Ideas and Pioneers Fund at Paul Hamlyn Foundation

We believe that the best ideas for how society needs to change often come from people who have been let down or harmed by current systems themselves. We want our funding to help realise these ideas and give people the time, space, and financial backing to experiment with different ways of making social change. We want to reach people whose ideas are still taking shape, as we know it can be difficult to find funding at this time.

We provide grants of up to £20,000 and a flexible support package. The fund focuses on supporting people with bold and brave ideas that have the potential to transform the way things are currently done. This could mean trying things that haven’t been done before or adapting existing approaches to change.

We’re not expecting a polished output or finished project at the end of your grant. We understand that trying something new can involve uncertainty. For us, success is about exploration, discovery and learning, whether or not your idea turns out the way you expected.

We prioritise funding to people aged 18–30, but we do consider applications from those aged 30 and over. We cannot accept applications from those under 18.