Banner: Chris Smith with participants in The Caravan Darkroom (2022)

Grants for Community Photography

Grants of between £500 and £1,500 are available to support the provision of participatory projects which seek to improve the health and wellbeing of children and young people under 25. The use of photography must be a core element of the project.

Step by step guidance on the application process is set out below and in subsequent web pages. You can also download a PDF of the guidance webpages here: 

Who can apply

Applications can be made by the artist or photographer who will be leading the project or by charitable organisations on their behalf.

Projects must take place in the UK.

You may only submit one application in a year.

When to apply

There is one application round a year, opening on the 18th of January each year. Please make sure you use the current year’s help notes and form when applying.

The deadline for applications is midday on the 2nd of April each year. Applications received after this deadline will not be accepted, nor will they be held over to the following year.

What we can fund

The Foundation funds projects for children and young adults under the age of 25 to take part in organised activities that allow them hands-on experience of photographic techniques. Activities must have the ultimate aim of achieving a beneficial therapeutic effect on the children’s or young people’s physical and/or mental health and wellbeing.

Projects can use either digital or analogue photography.

Projects might be a single workshop or event, or a programme of linked activities and might involve working with the participants solo or in groups. Examples of activities that might be included are:

• Outings with a photographer to learn how to take pictures of people or landscapes using digital or analogue film

• Dark room experiences

• Creating images using techniques such as cyanotype or pinhole cameras

• Learning printing techniques using a range of media.

A project for which a grant is sought should not have already started, though it may be a phase of a longer-term programme or a part of a wider project.

Normally, projects benefitting from these grants would be expected to last for no longer than one year, and be implementable within the year of the grant being awarded.

You will find illustrations of some of the projects that have benefitted from past grants on the Supported Projects page.

Amount of awards

You can apply for a grant of between £500 and £1,500. The Foundation can fund up to 100% of costs, but normally expects its contribution to be matched either by other funding or in-kind contributions.

What makes a good project?

Given the competition for grants, it is in your interest to come up with an ambitious project that is a good fit for what the Foundation can fund, and then to describe it clearly and well in your application. When describing your project do so in ways that somebody who is not a practising photographer will understand, as not all the Trustees have the technical knowledge.

A poorly defined project is likely to be rejected, so please make sure to clearly state the project’s aims and objectives, its expected outputs and outcomes and how you will measure and evaluate its success in terms of positive impacts on the children and young people it is intended to benefit.

The Foundation expects that all applications will take environmental sustainability into account.