The cardfactory Foundation is delighted to announce the 25 charities selected to receive a £10,000 unrestricted grant through its 2026 external Community Fund.
This year’s fund was designed around three clear priority areas: families experiencing financial disadvantage, sudden hardship and crisis, and vulnerable children and young people. The aim was to support charities providing crucial help at moments when people need it most, while also recognising the importance of helping individuals and communities build the confidence, stability and resilience to move forward.
Across the applications, we saw charities responding to some of the most difficult circumstances people can face, from poverty and financial insecurity to homelessness, domestic abuse, sexual violence, exploitation, displacement, discrimination, poor mental health and social isolation. We also saw organisations working with children and young people at pivotal moments in their lives, helping them find safety, develop trusted relationships and build a sense of belonging.
The 25 successful charities stood out not simply because they were addressing urgent need, but because they demonstrated how their work can help create lasting change.
Selecting our charity partners
We received applications from charities doing incredibly important work in communities across the UK Every application represented an organisation responding to real need, often with limited resources and increasing demand for its services. Selecting just 25 charities was therefore a challenging process, and there were many deserving organisations that we were unable to support on this occasion.
The Foundation’s priority was to make those decisions as carefully and consistently as possible, returning throughout the assessment process to the criteria set out for the fund.
We looked for organisations working directly within our three priority areas, with a clear understanding of the needs of the people they support. We considered the evidence behind their work, the outcomes they were achieving and, importantly, how the funding could help them make a meaningful difference.
A common thread emerged across the successful applications: these charities are not simply helping people through a difficult moment, they are helping people become more secure, more connected and better equipped for what comes next.
That is closely aligned with the wider purpose of the cardfactory Foundation: supporting people and communities through life’s toughest moments while embracing opportunities for lasting change.
Building financial resilience, not just getting through the month
For families experiencing financial disadvantage, support can be needed immediately. Help with food, bills, debt, benefits or housing can make an enormous difference when someone is already under pressure, but many of the successful applications demonstrated an approach that goes beyond responding to the immediate crisis, helping people develop greater financial stability over the longer term.
Citizens Advice Harlow, for example, combines advice on debt, benefits, housing and energy costs with a clear focus on improving people’s longer-term financial stability. In 2024/25, it helped more than 5,000 residents and secured £3.5 million in financial outcomes.
For One Parent Families Scotland, the focus is on a group particularly exposed to financial disadvantage: single-parent families. Its work brings together crisis support, income maximisation, debt advice, employability and wellbeing support, recognising that financial resilience is closely connected to wider family stability.
These are just two examples of the different ways charities can help people move beyond an immediate financial difficulty towards a more secure future.
Helping people move from crisis towards safety and stability
The second priority area, sudden hardship and crisis, brought together some of the most urgent and difficult situations represented in the applications. For some people, the starting point is homelessness or destitution, for others, it is escaping abuse, recovering from exploitation or finding a route towards stability after an extremely difficult experience.
The Snowdrop Project supports survivors of modern slavery through specialist casework, counselling, housing, immigration and benefits advocacy. Its work recognises that escaping exploitation is only the beginning. Survivors may continue to face homelessness, poor mental health, destitution and the risk of re-exploitation, making long-term recovery and independence just as important as immediate safety.
Stay Safe East brings a particularly important perspective, supporting disabled survivors of domestic abuse who can face additional barriers to accessing mainstream services. Its specialist approach is built around helping people regain safety, independence and control.
Across the successful applications in this area, the message was clear: resilience cannot be separated from safety. Sometimes, helping someone build a more resilient future starts with making sure they have somewhere safe to sleep, someone to talk to, or the specialist support they need to begin recovering from trauma.
Giving vulnerable young people the foundations to thrive
The third priority area focuses on vulnerable children and young people, and the applications highlighted just how many different forms vulnerability can take. Some of the successful charities work with young people facing homelessness or the transition out of care, while others support those affected by exploitation, trauma, discrimination, isolation or poor mental health.
The Big House Theatre Company works with care-experienced young people facing challenges including homelessness, poor mental health and exploitation. Through creative arts, trauma-informed mentoring and pastoral support, it helps young people develop confidence, employability skills and lasting support networks.
Refugee Resource supports refugee, asylum-seeking and vulnerable migrant children and young people affected by trauma, displacement and isolation. Its counselling, mentoring and practical support help young people improve their wellbeing, reconnect with education and develop stronger support networks.
Both demonstrate that supporting vulnerable young people is about more than addressing an immediate problem. It can mean giving someone trusted relationships, a sense of belonging, practical opportunities and the confidence to see a positive future.
Supporting resilience when it matters most
Across all 25 successful applications, one thing stood out: these charities are responding to immediate need while helping people build greater security, confidence and resilience for the future.
That is at the heart of the Community Fund and the cardfactory Foundation’s wider purpose: supporting people through the moments that matter, while backing work that can help create lasting change.
We are incredibly proud to support these 25 charities and the vital work they are doing in communities across the UK.
Thank you
We would like to say a sincere thank you to every charity that took the time to apply to our Community Fund. Choosing just 25 organisations from such a strong field was incredibly difficult, and we know that behind every application is a team working hard to make a difference in its community.
We genuinely appreciate the time, commitment and care that goes into that work, and we are grateful to every organisation that shared its work with us. While we could only support 25 charities through this fund, we recognise the importance of the work being done by every organisation that applied.
The 25 charities receiving funding:
Families experiencing financial disadvantage
- Citizens Advice Harlow
- One Parent Families Scotland
- Bristol Refugee Rights
- Citizens Advice Fareham
- New Start Highland
- Visit from the Stork
Sudden hardship and crisis
- Prisoners Abroad
- Freeva
- Behind Closed Doors
- Reach Community Projects
- The Snowdrop Project
- Stay Safe East
- ASSIST Sheffield
- SOS Rape Crisis
