Wellbeing grants
In 2022 The Tudor Trust started offering Wellbeing grants of £2,000 to all organisations with new grant commitments. By supporting the wellbeing of people within the organisations we fund, we hope to contribute to the overall health and resilience of their organisations, and help to deliver their charitable purpose more effectively.
This approach builds on Wellbeing grants offered to our grant holders in 2020, in response to what we were hearing from organisations and communities during the COVID pandemic. In the feedback survey groups told us that the grants made a significant contribution to staff and volunteer wellbeing through a wide range of activities, leaving a longer-term legacy. However, they also reminded us that workforce wellbeing needs continuous support. We are therefore putting into practice what we learnt in our 2022/2023 wellbeing grants offer.
What can the grants be spent on?
The grant is restricted for the use of staff, volunteer and trustee wellbeing, and we trust you to use it in a way that works for you. With the first Wellbeing grants Tudor gave in 2020 most groups consulted their teams and came up with both practical and creative ways of supporting wellbeing, including:
- Events and team activities: team trips, meals out, away days
- Training and development: courses, workshops, one-to-one support related to wellbeing. For example, mental health first aid, mindfulness, counselling, trauma-informed approaches and conflict management.
- Support for individuals: tailored, individual wellbeing support such as counselling, wellbeing packages, relaxation opportunities such as yoga or mindfulness sessions.
- Improving the work environment: furnishings and facility updates, such as plants, lumbar support and water filters.
- Subscriptions: wellness apps etc.
Scroll down for a few examples of how organisations have used the grant in the past.
For more resources about Wellbeing in the workplace visit:
- Mind: Mental health at work
- Wellness action plans could be a useful tool
- Charity Comms: Wellbeing guide for comms professionals
- Free online peer support sessions for voluntary sector leaders
- Trauma Treatment International. Support for organisations.
Frequently asked questions
How and when can I claim the grant?
We are offering a £2,000 wellbeing grant alongside all new grant commitments. You should have information about this in your grant approval letter. If you have any questions, please get in touch with your grants manager.
Is there anything we can’t spend the grant on?
When we made a grant to you we did so with the intention of helping you to deliver a charitable purpose. As one of our current grant holders, we trust you to come up with appropriate and creative ways of providing support to your staff, volunteers and trustees. By supporting the wellbeing of people within the organisations we fund, we hope to contribute to the overall health and resilience of your organisation, and help you to deliver that charitable purpose more effectively.
When does the funding have to be spent by?
The Wellbeing grant can be spent anytime within the length of your main grant.
What reporting is there?
We ask that you add a paragraph with a brief update into your annual reporting. This is a new approach for Tudor, which we are trialling in 2022/2023/2024, so we may also get in touch next year to invite you to take part in an optional session with other grant-holders to discuss how you have or plan to spend the grant, and if it has supported your team’s wellbeing.
How have wellbeing grants been used?
Faithworks Wessex faith-works.org.uk
Faithworks Wessex is a charity that works across urban Dorset to support people experiencing poverty and social isolation. They provide crisis and ongoing support at key transition points in life through 36 staff and 400+ volunteers.
They spent the Wellbeing grant on the rental of a beach hut for the summer, for use by staff and their families, meetings, and team days. It was an idea that they were already considering when they were offered the Wellbeing grant from Tudor and forms a part of their wellbeing support package to staff, which also includes pastoral care, and an additional day off work for wellbeing.
When we spoke to Faithworks, they told us that staff didn’t need another ‘thing to do’ in their diaries. They wanted time out, a bit of space where they didn’t need to be in work mode. This is what the beach hut contributed to. It was so well used they are repeating it again this year!
The Really Amazing Charity (TRAC2) www.trac2.org.uk
TRAC2 are a charity based in Pontypool. They specialise in crisis intervention through the provision of household items, practical support, advice and guidance, and links to an extensive network of organisations.
When the wellbeing grant was offered in January 2021, staff and volunteers discussed how best to use the funding. They agreed that they wanted to do something that would have a lasting impact. A gym was created, that is free to use for the TRAC2 team, with the aim of supporting their mental health during lockdown.
It’s still in use, with staff reporting improved confidence, fitness levels and overall wellbeing.
No Accommodation Network (NACCOM) naccom.org.uk
NACCOM is a membership organisation for groups across the UK working together to end destitution amongst people seeking asylum, refugees and other migrants who aren’t able to access to public funds because of their immigration status. They are a team of eight staff and 16 volunteers, including 10 trustees.
Conversations about wellbeing were already alive at NACCOM, with an idea to offer all staff 1.5 hours every week to dedicate to wellbeing. They decided to use the Tudor Wellbeing grant to pay for staff to access Calm, an app that helps with sleep and meditation. In addition to this, they had an online team building workshop making a terrarium and gave staff individual access to counselling sessions.
This one-to-one support for staff has been well received and NACCOM is now building on this, through monthly reflective practice for staff, resilience training and debriefs for volunteers and the exploration of extending the 1:1 support offer to volunteers too, as well as building regular wellbeing check-ins and team bonding into their working week. The online terrarium was a fun group activity that they would recommend to others! As part of upcoming work on how they work together as a team and an HR review the organisation is conducting, they are looking at how to continue to embed wellbeing into the way they work.
Hummingbird Project hummingbirdproject.org.uk/
The Hummingbird Project are a Brighton-based charity that work with young refugees across Sussex.
Hummingbird's began their work 7.5 years ago working on the ground with unaccompanied child refugees in the 'Jungle' camp in Calais. The organisation is now made up of 12 staff and 20 volunteers who deliver award winning services in Brighton. They have learnt that embedding wellbeing practices are essential to keeping a team with various lived experiences well and motivated.
The team agreed that spending part of the wellbeing grant on external clinical supervision for staff would be a good addition to their existing wellbeing offer. Further team discussions also led to a few days out together where they were able to get together to enjoy some food – a shared passion for them, as it is for the young people they work with.
The team fed back that they felt valued, having had the opportunity to spend quality time together, outside of formal meetings and with no work agenda. As for the supervision, they found it beneficial to have sessions with someone who was therapeutically qualified and from outside of the organisation.
Hummingbird have put further resource into wellbeing and now includes a wellbeing week, when the whole organisation closes so that the team can intentionally practise self-care.