Leeds Building Society Foundation
The Leeds Building Society Foundation supports those in need of a safe and secure home. We award grants to UK registered charities who align with this purpose and work in the housing and homelessness sector. Our grants are awarded through our small grant and large grant schemes. There are different criteria for each grant scheme to make sure we’re funding a range of charities. You can find out more about these schemes in this guide.
The Foundation receives funding from Leeds Building Society and from members' donations via the Your Interest in Theirs scheme. We have an independent Board of Trustees who oversee the Foundation and make key funding decisions. Every year we have around £350,000 to award across our grants scheme.
Alongside our purpose of supporting those in need of a safe and secure home, applications must meet one or more of the following funding priorities:
- Financial stress
- Security and refuge
- Quality and suitability of housing
Applications can also apply under the theme ‘Health and wellbeing support for those experiencing homelessness’ if it's part of wraparound support and the application also meets at least one of the other themes.
We welcome applications from those who take a Housing First and/or relationship-based approach. In your application we’d like to see evidence of:
- Strength-based practice
- Trauma-informed care
- Psychologically informed environments
Our grants
Our grants provide funding to projects that support those in need of a safe and secure home.
We highly recommend reading our grant giving guide before you consider applying for a grant. This guide will give you more information on what we fund, who’s eligible and how our process works.
You can apply for a small grant or a large grant depending on where you’re based, your turnover and how much you want to apply for.
Small grants
We'll fund:
- UK registered charities with a turnover of less than £500,000
- Organisations based anywhere in the UK
- Applications for core, project or capital costs
Our small grants provide funding to organisations based nationwide that support those in need of a safe and secure home.
To apply for a small grant, your organisation must be a UK-registered charity and have a turnover of under £500,000.
Our small grants are flexible, meaning that we want you to apply for what you need help with. This can be core, project and/or capital costs.
You can apply for up to £2,500.
The average grant period for a small grant will be between six months to a year.
You can apply for a small grant throughout the year.
Small grants meeting dates
- Wednesday 25 March 2026 (Application window: Monday 5 January 2026 – Monday 2 March 2026)
- Wednesday 24 June 2026 (Application window: Tuesday 3 March 2026 – Monday 1 June 2026)
- Wednesday 7 October 2026 (Application window: Tuesday 2 June 2026 - Monday 7 September 2026)
- Wednesday 2 December 2026 (Application window: Tuesday 8 September 2026 - Wednesday 11 November 2026)
Large grants
We'll fund:
- UK registered charities with a turnover of £1 million or less.
- Applications for grants up to £75,000 across one, two or three years
- Organisations whose registered address is in Yorkshire or the North East of England
- Running costs (rent, utilities, insurance etc)
- Staff and volunteer costs (including full-time and part-time staff and project delivery staff). All staff must be paid at least the National Living Wage, with an ambition for the organisation to pay the Real Living Wage as set by the Living Wage Foundation
- Project costs
- Capital costs
Our large grants provide funding to organisations based in Yorkshire or the North East, who support those in need of a safe and secure home.
Your organisation must be a UK-registered charity, with your registered address being in Yorkshire or the North East. You must also have an annual turnover of £1 million or less.
You can apply for a large grant of up to £75,000. This can be awarded in one year or split across two or three years. Our average grant size is £40,000 over two years and for your best chance of success, we recommend applying for around £20-£25k per year.
You can apply for core, project and/or capital costs. You can apply for new work or existing work, as long as you’re not requesting retrospective funding.
To apply for a large grant, we now have a two-stage application process. For stage one, please email foundation@leedsbuildingsociety.co.uk an expression of interest paragraph (no more than 300 words) with a brief description of your organisation and what you're seeking funding for. This will be reviewed by our Grants Manager. If your request is eligible, the second stage will be a full application form and a link to the form will be emailed to you.
Submit an expression of interest for a large grant
Large grants meeting dates
- Wednesday 25 March 2026 (Application window: Monday 5 January 2026 – Monday 2 March 2026)
- Wednesday 24 June 2026 (Application window: Tuesday 3 March 2026 – Monday 1 June 2026)
- Wednesday 7 October 2026 (Application window: Tuesday 2 June 2026 - Monday 7 September 2026)
2024 review
In 2024 we funded £344,947 and supported 61 charities. You can find out how we awarded grants in 2024 and our impact by reading our report.
We recommend reading our report to understand the type of grants we tend to award and the organisations we fund. You can also read our 2023 report.
Contact us
If you have any questions about our grants, please email foundation@leedsbuildingsociety.co.uk.
Read the Foundation’s privacy policy (PDF, 168KB) to learn how we process your data when you apply for funding.
Leeds Building Society Charitable Foundation is registered at Companies House with company number 03724612 and is a registered charity number 1074429.