Our funding window for 2026 closed on Friday 27th February 2026.
Each year, the Charity’s Board of Trustees approve, in line with our reserves policy the redistribution of any excess surplus for reinvestment back into the education sector.
Our Giving Back initiative has been a great success since it started in 2019, with over £2.1 million being designated for reinvestment into the sector. To date, £1.68 million of this has been spent on several initiatives with £1.36 million going towards grants funded to institutions in support of a variety of projects and events aimed at:
Learners with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)
The physical and mental wellbeing of learners (with or without SEND)
Absenteeism. If a learner is not attending university, college or school, then they cannot progress
Previous funding rounds
In 2019/20 we gave back £259,020 in sponsorship grants to 33 of our members
In 2021/22 we gave back £288,309 in sponsorship grants to 68 of our members
In 2023/24 we gave back £201,668 in sponsorship grants to 33 of our members
In 2025 we gave back £611,955 in sponsorship grants to 94 of our members
2024/25 was another successful year for CPC and to celebrate we are ready to donate again.
How to apply - applications closed on Friday 27th February 2026
Please read The Rules in full before completing your application
Access the application form - applications are open from Monday 19th January 2026
You may need to gather estimates/quotes to submit with your application so please don’t leave it until the last minute
If you have any questions please see the Any Questions / Frequently Asked Questions sections on this page
Complete the online application form and submit it by Friday 27th February 2026
Good luck with your application
The Rules! Please take note
You can only apply if your institution has been a member of CPC for a full year. This means you must have registered with CPC before 18th January 2025.
You must have utilised at least one CPC framework since 1st November 2024. This is evidenced when the framework supplier has reported the spend to CPC. You can check whether you have reported spend against your institution by logging into spend reporter by logging into Spend Reporter on our website. If you are unsure about how to check for reported spend then please contact Carly Jenkinson (see Any Questions section for contact details).
Your project must clearly demonstrate its support of one or more of the following objectives:
• Learners with SEND, who require targeted support to ensure equitable access, engagement and progression.
• The physical and mental wellbeing of all learners must be safeguarded to enable sustained academic and personal development. We also want to help any learner with caring responsibilities as their wellbeing and attendance can be adversely affected.
• Absenteeism remains a critical barrier; learners cannot progress if they are not attending school, college, or university consistently.
FOR MULTI ACADEMY TRUSTS (MATs) and institutions within a trust ONLY.
a. We will only accept one application per MAT. The MAT must make the application on behalf of its schools. Each MAT will be asked to list the schools within their MAT (and those that will benefit from the grant) on the application. We will also require your approval to auto-enlist any schools within your MAT that are not CPC members.
b. If you are a school (and a CPC member who passes rules 1, and 2, above) within a MAT (and the MAT is not a CPC member) you must provide contact details of someone within your MAT who we can contact to encourage them to join. The MAT can then apply on your behalf.
Members are only permitted to submit one application. Applications must be submitted online.
All applications must be accompanied by a cost breakdown of the project.
All applications should state whether you are part-funding the project.
Where the volume of applications exceeds the fund available, the evaluation panel will prioritise those applications which they believe will make the most positive impact in consideration of the criteria outlined above. We always aim to provide some funding to all eligible projects and the cost breakdown enables us to allocate funds most effectively.
Post-funding, we require evidence of your project outcomes. This may include a visit to your organisation to market you and the project impact following the allocation of funds. This is specified in the Grant Funding Agreement which states our right to reclaim any funds paid should a project outcome report not be completed and returned to us. If you haven’t yet submitted your project outcome report from a previous grant you will not be eligible for funding this time. We expect project outcome reports to be sent to us within 3 months of the end of the project unless we have agreed another date with you
Please note: If you have a query with the amount of grant you have been awarded then please raise this with Carly Jenkinson (see below) in the first instance. The final decision will be made by David Owen, Head of Finance and People and will be final.
Please be sensible with the amount of your request.
Last year we were inundated with applications which exceeded £2 million. We want as many different members and as many learners as possible to benefit from our grants.
This year we have a maximum total fund limit of £500k to give away.
To ensure as fair an allocation as possible:
We are limiting the value of each application to a maximum of £10k.
In the likely event that applications exceed the pot of money we have available, the larger bids are more likely to be part-funded. We will also look to provide funding to new applicants first.
Evaluation Panel
Our evaluation panel will meet in the first two weeks of March (date to be confirmed).
How does the evaluation panel work?
The evaluation panel is comprised from members of CPC’s Giving Back Group, consisting of several employees including the Managing Director, two members of the Group Leadership Team, two Trustees and volunteers from within CPC.
Before the panel are allocated applications to review, any declarations of interest (ie. links to specific schools or colleges) are recorded. Panel members are not allowed to review an application where they have an interest in the member.
The panel is split into four groups and allocated a number of applications to review. A template is completed that measures the application against the criteria stated in the rules. Each application is then accepted, rejected or classified as unsure.
The four groups meet as one panel and evaluate each sub-group’s decisions. All rejected applications are reviewed by the panel to confirm. All “unsure” applications are reviewed by the panel and a decision is made to accept or reject.
The Head of Finance and People then allocates funding to the successful applications. If the total exceeds the total funds available (in this case it will be £500k) then the higher value applications are re-assessed and part-funding allocated. The allocation and justification is reviewed separately by the Managing Director and the Chair of the Giving Back Group, who is a Trustee.
Once the evaluation panel has met and funds have been allocated, you will be notified of the amount of funding you have been awarded (if your application has been successful) or the reasons why your application may have not been successful this time around.
If successful, you will be sent a Grant Funding Agreement (Terms and Conditions) which will have to be signed and returned, along with your institutions bank details before monies are released. Please ensure this is done as quickly as possible to avoid delays in getting your money. Failure to return these documents within a reasonable period may result in your award being redistributed.
Any Questions?
Please refer to our Frequently Asked Questions section below.
If you require any further information, please contact Carly Jenkinson on telephone no. 07733 308764, email [email protected] or via the postal address.
We look forward to hearing from you and thank you for your continued support to our charity.
Yours faithfully
Aimee Williams
Chair of Trustees of CPC and Chair of the Giving Back Group
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you provide examples of suitable and non-suitable events and activities?
We are interested in any project that supports SEND, wellbeing and absenteeism.
Suitable examples
• Sensory rooms, forest schools, SEND specific activities or projects.
• Equipment to assist SEND learners.
• Events and schemes that help learners with high absence return to school/college.
• Duke of Edinburgh awards or similar (King’s Trust) – equipment etc.
• Provision of mental health services for learners.
• Provision of musical instruments and/or musical training for wellbeing.
• Projects relating to arts and crafts.
• Provision of services that help young carers.
The following would not qualify
• Projects which you already have a statutory duty to undertake.
• Activities where grant funding for the same project has been claimed elsewhere, except where this partially funds the project.
• Any political, lobbying, pressure or campaigning activities.
• Funding of existing roles in your institution.
• Propagation of any religion or belief.
• Overseas travel for staff (not accompanying students for educational purposes).
• Part payment against any finance or operating lease procurement.
• Building projects.
• Any standard employment costs.
• Entertaining where this would be a taxable benefit in kind for the person being entertained.
I understand that staff costs would not be allowed, but if we were to bring in an external organisation to deliver an aspect of the programme, would that be allowable?
You are correct that we do not fund staff vacancies or someone who is going to be on your payroll. Funds payable to an external organisation to deliver something acceptable (ie a workshop or therapy sessions) under the criteria would be allowed.
Several questions and scenarios covering member spend qualification:
The member used the washroom services framework 2 years ago and are still in contract with the supplier and the spend is still coming in. Would this count even though the actual procurement was more than a year ago?
The member has spent a lot with CPC over the years but just not in the last year as their contracts haven’t been up for tender.
There will potentially be members who have used the insurance, cleaning and catering frameworks etc so we will be getting income from them in the period November 2024 – November 2025, but because they signed up to the frameworks prior to February 2024 would not qualify. Would this be correct?
The number of frameworks used by the member in the qualifying period has decreased by 2 but overall spend has increased. The member has therefore not introduced any new frameworks although they have spent some more on desktop hardware than they did in the previous year. Would they qualify?
Any member utilising a framework in the qualifying 12-month period where spend is showing on spend reports from our suppliers will meet the spend criteria. If you are a school or college within a MAT and the MAT uses our frameworks on your behalf, the school will qualify.
Our school is a member of CPC and became a part of a Multi Academy Trust. We were wondering if any/all of our schools could apply for the CPC funding?
No – we will only accept one application per MAT who must state the names of the schools within the MAT and those that will benefit from the funding.
We are a school that have been a CPC member for years and have regular spend reported. We have just joined a MAT who is not a member. Can we apply?
No – you must follow rule 4b and provide us details and a contact within the MAT so we can encourage them to join. They could then apply on your behalf and any other schools that may be CPC members and have spend with us. They cannot claim funding for schools that are not CPC members.
We have been successful in our application for funds. How soon could the funds be provided?
Once we receive the signed Terms and Conditions and your bank details, we expect to be able to provide funds within 30 days though this is usually sooner.
Will there be further sponsorship funding opportunities in the future?
There will be other opportunities. Please keep checking our website for updates.
Do I have to use the grant on a CPC framework to pay for my project?
No. We do encourage it if possible as it is more sustainable for our charity, however, we recognise that our frameworks may not cover the particular project you have planned.
To use an example – if your project includes the purchase of laptops or audio-visual equipment, we would like you to use our ICT Hardware and peripherals framework or the Audio-Visual Equipment framework. You should get a better deal this way.
Please note: many grants are to fund the creation/furnishing of a sensory room within the school. We have a framework with suppliers that provide this service/furniture so this may be a good place to get a good deal. The framework is: Furniture and Associated Services, Lot 5: SEN and Early Years furniture and accessories.