The Earley Charity is one of the largest local grant-making charities in central southern England. Its object is the relief of need among elderly, disabled or poor people living in our area of benefit. The Charity’s terms of reference also make it possible for us to fund community, educational, informational, cultural, sporting, recreational and social initiatives.

Area of benefit

The area of benefit of The Earley Charity is defined as "the Ancient Liberty of Earley and the neighbourhood thereof". In practice this means all of Earley (Lower Earley and "old Earley"), the northern part of Shinfield, Winnersh, south Reading (including Whitley), east Reading (including Newtown), central Reading (as far west as the Reading West railway line), Sonning and lower Caversham.

The Trustees are only able to consider applications from individuals living in the area of benefit and organisations working within the area.

What we don’t fund

To comply with our objects there are some activities that we cannot fund. To avoid wasted effort and disappointment we list here the principle areas which The Earley Charity does not fund:

• Post-graduate education
• General running/living costs
• Core costs
• Open-ended salaries
• General appeals
• Religious activities
• National organisations operating in the area of benefit without a local office
• General public sector appeals (apart from in a few very exceptional cases)
• Applications from outside the area of benefit

Who do we help?

Individuals
The Charity makes grants to local individuals in need. These grants generally take the form of purchases of equipment, goods or services. Applications are welcomed from:

• elderly citizens in difficult circumstances
• carers or people with disabilities who need some financial help
• those in housing need
• individuals on low incomes or in poor health

These grants are usually below £400. However, larger grants may be made to provide specialist medical or therapeutic equipment and occasionally for essential building work and repairs.

Organisations
The Charity makes grants to a wide range of local charitable, voluntary and community organisations working within our area of benefit. Applications should be for one-off non-recurrent funding for a specific purpose. Grants are normally in the range £500-£5,000. Larger grants may be made to organisations which the Trustees know well.