Nine Kensington and Chelsea charities, from Earls Court Youth Club to Meanwhile Gardens, are in line for £2.59m in grants to 2030, from a smaller pot.
Nine local charities are in line for three years of core funding from Kensington and Chelsea Council, worth £2,590,900 between April 2027 and March 2030. They include Earls Court Youth Club, the Chelsea Theatre, Meanwhile Gardens and the ClementJames Centre.
The money comes from the Voluntary Sector Support Fund, the council’s only grant scheme that pays for the basic costs of running a charity: staff, rent and governance, rather than a single project. The pot is £567,000 smaller than in the current three-year round, because of savings agreed in February.
The awards were recommended to the council’s Leadership Team at its meeting on Tuesday 13 October (key decision report KD1014831). The council had not published the decision notice by Thursday morning, and the issue record still showed the item as “for determination” (decision record).
Updated 22 October: the council’s issue record now lists the decision as “awaiting implementation”, which suggests it has been taken. The council has still not published a decision notice saying what was agreed, so the awards below remain the officers’ recommendations until it does.
Who is recommended for funding
One organisation gets the borough’s infrastructure grant, which pays it to support other local charities. Eight get an open grant for their own services (Appendix One).
| Organisation | What the council says it does | Three-year award |
|---|---|---|
| Young Kensington and Chelsea Foundation (Young K&C) | Infrastructure grant: supports local groups working with children and young people, and will lead wider sector support and volunteering | £406,500 |
| Dalgarno Trust | Community centre in a deprived ward, with free health, youth, money and digital services | £216,800 |
| Earls Court Youth Club | Supports over 700 children and young people aged 6 to 19 and their families | £216,800 |
| Meanwhile Gardens Community Association | Runs 4.5 acres of free green space in North Kensington | £216,800 |
| Minds United Sports Club CIC | Sport and wellbeing for adults with mental health problems, disabilities or experience of homelessness | £216,800 |
| The Muslim Cultural Heritage Centre Trust (MCHC) | Community hub giving advice and practical support to residents in poverty | £216,800 |
| The Chelsea Centre, trading as Chelsea Theatre | Free creative sessions for children, wellbeing activities for adults and a community café | £216,800 |
| The ClementJames Centre | Employment, youth and wellbeing programmes in North Kensington | £216,800 |
| Venture Community Association | North Kensington hub running over 40 activities a week | £216,800 |
The remaining £450,000 goes to a Small Grants Fund of £150,000 a year. The Kensington and Chelsea Foundation runs it, so small groups do not have to compete with the large ones for the same money. Its awards have not been announced.
The money falls each year
Every open grant is £80,000 in the first year, £72,000 in the second and £64,800 in the third. The infrastructure grant falls from £150,000 to £135,000 and then £121,500. The report says the taper is meant to push organisations to find other income. Years two and three also depend on each charity meeting the targets it agrees with the council.
Year by year, the fund pays £940,000 in 2027/28, £861,000 in 2028/29 and £789,900 in 2029/30. The leaders were also asked to let officers spend a separate £276,000 of Public Health money, £92,000 a year, on activities that support the fund’s aims.
Fewer winners from a crowded field
The fund opened on 16 March. 55 organisations sent an expression of interest by 30 April, and the shortlist made full applications between 1 July and 10 August. A panel of council officers made its recommendations on 7 and 8 September. Bids at the first stage came to more than six times the money available, the report says.
The report is plain about the cost of a smaller fund. It says “fewer organisations being funded” means “some residents may experience reduced access to local services”. It names residents who rely on specialist, culturally appropriate or neighbourhood services as the most exposed.
The equality assessment, written before the winners were chosen, lists groups funded in the current round that could be affected (equality impact assessment). Two of them, Al-Hasaniya Moroccan Women’s Project and Baraka Community Association, are not on the recommended list. The papers do not say whether they applied.
The assessment also shows how the infrastructure grant has changed. Young K&C receives £40,000 a year for infrastructure work in the current round. It would get £150,000 in the first year of the new one, as the borough’s single infrastructure partner.
The council says its wider support for voluntary groups, through contracts, grants, rate relief and cheap premises, came to £20,046,971 in 2024/25.
What it means for you
- If you use one of the nine: your centre or club has funding for its core costs to March 2030, subject to the yearly checks. Nothing changes before April 2027.
- If you run a small group: the Small Grants Fund, run by the Kensington and Chelsea Foundation, is the route in. The report says it will use the same process it used for the 2024 to 2027 round.
- If your group missed out: the report says the council may still fund some unsuccessful applicants from other budgets or through contracts.
- The scrutiny check: the Housing and Communities Select Committee meets on 19 October, after the decision. Its members were sent the recommendations outside a meeting beforehand.
The report links the cut to the Government’s Fair Funding Review and other pressures on the council’s budget. It has since agreed a formal appeal to ministers; see our report on that decision. For what you pay the council, see our guide to Kensington council tax bands.
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