Supporting people aged over 65 to be independent, healthy and socially included

About The Pargiter Trust Fund

The Pargiter Trust Fund aims to benefit disadvantaged people over 65 years of age, supporting them to be independent, healthy and socially included.

What will the fund support

The Pargiter Trust Fund will support projects meeting one or more of the following themes:

• Improving health and wellbeing – reducing isolation, providing hot meals and refreshments and helping older people to stay active through sports, arts, recreation, socials clubs and volunteering.
• Improving access to facilities, advice and training – supporting projects providing respite for carers, supporting Good Neighbourhood and befriending schemes and improving access to information and IT for older people, particularly where this involves intergenerational work.
• Overcoming problems – helping older people who are experiencing difficult circumstances due to an illness, injury, disability, bereavement or financial difficulty.

Pargiter acknowledges the additional challenges faced by organisations due to cost of living issues and the effects on the older population. Applications that help organisations adapt their service delivery and operating models to better meet these needs are welcomed.

The Fund would like to be active in areas of greatest need in Tyne & Wear and Northumberland, including a focus on people with protected characteristics where possible.

If successful , as part of monitoring, we would like to know about what did and what did not go well, any lessons learned and what will happen next. We would also like to hear feedback from your beneficiaries about the activities they took part in and we would like to see photographs and testimonials.

How much funding is available

Grants of £5,000 to £10,000 are available , although smaller requests will be considered if they demonstrate strong impact against the fund criteria.

What will not be funded

In addition to the Community Foundation’s standard exclusions, the fund will not support:

• Activities which do not primarily benefit those aged over 65
• The purchase of motor vehicles

Decision making

The Community Foundation’s recommendations are considered by the Pargiter Trust Fund Trustees and we expect to notify successful applicants in late November 2026.

To make an application, please click here 

Previous grantees may reapply and further grants will be subject to receipt of satisfactory monitoring for live grants.