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Leathersellers' Foundation - LogoMerchant Taylors' Foundation - Logo

Leathersellers' Foundation & Merchant Taylors' Foundation
Early Years Grants Programme - Application Form 2026 

Please note, as this is a joint funding programme, all applications will be shared with and assessed by staff and representatives from both the Leathersellers' Foundation and Merchant Taylors' Foundation. You may request that your data is deleted by either or both of these organisations at any point in the process (this will be treated as a withdrawal of the application if done so pre-decision or before an awarded grant is complete).  To request deletion of your data, please contact charityapp@leathersellers.co.uk.

If you have any questions regarding your application or the application process, please contact the Head of Grants, at the Leathersellers' Foundation, Natalia Rymaszewska, via charityapp@leathersellers.co.uk.

APPLICATION DEADLINE: 6pm Thursday 8th January 2026

Before you begin your application, please register with us by ticking the "Save My Progress and Resume Later" box above. This must be done again, even if you have previously applied to the Leathersellers' Foundation or Merchant Taylors' Foundation. This will allow you to save your application and return to it when you next login. Your application will not be saved if you do not register your email and create a password. Please note that there is no autosave function - you must save each time you exit the form.  As such we strongly suggest you prepare the answers to your form offline and save them before copying and pasting to submit here.


If you have already registered with us for this application, then please click "Resume a Previously Saved Form" above, and enter your email and the password you created to pick up where you left off. 


Please remember to save your form by always clicking "Save My Progress and Resume Later" before leaving this page.


Once you have completed your application form and you are ready to submit it, don't forget to click the "Submit" button at the bottom of this form. 

1. Organisation Details

Please note: there is a limit of 60 characters for this field that cannot be increased. Please abbreviate where possible if your school's name exceeds this length.





About your school
How many pupils attend at each stage of school:





Please enter a number only (two decimal places allowed)


2. Contact Details





3. The Project
The aim of this funding is to enable primary schools in Lewisham to develop a programme of activities that support children as they move into school, particularly for young children from low-income households in Lewisham. These activities should take place with the involvement of parents/carers, not only in the nursery or school setting alone.

We have seen the impact this can have through a pilot funded for the last 18 months at which utilised the training and was based on the structure of the PEEP Learning Together programme – more information about which can be found at https://www.peeple.org.uk/ltp. We will accept applications using an equivalent programme but are keen that your project utilises a recognised framework.


Max. 3000 characters

Max. 3000 characters

Please note: we are interested in hearing why your school in particular would benefit from this (we are aware of the national stats and evidence around need for work in this area). Indicators you may like to highlight that we are aware of would be FSM, PP eligibility, IMD scores, housing instability issues, percentage of pupils with SEN support, attainment on entry levels, attendance challenges in primary and the instance of child protection plans or referrals. Or if you have other relevant indicators of community context or difficulties your families face please do share those. 

(Hold 'ctrl' whilst clicking to select more than one option)

(Hold 'ctrl' whilst clicking to select more than one option)

Please add a number only

Max. 3000 characters

Max. 3000 characters
4. Finances
We expect to consider funding projects for up to four years and for the maximum grant amount available. Chances of a successful application are not increased by asking for a smaller grant / lesser duration.

Anticipated grant amounts are:
£12,000 for the first year
£10,000 for subsequent years


(max £12,000)
Please enter numbers only - do not use £ signs, commas or full stops.

(max £10,000)
Please enter numbers only - do not use £ signs, commas or full stops.

Project Budget

5. How did you hear about us?



Max 500 characters
6. Consent to share information (optional)
Your consent is sought pre-emptively (should the opportunity arise) to provide permission for the Grants Teams at the Leathersellers’ Foundation and Merchant Taylors' Foundation to share your application details with other charitable funds/foundations that may then contact you directly to request further information and/or offer additional funding. The aim would be to assist you in reaching a wider pool of funders (who are not running open grant rounds) without requiring additional time to be spent on new applications.

Any funder who would receive your application details would be a controller under data protection law of the personal data provided through the application form and any further personal data collected on applicants and approved grantees. 

None of the funders intend to share or trade personal data with third parties for commercial purposes and will only process your personal data as set out in their respective privacy notices, if it is required or permitted by law, or with your consent. 

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