The Anne Duchess of Westminster’s Fund (ADWF) online grant programme is now permanently closed and will no longer be accepting grant applications.
The entirety of the Fund will be spent out over the course of the next few years, with its resources focussed and distributed in the areas ADWF cares deeply about. Further information can be found here.
The Anne Duchess of Westminster’s Fund (ADWF) is a charitable fund which is administered and distributed by the Westminster Foundation.
It supports charitable projects in the areas in which Anne, Duchess of Westminster (its founder) lived and had an interest: supporting people’s mental and physical health and well-being; supporting those living in disadvantaged communities; and providing learning and training in either the Highlands of Scotland, Cheshire or through equine charities across the UK.
Anne Duchess of Westminster was the widow of Bend’Or, 2nd Duke of Westminster, who died in 1953. She had a lifelong interest in horses and was well known as the owner of the champion steeplechaser ‘Arkle’. In 1995 Anne Duchess set up the Anne Duchess of Westminster’s Charity which became the principal beneficiary of her will following her death in 2003. Between then and 2020 the Charity made grants totalling in excess of £3 million.
During this period the Charity and the Westminster Foundation worked closely together, sharing information, resources and collaborating with regards to grant-making. In 2020 they decided to a mutually beneficial transfer of the Charity’s assets to the Foundation. This natural evolution saw the creation the Anne Duchess of Westminster’s Fund, in 2021, which sits within the Westminster Foundation’s structure and is managed by its Trustees and team members.
We only support organisations that match the following criteria
Who we support
We support charities or volunteer organisations who work in these areas:
Mental health and wellbeing
Community projects in disadvantaged areas
Isolation and loneliness
Learning, training, and employment opportunities
Ill health and disability
Mental health and wellbeing
We support a range of charitable projects which improve people’s mental health and wellbeing, including counselling services, equine therapy, therapeutic activities and peer support groups.
Example organisations we have previously supported in this area are:
Horseback UK
Chester Samaritans
Chapter
Community projects in disadvantaged areas
We work closely with charity and volunteer services organisations and community foundations to efficiently direct our funding to community projects where it is most needed and where we believe it will have the greatest impact. These include community centres, food poverty relief, community transport schemes, volunteering costs, youth clubs and play projects and health roadshows.
Example organisations we have previously supported in this area are:
Scourie Sports Pavilion
Priority Youth Project
The Port Grocery
Isolation and loneliness
We support projects that connect and provide companionship, befriending, practical support, equipment and activities to the isolated and lonely living among our communities.
Example organisations we have previously supported in this area are:
Re-engage (formerly Contact the Elderly)
Befrienders Highland
Listening Books
Learning, training, and employment opportunities
We support organisations who work closely with disadvantaged or hard-to-reach groups to provide a variety of education and training opportunities. The target beneficiaries can include people struggling with socio-economic hardship, access to education, learning difficulties and those living in rural areas with poor transport and little access to general services and facilities.
Example organisations we have previously supported in this area are:
Greatwood Charity
Wirral Youth Zone
Bren Project
Ill health and disability
We work with charities who support those with poor health or a disability of any age, as well as the caregivers. These include the provision of therapy services, activity and support-based projects, outreach support, mobility and therapy equipment and cancer support services.
Example organisations we have previously supported in this area are:
For further information about funding for organisations that provide sustainable help and direction to children, young people and their families, please visit the Westminster Foundation.
We only support organisations that operate in the following areas
Where we support
Your charity must be...
Located in the Highlands of Scotland; or
Located within a 25-mile radius of Chester; and/or
Be an equine-related charity based anywhere in the UK
