Details

The Early Years Parenting Fund will support organisations that improve the development of children most at risk of poor early childhood outcomes, by investing in effective, culturally grounded parenting support.

The Fund aims to improve the development of children most at risk of poor Early Childhood Development (ECD) outcomes, by investing in effective parenting support. In this round they want to fund work that can clearly demonstrate its contribution to improving early childhood development for children aged newborn to five.

The Early Years Parenting Fund is part of the Getting Started funding priority, which supports families to give young children a strong start in life. In this fund, ‘parents’ includes any caregiver.

Starting where ECD outcome gaps are largest to support charitable organisations that do the strongest work in this space. There is significant evidence from UK Governments and What Works centres that shows that specific communities experience multiple barriers, including discrimination, lack of cultural sensitivity of services and limited outreach, in accessing and benefitting from mainstream early childhood services. Early years services and programmes have often focused on the widest audiences and change at scale rather than a targeted, community appropriate approach. This contributes to the high risk of poor early child outcomes that has persisted for specific groups over the past two decades.

The Foundation aims to support improved outcomes for two groups:

• Children from Black (Caribbean or African, Any Other Black), Pakistani, and Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities.
• Children growing up in high levels of poverty, i.e. live in areas ranked within the most deprived 20% nationally.

This is year one of a five year programme focussing on improving children’s outcomes via parenting support. They expect to adapt this fund during the next five years, for example, the next round in 2027 will focus on organisations with the same strong community connections but with developing evidence bases. Future rounds might focus on different parent groups.

Premium information is available exclusively to SCVO members and supporters

Geographical areas funded: UK

Fund type

Type of funding:

Grant

Type of cost:

Revenue, Core costs

Fund award sizes

Maximum:

Premium information

Notes on award amounts:

Premium information

Who can apply

Eligible organisations are charitable organisations registered in and working in the UK, including:

• Registered charities and Charitable Incorporated Organisations (CIOs)
• Community Interest Companies (CICs) that are not-for-profit with an asset lock
• Other not for profit charitable organisations delivering work aligned with our object

Minimum annual income:

£100,000

Maximum annual income:

£5,000,000

When to apply

Applications are now closed.

How to apply

• Complete a short eligibility quiz on their website before you apply (https://henrysmith.foundation/grants/early-years-parenting-fund/)
• Submit an Expression of Interest by 1st July 2026 at 5pm
• You will be contacted during the week of the 24 July 2026 to tell you whether you should submit a full application. If it is decided not to invite you to apply, they will explain why in writing. They review hundreds of Expressions of Interest, so unfortunately, cannot provide detailed feedback.
• If invited, submit a full application by 21 August 2026 at 5pm.
• Have a conversation with their team between 24 August – 11 September 2026.
• Receive a decision in October 2026.

Full funding guidelines and sample forms can be found on their website.

Contact information

Exclusions

Premium information

Activites funded: General charitable activities

Beneficiaries funded: Black and Ethnic Minorities Children Economically/socially disadvantaged People in poverty

Report inaccuracy

Last reviewed about 1 month ago