Funding Priorities and Criteria
Application criteria and considerations
Please consider these grant criteria and considerations when completing your application.

Eligibility: The Foundation only funds educational and charitable organisations involved in the provision of arts education or related arts outreach activities. Only organisations whose beneficiaries live or study in Greater London may apply for a grant. Students may benefit from the charity’s funds regardless of gender.

Distribution of funds: The Foundation has limited funds to distribute on an annual basis and these funds are usually oversubscribed. The trustees policy is to make a number of grants rather than one or two large ones.

Length of funding: Funding will normally be for one year.

Our funding priorities
We want to support the artistic and financial sustainability of all students to ensure the widest range of people can participate in further and higher art education. Reaching students in hardship is a key element that makes the RFSA distinctive from other grant-making foundations and an essential part of our grant-making criteria. To achieve our mission, the Foundation provides financial assistance to educational organisations to benefit individual students. As well as funding arts and design studies, the Foundation will consider supporting musical and other cross-discipline arts studies.

Grants are available to assist individual students accessing or studying further or higher education, such as on vocational, BTEC, HND, foundation or first-degree courses. Funding is also available for informal learning that provides access into formal education for adults who face barriers such as disrupted career paths, personal disadvantages or language problems. Courses to deliver this learning should have clear outcomes and we encourage applicants to consider partnerships with local organisations in the design and provision of such learning.

Financial assistance can take the form of:

1. Grants for bursaries to cover the cost of students’ maintenance, tuition fees and travel expenses.
2. Grants for the purchase of students’ equipment, tools and books.
3. Grants which support students (including prospective students) who by reason of pregnancy, childbirth, caring or parenthood, suffer disadvantage.
4. Support for individuals’ progression into arts education.
5. Support for the provision of progression routes into the arts, development of skills, enterprise and professional experience.

What we don’t fund
The following are items for which RFSA grant funding is not available:

• Direct grants to individuals (including student grants or bursaries)
• Major capital schemes
• In response to general appeals
• To relieve public funds or where funding should come from mainstream sources
• Postgraduate study
• Note: funds for MA students will only be awarded in exceptional circumstances

Organisations we currently support
The RFSA Foundation supports organisations to help individual students through its grant funding:
Birkbeck, University of London
City & Guilds of London Art School
City Lit
Mary Ward Centre
Morley College
Richmond and Hillcroft Adult Community College
Sir John Cass School of Art, Architecture and Design at London Metropolitan University
University of the Arts London
Working Men's College

Funding Partnerships
Developing our Partnership Working is a key strategic aim for the Foundation. As the RFSA itself does not work on the front line of arts education, to be more effective we are seeking to work in partnership or alliance with other organisations to share information, seek new support opportunities and better achieve our mission. To discuss potential partnership working opportunities, please contact the Foundation Secretary.