Resilience Fund

The Resilience Fund is now closed to applications. All applicants who submitted a Stage 1 application between 3-28 March 2025 will be notified of next steps by the end of April.

Organisations invited to submit a Stage 2 application will receive a decision in early September.

Fund Overview

The Resilience Fund forms part of our 2030 Strategy and represents a £1.35 million investment in strengthening the voluntary sector over seven years. It aims to support small-to-medium sized organisations to invest in organisational development and build resilience for the future. 

This year’s fund will focus on supporting organisations that align with our Youth leadership impact goal.

We are looking to support up to six organisations that are working to build leadership skills in young people affected by racist or Islamophobic violence, empowering them to positively impact their own lives and the communities in which they live. 

The focus on this cohort of young people is a direct response to the racist and Islamophobic riots that we saw in our communities last year. The fund is open to organisations working with young people affected by all forms of racism.

Eligible organisations will need to demonstrate that young people have a clear role and voice at every level of the organisation.

We will prioritise funding for organisations led by young people aged 18-30.

Successful organisations will receive up to £90,000 over three years to build organisational resilience. Please note we are unable to consider applications for frontline delivery.

Funding will run alongside a bespoke learning and evaluation programme, focused on highlighting best practice and supporting peer learning. Successful applicants will be able to access additional resources from the Berkeley Foundation and, where there is alignment of skills and needs, pro bono support from the wider Berkeley Group.

To apply for a grant through the Resilience Fund, your organisation must:

• be a registered charity or Community Interest Company (CIC) with an annual income between £100,000 - £1.5m;

• have at least one year of published accounts;

• deliver the majority of its work within the following geographical areas – Greater London, Bath and North East Somerset, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Oxfordshire, Surrey, Kent, Hampshire, West Sussex, and the City of Birmingham;

• be focused on building leadership skills in young people affected by racist or Islamophobic violence, empowering them to positively impact their own lives and the communities in which they live;

• be able to demonstrate that young people have a clear role and voice at every level of the organisation;

• apply for funding towards organisational development work and not frontline delivery;

• apply for funding over three years;

• request no more than 20% of their overall turnover in any one year;

• have a safeguarding policy in place;

• not have had support from Berkeley Foundation’s Resilience Fund in the past. 

We published an article about our work on resilience in Alliance Magazine. You can read more about our learning here.

Click here to read more about success rates and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion data collected through our Resilience Fund last year. 

"We have been able to offer more opportunities for young people to shape the charity’s direction."

Jordan Ignatius, Managing Director, Reaching Higher

"With increased organisational resilience, we can focus on the needs of our users and the quality of our services, which is ultimately our utmost priority."

Ruchi Ostreicher, Director, Sunbeams