No Min - No Max
31 Dec 2023
Go to grant page
← Back | Last updated on 21 Nov 2022

Children in Need: CORE Costs

Core Costs support essential organisational and administrative spending. These are the key expenses required to keep your organisation running.

Our Core Costs funding can be spent on your organisation’s central day-to-day operations. These might include, for example:

    • Management and administration
    • HR and payroll
    • General office expenses
    • Accountancy and audit
    • Communications and outreach
    • Monitoring, evaluation, and learning
    • Governance, regulatory, and compliance costs

Our Core Costs Funding Stream is for charities and not-for-profit organisations. Applicants to this programme can apply for grants for up to three years. We aim to give quicker decisions for grants of £15,000 or less per year.

Who can apply?
  • Not-for-profit organisations working with children and young people aged 18 or under
  • Organisations that work with children and young people who live in the UK, the Isle of Man, or the Channel Islands
  • We will only consider applications for over £15,000 per year from organisations who have registered with the appropriate regulatory body
      • These include the Charity Commission for England and Wales, Charity Commission for Northern Ireland and the Scottish Charity Register
      • If you are a Company limited by Guarantee, you must have registered with Companies House
  • You can only apply for and hold one grant at any time.
  • If you have a current BBC Children in Need grant that is due to end within 12 months, you can re-apply. If successful with your new application, funds will not be released until your current grant has ended.
  • If we do not fund your application we will advise you when you are next able to apply to us.
  • You won’t be eligible for our Core Costs stream if you have a current grant with more than 12 months left to deliver
  • We seek to prioritise smaller, local organisations
      • As a result, we will rarely fund Core Costs for organisations with an annual turnover of more than £1 million in the most recent, complete financial year
      • We understand that some organisations with higher income deliver vital work for children and young people. We will accept applications from the following organisations regardless of turnover:
        • Hospices (including children’s hospices)
        • Housing Associations
        • Applications delivering work nationwide (across a whole nation) or UK-wide (across multiple nations within the UK)
    • We understand that, in some circumstances, larger and/or national organisations may be best-placed to deliver work to communities who need it most
  • Organisations may only hold one Core Costs grant at any time, regardless of where in the UK they deliver work
The people and organisations that BBC Children in Need fund will be:
  • Working with children and young people aged 18 years and under
  • Working in the heart of their communities, particularly in times of crisis
  • Putting children and young people at the centre of everything they do, from design to delivery
  • Addressing challenges faced by children and young people, building their skills and resilience
  • Empowering children and young people, and extending their choices in life
  • Keen to keep learning about and developing their work with children and young people
  • Committed to making a difference in children and young people’s lives