New funding available to support legal action that addresses racial injustice in the criminal justice system

We are pleased to launch a new round of funding today for organisations undertaking legal action to address racial injustice in the criminal justice system.

In this round of funding, we are seeking to fund activity which uses the law to:

• clarify or challenge legislation which disproportionately criminalises racialised people;
• address the harms caused by police in schools; and
• address the clampdown on activism in relation to issues of racial injustice (addressing the criminalisation of free speech and protest).

Grants of up to £50,000 for up to 18 months or up to £90,000 over three years are available.

We define legal action as described in the Framework for Effective Use of the Law report: that is, activity that uses the law to persuade, empower or challenge. We will not fund service delivery work, such as providing advice or support to people on an individual basis.

Eligibility

To be eligible, applicants need to:

• be an anti-racist organisation or have a demonstrable history of working on anti-racism;
• already be undertaking legal action activities to address racial injustice in the criminal legal system or be able to demonstrate pre-existing plans for doing so;
• undertake activities that will deliver benefit in the UK (applications for international work will not be considered);
• be a legally registered not-for-profit entity in the UK, preferably a charity;
• have at least one full year’s accounts; and
• have an income of under £1m a year.

How to apply

Application Guidelines are available here.

There is a two-stage application process for this funding.

The first stage is a telephone call with us to discuss about the suitability and eligibility of your work under this call. If you are interested, you should arrange a time to speak to us about your eligibility by Friday 30 May 2025 by emailing baring.foundation@ing.com.

After confirming your eligibility, you will need to complete a grant application form, which can be found here.

Please refer to the Application Guidelines for support on compiling your application.

The deadline for the second stage is Wednesday 11 June.