Newcastle Hospitals Charity funding guidance

Welcome! The purpose of this document is to provide guidance and support to those approaching the charity with an idea or project for charity funding. This guidance is updated annually.

The Charity team understand that anyone seeking charity funds is going above and beyond to try and make something good happen for the benefit of patients, visitors or staff. We try to make sure that this understanding underpins everything that the team does, and all of our interactions with the staff who have ideas and projects in mind.

Please note that the charity honours supporters wishes and regularly places donations into named funds which are ringfenced in designated funds to support different areas of specialism within the hospitals.

We can only consider funding ideas and projects if we have donations for purposes which match the project being proposed.  

Please do not submit your idea or proposal without first contacting our funding and partnerships team on [email protected] or 0191 213 7235.  

We will advise whether it is worth submitting a full proposal based on the donations we currently have, this may save you the effort of submitting a full proposal which the charity is not currently in a position to fund. 

Six key points when submitting a project for charity funding

1. If you have an idea and want to explore whether the charity can support it – contact our funding and partnerships team in advance so that we can advise at the earliest stage – [email protected] or 0191 213 7235.
2. Please speak to your clinical board about your proposal – if they don’t support what you are trying to do, the charity won’t be able to either.
3. Projects seeking to purchase equipment, building works, or refurbishment with a value of over £5,000 cannot be supported unless they are also approved by the Capital Management Group (see the guidance for further details).
4. It can take up to 28 days for a decision for projects that need £5,000 or less, or up to three months for projects seeking over £5,000 – please factor this in to your planning and respond as quickly as able to requests for further information to avoid delays.
5. All projects funded by the charity will need to be delivered via the standard trust procedures so it is worth discussing your proposal with departments such as estates, procurement, digital and technical, or other trust colleagues where relevant.
6. The charity can only fund a project if it has a suitable fund available which was donated for purposes which match your idea.

This page was last updated on 11 April 2025