Roughley Charitable Trust

The Roughley Charitable Trust, founded in 1972, is a medium-sized grant-making trust with deep roots in Birmingham, dedicated to alleviating local disadvantage, promoting community wellbeing, and fostering engagement with arts, heritage, and the environment. Leveraging trustees' intimate knowledge of Birmingham's neighbourhoods, it prioritises responsive, grassroots support for small charities, delivering modest grants with outsized local impact through flexible, relationship-driven decision-making and robust governance emphasising transparency and accountability.

It funds targeted projects addressing deprivation, health, wellbeing, social inclusion, and community development for disadvantaged Birmingham communities, alongside arts, heritage, environmental initiatives, and gap-year projects for local students; occasional core costs are supported, but not capital or emergency funding. Priority goes to embedded local organisations filling service gaps or enabling new activities.

Eligible applicants are UK-registered charities operating exclusively within Birmingham City boundaries (rare exceptions for near-boundary groups serving Birmingham residents), with annual income under £1 million; national charities, even with local branches, are ineligible. Applications are unsolicited via email (Word form ≤3 pages, PDF cover letter on headed paper, 2-3 JPEG project photos) to Correspondent@roughleytrust.org.uk, accepted annually from 1 August to 1 October (strict deadline), with decisions at the November meeting and acknowledgements within two weeks.

Typical grants range £1,000–£3,000, occasionally larger for trusted partners. Distinctives include Birmingham exclusivity, rejection of individuals, animal/medical charities, and non-local entities, plus rare overseas or external support via trustee connections, ensuring hyper-local, high-impact philanthropy.