Frequently asked questions

Deaf and Disabled People’s Organisations (DDPOs) are organisations run by and for Deaf and Disabled people. They often provide advocacy, support and campaign for equality and inclusion.

We use Inclusion London’s definition of a Deaf and Disabled People’s Organisation (DDPO). To be considered a DDPO, your organisation must meet all of the following criteria:

• At least 75% of your management committee or board are Deaf or Disabled people
• At least 50% of your paid staff team are Deaf or Disabled people, with representation at all levels of the organisation
• You provide services for, or work on behalf of, Deaf and Disabled people

The Disability Justice Fund is primarily intended to support DDPOs, and we expect most funding to go to disability‑led organisations.

However, there is some flexibility where funding a non‑DDPO helps strengthen the wider disability justice movement. This may apply where, for example:

• Your work sits at the intersection of disability justice and another movement, such as climate justice or racial justice
• You are a disability organisation but contextual factors (such as impairment type or stage of organisational development) make meeting the DDPO thresholds challenging in the short term

In all cases, we will expect you to clearly demonstrate accountability to Deaf and Disabled people, for example through:

• Inclusive governance structures
• Participatory decision‑making processes
• Clear mechanisms showing how Deaf and Disabled lived experience informs leadership and strategy

If you think this may apply to you, please contact us before applying. You can book a conversation here.

We welcome partnership applications, provided the work is clearly Disabled‑led and contributes to the disability justice movement.

We would also expect to see that:

• A DDPO is the lead applicant
• DDPOs involved in the partnership have primary power and oversight
• This leadership is reflected in the budget, with the majority of funding remaining with the DDPO(s)

If the lead applicant is not a DDPO, the application will be automatically rejected unless you have:

1. Spoken to Trust for London in advance, and
2. Been invited to apply following that conversation

If you are a group of Deaf and/or Disabled activists or a campaign coalition and:

• Are not formally constituted, and/or
• Do not have a bank account

We may be able to fund your work via a host organisation (sometimes called a fiscal host or a sponsorship).

This could mean we give the grant to an established organisation that can hold the funds and provide oversight on your behalf. If you already have a relationship with a not-for-profit organisation, such as a DDPO, you could ask if they are willing to play this role for you.

If this applies to you, please contact us to discuss the most appropriate route before applying. You can book a conversation here.

We can accept applications from the following types of organisations:

• Registered charities
• Charitable Incorporated Organisations (CIOs)
• Community Interest Companies (CICs)
• Companies Limited by Guarantee (CLGs)
• Trusts
• Unincorporated Associations
• Cooperative Societies
• Trade unions

Organisations do not need to be based in London to apply. We can fund work with a national focus, such as national campaigning, as long as Deaf and Disabled Londoners will benefit. For national projects, we would normally expect other funders to be involved — we do not usually fund entire national programmes alone.

To receive funding, your organisation must have the following in place:

• A bank account with two unrelated signatories
• At least three trustees or directors who are independent of senior management
• A written constitution
• A commitment to paying at least the London Living Wage. You do not need to be accredited, but if you are not, we will want to discuss this with you

We cannot accept applications from:

• Individuals
• Mainstream public services, including schools and hospitals

We can’t fund:

• Work that subsidises statutory services (for example, top‑ups for government‑funded contracts)
• Applications for the promotion of religion
• General fundraising appeals
• Work that has already been completed
• Organisations holding significant free reserves*
  • Generally, reserves of up to nine months of expenditure are acceptable
• Large capital costs such as buildings or major renovations.
  • (We can fund small items of equipment, such as computers)
• Work focused solely on individual casework or service delivery, with no link to wider social change

* Free reserves are unrestricted funds that are freely available to spend on any of an organisation’s purposes.

The Disability Justice Fund aims to contribute to a strong, vibrant, diverse and sustainable movement for social justice led by Deaf and Disabled Londoners, particularly those living in poverty.

When making funding decisions, we want to fund a variety of work that includes:

• London‑based DDPOs
• Intersectional organisations
• Impairment‑specific organisations

And represents a range of campaigning strategies and approaches.

We will fund national DDPOs where there is a clear benefit to Deaf and Disabled Londoners, but we would not usually want to be the project’s sole funder.

The fund builds on learning from earlier funding rounds and is informed by ongoing conversations with DDPOs, activists, and allies. Several members of the grants team, including the fund lead – Joanna Wootten, have lived experience of disability.

Grants are made on an ongoing basis, and we anticipate making a mix of:

• New grants
• Continuation grants

Funding decisions will continue to evolve based on informal and formal feedback from funded and non-funded organisations, DDPOs and the wider disability justice movement.

We will have a meeting in November 2026 with invited DDPOs, and other key stakeholders when we will update them on what the disability justice fund has done in 2026, and invite them to feedback on potential priorities for 2027.

We recently commissioned BrawData, Disability Rights UK and PBE (formerly Pro Bono Economics) to produce the first robust, replicable map of the UK’s disability funding landscape.

It will look at what the sector looks like, where funding comes from and how it’s distributed.  They will pay specific attention to the funding distribution between DDPOs versus non-DDPOs, and funding distribution between disability services/support versus disability rights and disability justice. We hope the report will be out in November 2026 and that it will be a valuable resource for funders looking to fund in the space.

Please talk to us before applying either by joining a webinar or booking a conversation with our disability justice lead Joanna. You can book a conversation here.