Before you consider an application, please carefully read our Funding Guide and the information below to see if your idea is a good fit.
The Fund has four broad goals, and we seek non-partisan applications which can make impact in the following areas:
Enabling everyone to vote: Building support for reforms to ensure a simple, seamless and accessible voting system fit for the 21st century.
Extending the right to vote: Advocating in support of expanding the franchise for 16- and 17-year-olds and settled UK residents from overseas.
Increasing participation of everyone in our elections: Making an effort to raise the turnout of low-propensity voters to improve fairness in our democracy. Low-propensity voters are groups of people who are less likely to register and vote based on analysis of electoral data. These include young people, communities experiencing racial inequity, private renters and the vulnerably housed, and those with low incomes.
Securing quality democratic education for young people: Advocating for all young people to have access to meaningful democratic education.
We are interested in campaigns and research applications which can support our goals and align to our Funding Guide. Applications should demonstrate a focused and effective strategy, and a deep understanding of the issues and/or community you want to reach. Only non-partisan applications will be considered.
Our priorities
In 2026, our focus will be on supporting advocacy, campaigns and research that:
- Push for meaningful Automatic Voter Registration to be introduced ahead of the next general election and ensure it is implemented in a way which works for low-voting groups.
- Pressure government to implement Votes at 16 by ensuring all young people (especially the first cohort of 16- and 17- year-olds eligible to vote at the next general election) are registered to vote automatically and receive good quality democratic education.
- Build support for residency-based voting rights
- Aim to register people who are less likely to vote at scale ahead of local elections and Northern Ireland Assembly elections in 2027 and the next general election.
- Continue to test and seek routes to scale up methods such as the use of trusted messengers to persuade people who are less likely to vote to register.
- Call for better access to data on elections and political participation.
Things to consider:
If you are thinking about applying to the Fund, contact us as early as possible (weeks before the outline deadlines listed here).
Send a brief description of your idea in an email to DemocracyFund@jrsst-ct.org.uk for an initial conversation. You do not need to have a fully realised strategy at this point. If your idea is a good fit, we will ask you to submit a detailed outline, after which we will advise you as to whether to move forward with a full application in line with the application process.
When deciding whether to apply to the Fund, please bear in mind that we:
- Only fund non-partisan campaigns or research.
- Prioritise campaigns or research that deliver systems reform.
- Prefer to fund work that can deliver impact at scale.
- Are interested in work that draws on existing evidence and insights, or where these do not exist, seeks to build an evidence base or generate learning.
The Fund has a wealth of insight from research and campaigns that we have funded in the past, and we encourage applicants to review this before contacting us to discuss a potential application. In particular, the evaluation of our work between 2019 and 2024.
You can see a full list of our current and past grantees here
You can also download the Funding Guide as a PDF here
This page was last updated on 27 April 2026.