The Fore has selected 12 grassroots charities and social enterprises for its Spring 2026 cohort, extending grant funding and strategic support to organisations working across bereavement support, digital inclusion, mental health, regeneration, science education, and food access.
Each organisation will receive up to £45,000 in unrestricted funding, alongside a wraparound support package. The venture philanthropy fund said the final group emerged from a due diligence process that ended in “Dragons Den Style” panels featuring charity sector leaders and professionals from asset management and private banking, including C. Hoare & Co. and Kester Capital.
The latest cohort includes Alfie’s Squad, Power 2 Connect, Brighton Therapy Centre, Happy Healthy You, WilderMe CIC, Petallica Flower Farm CIC, Exeter Science Centre, Southwold & Waveney Regeneration Trust, Bassetlaw Food Bank, Balanced Horizon, Youth Mental Health Foundation, and Highlands Psychoanalytic Collective.
Several of the selected organisations are already using established local models to address growing demand. Alfie’s Squad, founded by a mother after her eight-year-old son lost his father to suicide, provides peer support for bereaved children and is looking to expand beyond local delivery. Power 2 Connect works through libraries and GP surgeries to tackle digital exclusion in London through device distribution, digital training, and crisis support. Brighton Therapy Centre, which delivered more than 3,000 free and low-cost therapy sessions in 2025, said the funding will support a new site and lift access to subsidised therapy by more than 220%.
Mary Rose Gunn, CEO of The Fore, said: “Small charities are closest to the problems facing our society, but too often their innovative ideas and solutions struggle to get out of the grassroots because 92% of funding goes to the largest 8% of charities. This is a missed opportunity for creating the change our society needs.”
She added: “At The Fore, our mission is to change that. We help exceptional small charities and social enterprises build long-term resilience through investment-style grant funding so they can scale their impact and influence nationally.”
By concentrating on unrestricted support rather than tightly ringfenced project funding, The Fore is backing organisations that are often strongest in delivery but more constrained in capacity. For the successful applicants, the grants are intended to give leadership teams more room to strengthen operations, test expansion, and build resilience while staying close to the communities they already serve.
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