1 - What we will fund | Racing Foundation

Dates for the 2025 funding rounds can be found below.

1. WHAT WE WILL FUND

The Racing Foundation’s purpose is to work in partnership with the racing industry to help achieve a sustainable future for the sport. We aim to develop understanding and action around the key charitable issues facing racing and to assist the industry with developing a collaborative and strategic response.

Through our Open Grants Programme (including small grants of less than £30,000), we consider applications from organisations whose charitable activities are associated with the UK Thoroughbred horseracing and breeding industries for projects and activities that fit within the criteria of our current strategy. We can only do so where outcomes are deemed to be charitable by nature.

Our current strategy focuses on 3 key areas:

RACING'S PEOPLE
(Including social welfare and training & education)

EQUINE
WELFARE

ENVIRONMENTAL,
SOCIAL & GOVERNANCE

We will support work on the people agenda that directly supports the stated aims of the industry’s strategy and in the following areas:

The improvement in the health or the rehabilitation from injury of current or former members of the horseracing industry.
The prevention or relief of poverty among current or former members of the horseracing industry and their dependents.
Community development work in areas particularly connected with the horseracing industry (provided it is clear how such grants will benefit current or former members of the horseracing industry).
The promotion of education and training connected with the horseracing and Thoroughbred breeding industry and the provision of wider opportunities for staff to develop their learning and capability.
Development of the racing industry’s diversity and inclusion agenda.

We look to support work on the equine agenda that directly supports the stated aims of the industry’s strategy for the improvement of the welfare of current or former Thoroughbred racehorses. This includes safety, traceability, aftercare and equine science research.

We will continue to work with the Horse Welfare Board and Industry Programme Group on the review and delivery of the A Life Well Lived strategy and monitor plans regarding long-term accountability and sustainability. This will enable us to clarify our future funding commitments.

We will also continue to engage with industry stakeholders on the development and implementation of an Aftercare Strategy given its widened cross-industry remit.

We will continue to consider Equine Science Research Grants in collaboration with the Horserace Betting Levy Board and its Veterinary Advisory Committee, but more focus will be placed on those with potential practical benefits to racing; where findings will be disseminated to industry stakeholders and where impact can be measured and reported.

The application and assessment process is administered by the HBLB and all applications must be submitted through their system. You can find out more by clicking here.

We will support projects that align with the creation and implementation of the industry’s ESG strategies—environment, social impact, youth and community engagement, social licence and accountability—including the following:

Engaging with new and diverse audiences in all aspects of the racing industry.
Promoting diversity and inclusion.
Racing-related activities that provide positive impact to local communities within which the sport operates.
Focusing on environmental awareness and sustainability to increase understanding and cultivate an industry response.
Activities that bring people together to understand the issues and encourage the relevant parties to work together on a solution.
Supporting capability and capacity building—such as developing knowledge and thinking; producing transferable templates; and funding generic resources—rather than the implementation of an individual organisation’s sustainability action plans.

We will consider funding activities and projects that respond to emerging issues being faced by the racing and breeding industries.

We prefer to support projects that:

Will involve, or lead to, collaboration with other industry stakeholders
Are aligned with industry strategies (where available and appropriate)
Will help build understanding
Have the potential to achieve a substantial impact

We will also:

Support work on the development and strengthening of those charities and organisations working to deliver charitable activities across the industry
Fund research to better understand risks and issues faced by the industry
Support the development of organisations’ capacity and capability to better support the industry
Support the development of stronger organisational governance

We accept applications for:

Click the dropdowns to learn more.

This may include funding for overheads and staff salaries (applications for staffing costs primarily associated with fundraising will only be accepted for a limited grant period and on condition that applicants can demonstrate how the proposed role fits within their wider fundraising strategy).

The Racing Foundation is only able to consider research grant applications for projects with a direct link to the Thoroughbred horseracing industry; where findings and recommendations will be used to benefit the sport’s participants and used by relevant stakeholders to implement change.

All research projects are to be commissioned and managed by the relevant industry stakeholder and this stakeholder is to be the grant holder, rather than the academic institute/research lead. This means the academic institute will work directly with the stakeholder, rather than the Racing Foundation. This industry stakeholder is to sign the grant paperwork (including grant conditions surrounding how the research will be used and thought be given to how implementation of the findings might be funded). Applications should include an overview of the selection process used/to be used to identify a relevant research delivery partner. By funding a research project, we imply no commitment to funding further research or the implementation of findings and the grantholder should consider this as part of the grant application.

We will accept applications for core costs if they will have a positive long-term impact on the organisation or industry.

We will accept applications for items of equipment under our Small Grants Programme (up to £30,000) where welfare-related need and impact can be demonstrated, although we will not fund basic stable management equipment.

We will consider, on an individual basis, removing the 5-year funding cap where projects we are funding are deemed high priority for the industry; are performing well against their targets; are setting efficiency measures; have robust impact measurement and reporting processes in place; satisfy our ongoing assessment and monitoring criteria; are adhering to the specific grant conditions that have been set; and have the potential to further develop and deliver.

We will fund innovative or risky projects if it can be shown that the work has the potential to achieve a substantial impact.

We encourage applications for joint projects that involve organisations working in collaboration and for projects where efforts are being made to secure match-funding.

Other Considerations

We accept applications from charities – i.e. an institution established for exclusively charitable purposes. As well as charities registered with the Charity Commission, the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator or the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland, this may include unregistered charities with an annual income of less than £5,000 or charities regulated by another body including universities and higher education corporations, registered Industrial and Provident Societies and registered Friendly Societies.

We also accept applications from non-charitable organisations as long as proposed projects have a defined charitable purpose associated with the Thoroughbred horseracing and breeding industries.

We expect to make the majority of our grants to organisations with objects that are directly associated with the horseracing and Thoroughbred breeding industries. However, we may fund organisations that do not work exclusively within the industry when the work is of exceptional quality and can be shown to directly impact industry participants.

When assessing applications, we will consider the ability of an applicant to self-fund (including a consideration of its reserves position) or to fund from alternative sources.

Our Guidance Notes include an overview of what the Racing Foundation’s Trustees will focus on when allocating grant awards.

2. What we don't fund

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