Hackney Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) Grants Programme 2026 to 2027
The VCS Grants Programme gives funding to voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations to help local people.
You can find out more about the programme in our VCS Prospectus (Google Doc).
Apply for a grant from the Project Innovation Fund
This funding is for small organisations with a yearly income of less than £250,000 to test new ideas.
You can get funding for projects that:
- strengthen your organisation
- help organisations work and learn together
- focus on communities that have been failed by the system
This funding round includes funding for projects that specifically work with children and young people.
You can apply if you’re a:
- formally constituted group
- Tenant Resident Association
- newly formed charitable company or social enterprise
- group of local residents
Find out more about the fund in the programme guidance (Google Doc).
To apply for a grant, sign in to the Grants Portal or create an account if you do not have one. Once you've signed in, you can start and complete your application.
You have until 5pm on 31 August 2026 to apply.
Apply for a grant from the Crisis and Resilience Fund
This fund closed on 29 June 2026.
This funding is for VCSE organisations providing support such as debt advice, benefits advice and other services that help people manage money and cope with financial difficulty.
It's funded by the Department for Work and pensions.
Find out more about the fund in the programme guidance (Google Doc).
We hosted an online information session about the Crisis and Resilience fund on 21 May 2026. View the:
- recording of the Crisis and Resilience Fund Grants Programme session (YouTube)
- presentation slides from the Crisis and Resilience Fund information session (Google Slides)
- frequently asked questions document (Google Docs)
Changes to our Grants Portal
Our Grants Management system is moving to a new portal. From 28 July 2026, you won’t be able to access the current system anymore. This means that you won’t be able to access any previously submitted applications or monitoring forms (requirements).
If you want to keep a copy of these documents, you must download them before 31 August 2025.
A copy of your application or requirement was emailed to you when you submitted it, but you may still want to download another copy for your records.
How to download your documents
Follow the steps below (also available in our YouTube video):
- Log in to the portal using your email and password.
- Go to either the applications or requirements tab.
- Select submitted applications or requirements.
- Choose one of the following options:
- email a copy to yourself: click the email icon
- save as PDF: open the application or requirement, click print, choose save as PDF, and save it to your computer
- Repeat the steps above for each document you want to keep.
If you have any questions, email communitypartnerships@hackney.gov.uk.
Join our mailing list
If you’d like to be notified when the next round of grants opens and receive other key updates, subscribe to our mailing list.
Support for the Voluntary and Community Sector
Further support is available for the voluntary sector through a number of organisations who can provide support and development on a variety of topics. We have created a document support for VCS organisations (google doc) with an overview of support available. We will continue to keep this updated. There are also a number of organisations within Hackney able to provide assistance through a variety of programmes.
If you feel that there is further support that your organisation needs, that is not available via the organisations listed in the document, contact us to arrange a conversation to discuss further. We are not always able to help organisations overcome every issue, however, our officers are happy to have a conversation with you to understand your organisation’s needs and see if there is any further support available.
Hackney CVS
Hackney CVS is an independent voluntary organisation which provides a range of information, advice and support to VCS organisations in Hackney.
The organisational development support team can provide help and guidance to organisations applying for the Hackney VCS grants programme, regardless of whether they are a Hackney CVS member or not. To book a session with them, visit HCVS – organisational development.
VCS organisations can also sign up to Hackney CVS’s weekly newsletter to receive updates on training and events, funding opportunities, community news and local politics.
Previous grants awarded
Using the 360Giving data standard, our awarded grants since March 2020 are available as Excel spreadsheets (listed by year the project started):
- VCS grants April 2025 to March 2026 (Google Sheets)
- VCS grants April 2024 to March 2025 (Google Sheets)
- VCS grants April 2023 to March 2024 (Google Sheets)
- VCS grants April 2022 to March 2023 (Google Sheets)
- VCS grants April 2021 to March 2022 (Google Sheets)
- VCS grants April 2020 to March 2021 (Excel 37kb)
This work is licensed under the Open Government License v3.0. This means the data is freely accessible to anyone to be used and shared as they wish. The data must be attributed to the London Borough of Hackney.
GrantNav is a free-to-use platform that brings together grant data published using the 360Giving Standard, making it easy to view and explore. The tool enables users to search and report in detail on who, where and how much is given through thousands of grants from a wide range of UK grantmakers, with further data being added as new publishers share their grants openly.