Eligibility criteria

The Boshier Grant Scheme is open to charitable organisations of any size in the UK. Applicants must be registered with the Charity Commission and have a charity number and bank account. We will not accept applications from CICs.

We will only award grants to projects which specifically benefit the lives of autistic people in the UK. We will not consider applications where autistic people specifically are not the primary beneficiaries. We will also not consider applications from outside the UK.

Projects must align with one of the following priority areas and must have a direct benefit to autistic people:

Increase public understanding and acceptance of autism
Support increasing numbers of autistic people in influential positions within the media, government or via health and education.

Improve access to education for autistic children
Improve the quality of education for autistic children
Improve knowledge, understanding and skills of teachers who look after autistic children.

Increase employment opportunities for autistic people
Improve the workplace environment for autistic people
Offer vocational training opportunities for autistic people
Increase employment opportunities for autistic people from minority and marginalised backgrounds.

Reduce diagnosis waiting times
Provide advice and guidance around diagnosis
Pre- and post-diagnosis support for parents, carers and autistic people themselves.

Develop new financial models of providing support (supporting people who opt for self-directed support)
Improve environments in specialist settings.

Respite care and support for parents/carers, including day trips and outings
Community support groups
Support for families when carers are no longer able to provide care (for example, through the death of a carer).

Applicants must also be able to demonstrate that their project enables at least one of the following themes:

Values autistic individuals; it understands and appreciates what autism is and how it is unique for each individual
Maximises autistic power; autistic people are empowered to control how they live their lives and make distinctive contributions that influence the world
Guarantees support; it provides seamless diagnosis, support and care for autistic people from all backgrounds, at all moments of need throughout their lives
Adapts public spaces and services; it designs spaces and services that are autistic inclusive, with flexible adjustments that recognise that not all autistic people have the same preferences
Is free from discrimination; it rejects stereotypes and stigma, removes the expectation to mask, and doesn’t accept being told to fit in as acceptable

Projects which demonstrate more than one of these themes will be looked upon favourably.

In very limited cases, we may consider funding capital projects, but the application must clearly demonstrate how the capital works will directly improve the lives of autistic people and help towards creating a society that works for autistic people.

Your project must start before 31 March 2025, and you must be able to provide evidence of expenditure, outcomes and beneficiary numbers.

We don’t fund continuation funding for the same project, but we would consider funding an ongoing project on the condition our funding enables it to be opened up to a new demographic or other beneficial opportunities. We will not consider applications for multi-year funding and successful applications must be able to show clear consideration of the financial sustainability of the project and demonstrate how the project will last beyond the lifespan of this funding. The absence of any sustainability plan would mean we would be unlikely to fund the project.

We prefer to fund projects in full, however, we also accept that large-scale projects with large budgets can have enormous benefits to the community. If the contribution from The Boshier Grant Scheme is less than 100% of the total project cost, we expect to see clear evidence of the impact the funding from The Boshier Grant Scheme will have and evidence of match-funding so that the project can go ahead (this includes if unrestricted funds are being used).

We will not fund core costs (the running costs of your organisation, including admin costs, accountancy and audit costs, general office costs). However, we will consider all costs related to a project (including staff costs and overheads).

Eligibility criteria