A Busy First 6 Months for Trefoil!
It has been a busy first 6 months for Trefoil in 2025! The Trustees have met on three occasions, with two meetings focussed on grantmaking and finance and one to consider the applications process and grants criteria.
In February, the Trustees agreed to a grantmaking budget of £150,000 for the year, with £50,000 allocated for organisational grants, £45,000 for personal development grants and £30,000 for holiday grants.
So far:
£43,847.38 has been awarded to organisations (ORG).
£25,846.80 has been awarded to individuals through personal development grants (PDG).
£10,350.56 has been awarded to individuals though holiday grants.
There will be two more occasions to apply for funding in September (ORG and PDG), with the deadline on 25 August, and in December (PDG only). Holiday grants are considered throughout the year.
In February the Trustees made changes to the requirement for two supporting references. The Trustees will now consider at least two of the following documents, which should be dated within the last 12 months, as support for an application:
Letters or emails written by a professional involved with the applicant’s care or wellbeing (e.g. doctors, nurses, teachers, support workers, social workers).
Child/Adult Disability Payment award letter.
Various DWP assessment reports.
Medical appointment letters.
Medical overview letters (issued by GPs).
Medical referral letters.
It is hoped that this change will help families and carers of applicants when preparing an application.
The Trustees will now consider the following applications for core funding from organisations:
Trefoil will consider core funding for:
Costs of travel or accommodation for an event (e.g. to help athletes attend national training or compete in events, musicians attend events).
The hiring of sessional skill in particular expertise (e.g. paying a musician or dance instructor to provide specific skills for an activity).
Volunteer training (i.e. to train volunteers in the skills necessary to run/be involved in a particular activity.
Activity costs (e.g. cost of materials etc needed for particular activities).
We have hear from a number of previous applicants through their impact reporting and heard of the positive impact funding has had on them:
“The support has meant that Anna could get the proper training in Brisbane and she has had an amazing experience and has maintained her number 1 in the world ranking for Ladies Singles.”
“Our son has been attending your workshop for two years. He has Down syndrome and as a young teen we noticed that he was becoming isolated and lonely. Making meaningful friendships in high school has been much more difficult than his early years. Finding this group has been life changing for him. The theatre group has given him the confidence to try out for a play at his high school, something he would never have had the confidence to do before. It has opened a new world to him; one in which he is willing to take more risks, is making great strides in overcoming his shyness and is simply just happier, which means the world to us as a family.”
“It means a lot to us as it was first ever holidays for my 2 kids. If I may say that it was opportunity for me to sleep on bed as for few years I'm sleeping on sofa. We've been impressed with adaptations for wheelchair users. Again, thank you so much and for your work to help many families in similar situation as us”
You can read full impact stories here: Our Stories.