their other strengths – smaller organisations are less likely to have the reach and capacity to deliver the type of scalable and sustainable change that the Trust is seeking to fund.
Where an application involves a number of partners, the income threshold of £10m will apply to the combined annual income of the partners. Please refer to the later section on Partnerships for further guidance.
If the applicant (or lead applicant of a partnership) is a charity, the organisation must have been registered with the Charity Commission (or equivalent in other parts of the UK) for a minimum of five years, assessed from the deadline for submission of initial Expressions of Interest. An exempt charity must have existed for at least five years with that status.
Organisations cannot apply if they have received a capital award from the Trust within the last two years (assessed against the date of the previous award letter). Please contact the Trust if you are unsure if your charity, university or NHS Trust has recently received funding.
Organisations may only submit one application to the Trust’s capital programmes each year. Universities and NHS organisations, which are considering prospective projects for both the Innovation and Improvement in Health and Care Fund and the Trust’s Research Infrastructure Fund, will need to coordinate the selection process to decide which one should be submitted. It is recommended that applicants work with their fundraising/development office to organise their application. If multiple applications from a single organisation are received, only the first will be considered.
What organisations are not eligible to apply?
It is not possible for the Trust to consider applications from:
Can organisations submit as a partnership?
Where projects involve two or more partners, the application must specify the lead organisation that will be responsible for the delivery of the project, and to which any funding from the Trust would be awarded. The lead organisation must demonstrate that it has the expertise and track record required to deliver a project of the scale and impact that the Trust is seeking to fund.
All the partners named in the application must be committed to the successful delivery of the project, and to securing its future sustainability. This commitment may be demonstrated, for example, by financial or in-kind support within the project budget. If partners are not committing resources to the delivery of the project, then the Trust will expect, as a minimum, to see letters of support for the project from the senior management of the partner organisations.
The collective income of all partner organisations involved in the project must meet or exceed £10 million annually to qualify for funding under this programme.
The Trust recognises that effective partnerships take time to develop, and that project plans may include the recruitment of additional partners during the life of the project to support the future scaling and sustainability of the model. Applicants should nevertheless be transparent about the current status of any partnerships – and the level of commitment from existing or prospective partners – at the point of application.
Where NHS Trusts have separate, dedicated charities which support their work, only one application may be submitted. If an NHS Trust and its associated charity are seeking funds for multiple projects, they will need to assess which one most closely meets the Trust’s funding criteria and submit a single application.
Similarly, where a university and affiliated NHS organisation both have a prospective proposal, they must coordinate the selection process to decide which one should be submitted.
If multiple applications from affiliated organisations (described above) are received, then only the first will be considered.
Is there a time restriction for past applicants to reapply?
Applicants who have received funding from the Innovation and Improvement in Health and Care Fund or the Research Infrastructure Fund must wait two years from the date of their award before reapplying. However, those who were unsuccessful in previous funding rounds may reapply without any time restrictions.
The Applications Process
What are the application stages and deadlines?
The fund has a three-stage application process. Further guidance on each stage is provided in later sections of the Trust’s guidance.
The three stages are:
EOIs must be submitted using the online form on the Trust’s website. The deadline for submitting EOIs is 15th November 2024 at 5 pm.
Organisations wishing to be considered for an award will need to submit a short EOI providing an overview of the project, the supporting evidence, a headline budget, and expected outcomes.
EOIs will be assessed during November/December, and projects that are considered potentially fundable will be invited to submit a second-stage application.
Please see Further guidance on Expressions of Interest below
Organisations invited to submit a second-stage application will need to provide a more detailed proposal including a full budget and evidence of support from any partners named in the application.
Second-stage applications must be submitted using the template and budget pro forma provided by the Trust to invited applicants.
The deadline for submitting second-stage applications is 28th February 2025.
Second-stage applications will be considered by the Trust’s Board in May. Shortlisted organisations will then be invited to submit a full application. Please see “Is there additional guidance for the Second-Stage Applications?” below.
Organisations invited to submit a full application will need to provide a more detailed proposal, including progress made since submission of the second-stage application, and responses to any specific points raised by the Trust’s Board.
The deadline for submitting second-stage applications is 29th August 2025.
Full applications will be considered by the Board of Trustees in October/November, following site visits and external review (where appropriate).
Please see Further guidance on full applications below.
What supporting evidence is required to apply?
Applicants will need to provide robust evidence that the model is effective and will begin to deliver meaningful outcomes within two years of any award.
The Trust is not prescriptive about the form this evidence should take, but applicants will need to provide relevant clinical, health or social care data demonstrating the effectiveness of the model and that it is now ready to be scaled up or rolled out in other settings. The strength of this evidence should be commensurate with the level of funding being requested.
The following do not on their own constitute evidence of effectiveness:
The Trust is seeking to fund models which are scalable/replicable by other organisations and will be sustained and extended beyond the two-year period of any award. Beyond the existing evidence of effectiveness included in their application, organisations will be expected to explain any further data that will be generated during the funding period to support the further extension of the model and/or secure future funding from commissioners.
Is there additional guidance for the Expressions of Interest?
EOIs must be submitted using the online form provided on the Trust’s website. Proposals or funding requests received through other means will not be considered.
Organisations will need to complete an eligibility questionnaire to assess whether they are eligible to apply to the fund. Only those who are eligible will be able to access the EOI form.
Where two or more partners are involved in a proposal, the EOI must be submitted by the lead organisation.
The deadline for submitting EOIs is 15th November 2024 at 5 pm.
The EOI is intended to provide a brief overview of the project.
Trust staff will review EOIs to make an initial assessment of applications’ alignment with the funding criteria and the evidence underpinning the proposal. Where projects are assessed to be potentially fundable, Trust staff will invite organisations to submit a second-stage proposal and provide a link to the application form and budget template. All organisations submitting an EOI will be informed of the outcome of this initial assessment but given the number of proposals, it is not possible for the Trust to provide feedback to those who are not invited to progress to the second stage.
Is there additional guidance for the Second-Stage Applications?
Organisations invited to submit a second-stage application will be provided with a link to access the online application form and budget template. Proposals submitted by other means will not be considered.
In completing the application form and budget template, organisations will be expected to explain clearly and convincingly:
The deadline for submitting second-stage applications is 28th February 2025. Second-stage applications will be considered and short-listed at the Trustees’ summer meeting, which is usually held in May.
Is there additional guidance for the Full Applications?
Organisations invited to submit a full application will need to provide a more detailed proposal, including progress made since submission of the second-stage application, and responses to any specific points raised by the Trust’s Board.
The full application should set out:
There is no set format for full applications, but submissions must not exceed 10 sides of A4 and have a minimum font size of 11 and a minimum margin size of 2 cm. Applicants may attach annexes to the document (for example letters of support from partners, additional data demonstrating the effectiveness of the model, or additional information on the budget). Annexes must not exceed 5 sides of A4 in total and have a minimum font size of 11 and a minimum margin size of 2 cm.
Applicants must submit a final budget for the project, using the template provided by the Trust.
The Board of Trustees will be familiar with each proposal from the early stages of the process. The full application should nevertheless stand on its own and provide the Trustees with a comprehensive picture of the project, its financing, and the justification for the Trust providing support.
The deadline for submission of full applications is 28th August 2025. Applications and the completed budget template must be submitted by email to [email protected].
The Trust may wish to visit your project as part of the assessment process for full applications or invite you to suggest the names of external experts to act as referees.
Other Information
Important Additional Guidance
Substantial demand for the Trust’s limited resources means that applications are competitive. Submitting an expression of interest, second-stage application, and/or full application does not guarantee progress to the next stage of the programme or the award of funding.
Any award will be subject to the Trust’s terms and conditions of funding, and the Trust reserves the right to amend the terms and conditions from time to time.
Contact Information
Applicants should contact the Trust should they have any further questions at [email protected].