Community grants

Hackney Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) Grants Programme 2025 to 2026

Applications are now open for the Hackney VCS Grants Programme 2025 to 2026.

Find out more about the programme in our VCS Prospectus (Google Doc).

Who can apply for a grant

You can apply if:

  • you’re a registered Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise sector (VCSE) organisation
  • you’re an unregistered but formally constituted (officially set up) Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise sector (VCSE) organisation
  • you’re a registered charitable company, community interest company(CIC) or social enterprise (companies must have asset locks, be not-for-profit and without share capital)
  • at least 80% of the people benefiting from the funding request are Hackney residents

We give priority to organisations who are:

  • user-led or have a strong commitment to involving beneficiaries and using lived experience in the design and delivery of their programmes
  • based in Hackney

We hosted a Grants Programme launch event on 4 August 2025. You can watch a recording of the presentation on YouTube and see a copy of the slides (google slides).

Available grants and funding

Find out what grants and funding is available and how to apply.

Changes to our Grants Portal

Our Grants Management system is moving to a new portal. From 31 August 2025, you won’t be able to access the current system anymore. This means that you won’t be able to access any previously submitted applications or monitoring forms (requirements).

If you want to keep a copy of these documents, you must download them before 31 August 2025.

A copy of your application or requirement was emailed to you when you submitted it, but you may still want to download another copy for your records.

How to download your documents

Follow the steps below (also available in our YouTube video):

  1. Log in to the portal using your email and password.

  2. Go to either the applications or requirements tab.

  3. Select submitted applications or requirements.

  4. Choose one of the following options:

    • email a copy to yourself: click the email icon

    • save as PDF: open the application or requirement, click print, choose save as PDF, and save it to your computer

  5. Repeat the steps above for each document you want to keep.

If you have any questions, email communitypartnerships@hackney.gov.uk.

Join our mailing list

If you’d like to be notified when the next round of grants opens and receive other key updates, please subscribe to our mailing list:

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Support for the Voluntary and Community Sector

Further support is available for the voluntary sector through a number of organisations who can provide support and development on a variety of topics. We have created a document support for VCS organisations (google doc) with an overview of support available. We will continue to keep this updated. There are also a number of organisations within Hackney able to provide assistance through a variety of programmes. 

If you feel that there is further support that your organisation needs, that is not available via the organisations listed in the document, contact us to arrange a conversation to discuss further. We are not always able to help organisations overcome every issue, however, our officers are happy to have a conversation with you to understand your organisation’s needs and see if there is any further support available.

Hackney CVS

Hackney CVS is an independent voluntary organisation which provides a range of information, advice and support to VCS organisations in Hackney. 

The organisational development support team can provide help and guidance to organisations applying for the Hackney VCS grants programme, regardless of whether they are a Hackney CVS member or not. To book a session with them, visit HCVS – organisational development.

VCS organisations can also sign up to Hackney CVS’s weekly newsletter to receive updates on training and events, funding opportunities, community news and local politics.

Previous grants awarded

Using the 360Giving data standard, our awarded grants since March 2020 are available as Excel spreadsheets (listed by year the project started):

This work is licensed under the Open Government License v3.0. This means the data is freely accessible to anyone to be used and shared as they wish. The data must be attributed to the London Borough of Hackney.

GrantNav is a free-to-use platform that brings together grant data published using the 360Giving Standard, making it easy to view and explore. The tool enables users to search and report in detail on who, where and how much is given through thousands of grants from a wide range of UK grantmakers, with further data being added as new publishers share their grants openly.

View Hackney’s GrantNav page.

Page updated on: 14 August 2025

Community Investment and Partnerships Team

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