Wellbeing grants

We first offered wellbeing grants in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Then, from April 2022 until we paused all our grant-making in November 2023, we offered a £2,000 wellbeing grant alongside every new capital, revenue or salary grant.

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 them deliver their charitable purpose more effectively.

You should find information about your wellbeing grant in your grant offer letter. You can spend the grant at any time within the length of your main grant. There are no separate reporting requirements – please simply add a paragraph about how you plan to use the wellbeing grant as part of your usual grant report.

What can the grants be spent on?

The grant is ‘ring-fenced’ towards activities that will enhance the wellbeing of your staff, volunteers and trustees. We trust you to use it in a way that works for you.

If you would like some ideas, here are some of examples of how other grant-holders are using their wellbeing grant:

• 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.

Spotlight on some of our groups

Scroll down for details of how some of our grant holders put their wellbeing grants to use. These are just a couple of examples. There are many other ways you may choose to use your grant.

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.