Local charities can apply for Hendy Foundation grants of up to £5,000 until Friday

The Hendy⁴ Foundation^1,2,3, the grant-making charity of the Hendy Group car dealerships, is taking grant applications from local charities until 5:30pm on Friday 30 October. Grants run from £500 to £5,000 as a guide.

The foundation funds charities based in the counties where Hendy Group works, and East Sussex is one of them. Hendy has a Renault dealership in Brighton. The money has to be spent on projects in those counties.

Its policy lists the causes it backs, including relief of extreme poverty and of sickness, healthy lifestyles and wellbeing, older people and vulnerable groups, and “growing sustainable communities”. It gives priority to money for a clearly specified project, and to new work that has a plan to carry on once the grant ends. The whole pot is likely to be around £30,000 a round.

There are limits. Charities must have a turnover of no more than £1 million, and national, religious and political charities can’t apply. The foundation doesn’t pay for overheads such as rent, utility bills or marketing, or for salaried staff who run a charity. It will consider paying for people taken on for a specific project, such as counsellors, instructors or artists. Groups that applied in the last two years, successful or not, should wait.

Applications are online only. Trustees may contact shortlisted groups, who will then be asked for bank statements and accounts. Final decisions come at a trustee meeting on Tuesday 24 November. The foundation only contacts successful applicants, so anyone who hasn’t heard by then should assume the answer is no this time.

Since 2018 the foundation has given more than £420,000 to over 350 organisations across the south.