Holiday Grants
Holiday Funding Applications
We welcome applications to fund holiday activities for disadvantaged young people living in the West Midlands area, Greater London and other areas of the UK.
If you wish to apply under this category please complete and submit the online application form together with the supporting documents (i.e. a signed copy of your most recent accounts and a budget for the proposed project).
Applications will be considered throughout the year but please allow up to 8 weeks between submission and notification of the result.
The Sheldon Holiday Fund
The Pearson’s Fresh Air Fund was created in 1910 and funded by a gift from Mr. C. Arthur Pearson, as well as from individual gifts and legacies. In 1981 it was re-named the Pearson’s Holiday Fund. Although the original Fund had several objectives, the sole objective pursued by the directors in recent years has been “the giving of country holidays to poor town children suitably recommended to the Association”. This is the purpose for which the funds were transferred to The Sheldon Trust in 2013. HM Queen Elizabeth was the patron of the Pearson Holiday Fund prior to it being transferred to The Sheldon Trust.
Mr Pearson was a British newspaper magnate and publisher who founded the Daily Express. A philanthropist, he established the charitable Fresh Air Fund, which became known as Pearson’s Holiday Fund, to enable disadvantaged children to partake in outdoor activities. This provides the main focus of the holiday funding we offer.
Application Criteria
Please read our criteria carefully to establish whether your charity has projects that are eligible for consideration:
Grants will only be made to UK registered charities and charitable organisations.
Our focus is on small and medium-sized charities and we do not consider applications from charities with an annual income of over £1 million and/or free unrestricted reserves to the value of more than six months of their annual expenditure.
We ask all recipients of our Grants to complete our Monitoring Report which allow us to view the results of the contribution we have made.
We are currently closed for Applications and will be open from May 2025.
"Alone, we can do so little;
together, we can do so much"
Helen Keller
by Untangled Web.