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28 November 2025
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Round 3 Overview

Overall

Round 3 for Postcode Society Trust was open for 12 days, opening on Thursday 28th August at 9am and closing on Monday 8th September at 12 noon. This overview aims to give more insight into applying to Postcode Society Trust in future funding rounds and to help outline common trends. In Round 3 there were 44 successful applications with a total amount awarded of £1,775,174. Round 3 was the first funding round where multi-year funding was offered to applying organisations. All successful organisations are funded across a three-year period. Please note, future funding rounds are not guaranteed to have the same success rate as this changes with the level of demand for each funding round. 

Each application goes through a robust assessment process, utilising an internal scoring process that considers the strength of the answers provided, as well as the supporting documentation. We will also consider our funding priorities when rounds are oversubscribed.

Level of Demand

In total, 518 applications were received in Round 3 from organisations applying to Postcode Society Trust. 44 of these were successful, 380 were unsuccessful, 93 of these were deemed ineligible, and 1 was withdrawn after submission. This means in Round 3, Postcode Society Trust had a success rate of 9% of applications under consideration.

Our funding priorities are different to our funding themes. More information can be found in our funding guide on this. Postcode Society Trust was oversubscribed this round, meaning that our funding priorities were required to help with decision making. It is important to note that the strength of an organisation's overall application is still the primary factor in our decision making.

For reference, our funding priorities are:

  • Have an income of £250,000 or below
  • Work in communities located in the top 15% of the English Index of Multiple Deprivation
  • Organisations whose main activities are focused on supporting marginalised groups. This could include, but is not limited to, disabled people, communities experiencing racial inequity, and LGBT+ people.
  • Are in areas that have not recently received funding. For this, we will primarily be looking at postcode areas (eg. NWX XXX) that have not received funding in the last 12 months.

Groups that were funded in Round 3 either met 2 or 3 funding priorities. Groups with either 1 or 0 funding priorities were unfortunately not able to be funded. Although we were able to support some organisations that met 2 priorities, due to the demand other factors were considered in this funding round that meant not all groups that met 2 priorities were funded. 100% of supported organisations in Round 3 had an income of less than £250,000.

Tips

Here are a few tips that may help a future application:

  • Focus on answering the question as it is written, ensuring all parts of the question have been answered.
  • As our funding is unrestricted, the questions are focused around your organisation as a whole. It is best not to focus on future activities or specific projects, but answer the questions about your organisation as a whole.
  • Ensure that your organisation has a strong link to your chosen theme. If the link is not very strong there may be a partnership programme that is more suitable for your organisation.
  • Ensure that all attached documents are correct. If your organisation does not attach the correct document the application may be made ineligible.

Common Eligibility Fails

Out of the 93 applications that were deemed ineligible in Round 3, common eligibility issues included:

  • The organisation did not have a strong link to the chosen funding theme.
  • The organisation was overdue in their reporting to Charity Commission/Companies House.
  • The submitted accounts were incomplete or did not meet our standard.
  • The submitted governing document was incomplete or did not meet our standard.

Applying in the Future

Our funding rounds are now closed for 2025. We will next be open for applications in 2026. Information about our 2026 funding rounds will be published on our website in January 2026.