Application Guidance

Our grant rounds for European Jewish Heritage and Jewish Communal Life open twice a year.

We have one Academic Jewish Studies round each year which opens in the Autumn.

You can find application deadline dates here.

The following grants are available at different times:

Professional Development (on a rolling basis throughout the year)

Academic Language Grants (available through WUJS)

Please check our important dates for further information.

For more information about applying for different grants at the same time please see ‘Simultaneous Applications’ below.

Organisations and institutions may make only ONE application for funding in each grant round.

If your organisation or institution currently holds a grant from the Foundation you cannot apply for a grant in this current round unless your existing grant ends by 31 August (for Spring applications) or 31 December (for Autumn applications).

Exceptions apply for Academic Jewish Studies so please contact your Grant Programme Manager before submitting an application to check your eligibility.

If you are a current grant holder and your Grant Programme Manger has given you permission to make an application, you will need to provide a brief Project Update on the current status of your existing grant alongside your application.

You are able to apply for the following even when holding or applying for another grant:

Professional Development

Academic Language Grants (available through WUJS)

If you have read the FAQs page and still aren’t sure about your eligibility, please contact the respective Grant Programme Manager.

Our Collections Management and Exhibition Support grants have a two-stage application process. The first-stage application must be submitted by the deadline listed on the category page.

If you are successful, you should expect notification via email within 3 weeks inviting you to submit a second-stage application. If you are unsuccessful, you will also be notified via email around the same time. An invitation to submit an application form does not guarantee funding.

Applications can only be submitted via our online application process. We do not accept applications by mail or email.

Please use the Apply Now button at the bottom of the grant category page to begin your application.

The first time you log in, you will need to create an account with an email and a password. Please keep a note of your login information as you will need it to access your application form on future visits.

Once you have set up your online account you will be taken directly to the application form.

When completing the application form, make sure to switch your web browser language settings to English if necessary.

We strongly recommend you read all of the questions before you fill in the application form.

Once you have started your application, continue editing by logging into your online account below. Do not click on the Apply Now button again as this creates duplicate application forms.

On the relevant category page you’ll find specific ‘Application Guidance’, a sample application form and step-by-step ‘Guidance to submitting an application online’.

• All questions are compulsory. If you cannot answer a question, please explain your reasons.
• Questions marked with a * [red asterisk] must be filled in or our system will not be able to accept your application.

Please note: If your application form is left inactive for more than 50 minutes your changes won’t be saved. In order to keep the form ‘active’ when completing your application, you must either click ‘Next’ or ‘Save and Finish Later’, which will take you to your account dashboard.

Referees must be independent of the project and anyone who may benefit financially, now or in the future, from the project would not be considered an impartial referee.

You should expect notification via email letting you know whether your application has been successful or unsuccessful.

For Spring application rounds you will receive a decision in late July. For Autumn application rounds you will receive a decision in early January.

If your application is approved, you will receive an official Grant Offer Letter together with an Award Agreement which you will need to e-sign and return with the necessary supporting documentation.

Please add the following emails to your contacts / safe senders list to ensure you receive all our communications regarding your application and grant notification: mailuk@grantapplication.com; mail@grantapplication.com; adobesign@adobesign.com 

A fundamental principle of the Rothschild Foundation Hanadiv Europe’s mission is to increase access to European Jewish heritage and culture.

Academic Jewish Studies: We encourage grantees to publish their Foundation-funded research in peer-reviewed journals with an open access option, and to make their articles freely accessible whenever possible. Should an article based on the research funded by this fellowship be accepted for publication, grantees may apply to the Foundation for funding to cover costs associated with open access publication, such as article processing charges.

European Jewish Heritage: Any Foundation-funded project must ensure the material catalogued, conserved, preserved, or digitised is freely accessible to the public.

Jewish Communal Life: Any Foundation-funded project should enable free access to educational resources resulting from the project. The Foundation expects a collegial and generous attitude towards sharing material with other professionals, organisations and communities.

If there is a reason why you cannot ensure open access, please be in touch with us before submitting your application.

Please make sure you are eligible to apply for our grants. We welcome applications from any organisation or institutions based in Europe, EU and non-EU states alike, except for Ukraine, Russia and Belarus. 

The organisation’s activities must be deemed charitable under UK charity law. This includes organisations which are either not-for-profit or publicly funded e.g., state or private libraries, archives, museums, research institutes, or universities.

For more information, please consult the UK’s Charity Commission website and its list of Charitable Purposes.  

Eligibility criteria vary for some grants so please check the relevant grant category pages for more information.

Your organisation must provide proof of its charitable status or status as a not-for-profit or publicly funded organisation. This may be a UK charity number where applicable, or a copy of the relevant portion of the organisation’s statutes, confirming its non-profit, charitable or public (government-funded) status.

If you are in the process of obtaining charitable status, please be aware that no payments will be made to your organisation until you have achieved this status. Additionally, if your organisation is awarded a grant but fails to secure charitable status within 3 months of having been notified of the award, the grant will be cancelled.

For most grant programmes we will fund up to 70% of the project budget and at least 30% of the cost of the project will need to come from other funding sources.

We favour proposals that include co-funding from other organisations as well as clear evidence of financial commitments from your own institution (eg. institutional reserves, money raised from ticket sales etc.) Of this 30%, up to half may be attributed to in-kind contributions or allocated costs (see below).

Applications requesting more than 70% of the total project budget will be rejected.

The level and duration of support varies according to each grant category so please check the relevant category page for specific information.

We support applications for project-related costs so please ensure your project budget fits our criteria.

We do not fund building projects. You may find it useful to visit our What we don’t fund page and, if relevant, read our statement on ‘Jewish Community Libraries’ before starting your application.

We support a wide variety of projects at different stages of development, including stand-alone initiatives and new aspects of an existing project. However, we do not fund retroactively. This means we will not consider a request for funding for an activity that has already happened or is scheduled to happen while the application for funding is being considered.

Eligible costs vary according to each grant category so please check the relevant category page for specific information.

In-kind contributions and allocated costs can make up a maximum of 15% of the total cost of your project. Please ensure you identify these on your Project Budget Form under Project Income and use the Budget Explanation section to provide further details eg. breakdown of salaries, volunteer time etc.

In-kind contributions include any materials, goods, services or facilities that you would otherwise have to pay for but that are being provided free of charge or at a reduced rate. This may include:

• volunteer time (i.e. how much would the time donated to the organisation cost if it had to be paid at an hourly rate in your country)
• new equipment that is donated to be used by the project
• dedicated space for the project that would otherwise have to be rented

Allocated costs include expenditure which must be paid for at some point by your organisation and do not qualify as in-kind contributions. This may include:

• services of an employee currently employed by your organisation for time spent on the project (e.g. staff costs, project management or supervision)
• additional time spent on the project by existing employees, beyond their current contracted hours, e.g. a part-time staff member who takes on additional responsibilities for the duration of the project
• supplies and material bought by your institutions which will be used on the project
• additional dedicated space for the project that will need to be rented

Translations: For documents not originally written in English please include an English translation. This does not need to be an official translation, but it must be clear and accurate. Documents in a language other than English that are not accompanied by an English translation will not be processed.

Financial summaries: If financial documents are very long, please provide a translation summarising the main income and expenditure included in your financial statements and organisational budget. This document should be no longer than 10 pages.

Please upload your translated/summarised document against the same upload title you use for the original document. This means you may have two documents saved under each upload title.

Please make sure you have submitted the required documents for your application (check the relevant Application Guidance). If they are not included, your application cannot be considered.

This may include: 

1. Budget table and budget explanation for the proposed project (Required)
2. Proof of Charitable Status (Required)
3. CVs of key staff members working on the project (required)
4. The most recently available audited accounts or financial statement  (Required)
5. Strategic Plan
6. Photographs
7. Project Update/Final Report
8. Other supporting documents

If your application is approved, you will need to submit further supporting documentation once you receive your Grant Letter and Agreement.

Rothschild Foundation Hanadiv Europe is committed to creating a safe and inclusive environment, where people are respected and valued. We expect those we work with and support to do the same. Organisations should actively prevent harm, harassment, bullying, abuse and neglect in the workplace and everyone in the organisation must play an active role in ensuring a duty of care to staff members, volunteers, participants and donors.

Specifically, we expect all grantees to:

• comply with all Safeguarding laws and regulations applicable in all countries in which they operate
• carry out and maintain all required safeguarding checks of their staff, volunteers and consultants
• ensure robust safeguarding policies are in place to cover activities involving children, young people or vulnerable adults
• notify the Foundation of any safeguarding concerns or any serious incidents reported to the authorities, whether or not they directly relate to a RFHE grant, in a timely manner.

You can find further information on safeguarding here:

• Reshet – safeguarding training and support across the Jewish community
• NCVO– safeguarding guidance for organisations

The Rothschild Foundation Hanadiv Europe (RFHE) is committed to the principles of data protection including the principle that information is only to be retained for as long as necessary for the purpose concerned. In addition to the information submitted in this form, to process this application RFHE may collect information about your project and organisation that you do not directly provide, whether it is information received from third parties, such as referees, employers and partners, or information RFHE collects about your organisation’s activities. The application might be shared with an expert committee and occasionally external referees. If your application is successful, RFHE will keep your personal identifiable information for a reasonable period as part of the process of managing the grant. If your application is not successful, RFHE will retain only your contact details and basic information about the project for future reference in case you approach us again.

For more information please read our privacy policy