Up to £50,000 Over Two Years for Sport and Performing Arts Projects for Young People: Wembley Stadium Foundation
The Wembley Stadium Foundation Targeted Fund is open for Expressions of Interest, offering up to £25,000 a year for two years to charities in England running sport, movement or performing arts projects for children and young people who face barriers to taking part.
This is multi-year project funding on a full cost recovery basis, so budgets can include a share of your core running costs as well as direct delivery costs. The funder is explicit that it wants to build long-term relationships with the organisations it supports.
The Expression of Interest deadline is 5pm on Saturday 11 October 2026.
About the Funder
Wembley Stadium Foundation is the charitable foundation connected to Wembley Stadium. It funds work that increases access to sport, movement and the performing arts for children and young people across England, with a focus on those who are currently shut out of those opportunities.
The Foundation describes itself as a supportive, approachable and collaborative funding partner. Its Theory of Change, published on its website, is worth reading before you write anything, because the Expression of Interest is assessed directly against the three outcomes it sets out.
What the Fund Supports
Projects specifically designed for children and young people who face a particular barrier to participation as a result of who they are, where they live, or the circumstances they face. The funder gives disability, gender, race and socio-economic disadvantage as examples, but does not limit it to those. You are asked to identify the barriers that exist for young people in your own community.
The fund will support you to strengthen or expand existing work, or to test a new approach. Every project must contribute to all three of the Foundation’s outcomes:
- Enhanced sense of belonging
- Increased participation in sport, movement or performing arts
- Reduced barriers to participation for young people
In this round the Foundation is particularly keen to fund:
- Targeted interventions for young people facing a specific barrier
- Projects delivered outside London, Birmingham, Newcastle, Manchester and Liverpool
- Projects delivered in community settings rather than mainstream education
- Organisations with a strong track record and a collaborative approach, drawing on young people’s voices and lived experience
- Work that strengthens your organisation’s capacity beyond the project itself
These are priorities rather than pre-requisites, so you can still apply if you do not tick all of them. If you do tick several, say so clearly.
How Much Funding Is Available
Grants are up to £25,000 per year for up to two years, giving a maximum total of £50,000. The minimum is £1,000.
The grant period for this round is December 2026 to July 2028. Year 1 runs from December 2026 to July 2027, which is shorter in order to align with the Foundation’s funding cycle. Year 2 runs the full 12 months from August 2027 to July 2028.
Funding is awarded on a full cost recovery basis. Your budget can include the direct costs of delivering the project plus a fair share of your organisation’s core running costs.
The Foundation is happy to part-fund larger projects, so your project does not need to be funded entirely by this grant. The Expression of Interest asks what percentage of total project cost the grant would represent.
Who Is Eligible
To apply you must:
- Be a registered charity
- Have had an annual income between £100,000 and £1 million in your most recent accounting year
- Deliver a project engaging children and young people up to age 25
- Deliver that project in England
- Contribute to all three fund outcomes
The income band is a hard criterion at both ends. Charities under £100,000 and over £1 million are out of scope for this round.
What Makes a Strong Expression of Interest
Expressions of Interest are assessed against eligibility, alignment with this round’s priorities, the Foundation’s outcomes and wider portfolio, potential impact for children and young people, and your organisational capacity to deliver.
The form is short and character limited, so every sentence has to work. You get 1,000 characters on your organisation and the communities you support, then 2,000 characters each on the project and the young people who will benefit, the change you expect to see against the three outcomes, and why you are best placed to deliver.
Three things to get right:
- Name the barrier. Do not write generally about disadvantage. Say which barrier young people in your community face, how you know, and how the project design responds to it.
- Map your outcomes onto their three. Use the Foundation’s own language for belonging, participation and reduced barriers, and give a sense of the change you expect rather than only activity numbers.
- Evidence the youth voice. The question on why you are best placed asks specifically about collaboration, partnership and how you include young people’s voices and lived experience. Give concrete examples, not a statement of principle.
What You Will Need
The Expression of Interest asks for your organisation name, charity number, website, postcode and main contact details, plus:
- Whether you are applying for a one-year or two-year grant
- How much funding you are requesting per year, up to £25,000
- Roughly what percentage of total project cost the grant represents
- Roughly how many children and young people the project will reach per year
A top-level project budget and additional financial information are only needed at Stage Two, if you are shortlisted.
How to Apply
Applications are a two-stage process:
- Submit the online Expression of Interest form via Microsoft Forms by 5pm on 11 October 2026
- Decisions on Stage One are communicated in late October 2026
- A small number of shortlisted organisations are invited in November 2026 to submit a full application and meet the Head of Partnerships to discuss their proposal
- Final decisions are made in December 2026
Key Dates
- Expression of Interest deadline: 5pm on 11 October 2026
- Stage One decisions: late October 2026
- Full applications and partnership meetings: November 2026
- Final decisions: December 2026
- Grant period begins: December 2026
