Common Ground Award 2026

📝 About the Award

The UK Government's Common Ground Award aims to invest capital funding into VCSE sector organisations that bring people together from different backgrounds. The funding supports:

• Construction or renovation of facilities
• Purchasing equipment to deliver services

Opportunity Details

• Date Published: October 22, 2025
• Application Deadline: November 21, 2025
• Category: Contest
• Opportunity Location: United Kingdom

🎁 Benefits

• Up to £1.7 million capital funding within the 2025/2026 financial year.
• Payments of up to £10,000 per successful applicant.
• Applicants may propose scaling up capital investment beyond £10,000, up to a maximum of £50,000 in exceptional cases, supported by a strong application.

✅ Eligibility Criteria

To apply for this grant, your organisation must be a VCSE organisation based and operating in England with charitable, benevolent, or philanthropic purposes. Eligible organisations include:

• Organisations registered as a charity with the Charity Commission
• Charitable incorporated organisations registered with Companies House and the Charity Commission
• Companies limited by guarantee registered with Companies House, established for charitable, benevolent, or philanthropic purposes
• Community interest companies registered with Companies House
• Community benefit societies registered by the Financial Conduct Authority
• Unincorporated community groups or organisations, or unincorporated associations that:
  • Are established for charitable, benevolent, or philanthropic purposes
  • Have a governing body with at least 3 members
  • Have an inclusive membership policy
  • Have a governing document
  • Can provide accounts for the last two financial years
  • Have their own UK business bank account
  • Can hold land or property and enter into contracts either by themselves or via trustees

Ineligible Applicants

The following are not eligible to apply:

• Local authorities and other public sector organisations
• Profit-distributing organisations
• Individuals
• Regulated education sector organisations (e.g., schools, further and higher education institutions, universities)

📅 Application Date and Process

• Application Deadline: November 21, 2025
• Visit the official application portal to apply:
  • UK Government's Common Ground Award Prospectus
  • Apply for the Award

For more details, visit the official UK Government website linked above.

• Up to £1.7 million capital funding within the 2025/2026 financial year, distributed in payments of up to £10,000 per successful applicant.
• Applicants will be able to set out how capital investment could be scaled up beyond £10,000, up to a maximum of £50,000, which may be considered in exceptional cases - where there is clearly demonstrated need, supported by a strong application.