Aviva Community Fund 2026: Communities Fund Guide

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What Changed in 2026: From Aviva Community Fund to Communities Fund

The 2026 relaunch halved the top award and the income limit. The Aviva Foundation's FAQ page says the Aviva Community Fund "has become the Communities Fund" and that the Foundation now runs two routes: the Communities Fund for organisations with incomes up to £1 million, and the Financial Futures Fund for larger charities with incomes of £1 million or more.

Here's what's different if you used the old fund, from the Foundation's FAQ and the fund's homepage (archived February 2026), set against the old eligibility page:

The Foundation says it made the change because it receives "far more applications than we can fund" and wants to spread support more widely. Community amateur sports clubs no longer appear on the eligible list, so a sports club that used the old fund should check its structure before reapplying.

One warning: an older eligibility page on the fund platform, archived in May 2026, still showed the pre-2026 figures of £50,000 and £2 million. The January 2026 guidelines and the terms dated January 12, 2026 are newer. Go by those.

Where does the money come from? According to the Aviva Foundation's about page, it's funded mainly from unclaimed assets on Aviva's shareholder register (shares and dividends whose owners can't be found), plus contributions from the business. It operates as a donor advised fund administered by Charities Trust. According to the Charity Commission register, Charities Trust is registered charity 327489 (opens in a new tab), so that's the body the Foundation's money legally sits with.

How the Match Funding Actually Works

The Communities Fund isn't a grant you apply for and then receive. It's a crowdfunding campaign where Aviva tops up what your supporters give, and the rules in the terms (last updated January 12, 2026) decide how much you'll really get.

1. You apply on the fund platform. Crowdfunder UK reviews the application against the published criteria. The guidelines say you'll typically hear back within 5 working days.
2. You go live within six weeks. Once Crowdfunder emails to say you're accepted, the terms give you six weeks to make your project page live.
3. You fundraise for six weeks. The fundraising period is six weeks from launch. Match funding applies only during that window. Your page can stay up afterwards, but later donations aren't matched.
4. Each backer's first pledge is matched up to £250. A £50 pledge earns £50; a £500 pledge earns £250. A second pledge from the same backer isn't matched, and neither are pledges from Aviva or Aviva-funded employee donations.
5. You choose All or Nothing or Flexible Funding. With All or Nothing, you get nothing unless you hit your initial target, and pledges (including Aviva's) are refunded. With Flexible Funding you keep what you raise. The maximum initial target is £50,000, and you can set a stretch target once you've hit it.
6. Fees come off public pledges. The terms say there's no charge to submit and no fee on Aviva's match, but Crowdfunder deducts its fees, plus VAT on those fees, from pledges when you withdraw them.

What it takes to max out. Because each backer's match stops at £250, reaching the £25,000 cap needs at least 100 backers giving £250 or more, or many more giving less. At an average first gift of £25, you'd need 1,000 backers in six weeks. Most small charities won't get near the cap, and that's fine: plan your target around the supporters you can realistically reach.

A second strand you can't apply for. The guidelines say Aviva employees direct a further £0.5 million a year through vouchers they can give to causes on the platform. Those donations aren't matched. The terms also say your campaign mustn't target Aviva staff on social media or turn up at Aviva premises unless you have a genuine existing relationship with that person. Pestering Aviva employees is a red flag that can get a project removed.

Who Can Apply in 2026

According to the January 2026 guidelines, your organisation must meet all of these:

• Structure: registered as a charity, CIO, CIC or company limited by guarantee. Unincorporated groups and trusts aren't on the list; our community grants UK guide covers funders that do take constituted groups without a legal structure.
• Income: no more than £1 million a year. The guidelines and the fund's checklist say this can be averaged over the last two years; the terms say the previous financial year or an average over the previous three. If you're close to the line, ask Crowdfunder which test it applies to you.
• Track record: operating for at least 12 months, with financial information published online.
• Governance: an active board of trustees, directors or management body.
• Location: UK-registered, with a UK bank account in the organisation's name, and the project delivering impact in the UK.
• Safeguarding: a policy in place if you work with children or vulnerable people.
• Faith groups: welcome, but outcomes must be open to everyone regardless of belief.

The person applying must be 18 or over, live in the UK and have authority from the organisation. They'll need to upload photo ID and the organisation's bank details.

Published accounts matter more than you'd think. Registered charities in England and Wales can check what the public sees through the Charity Commission's charity search (opens in a new tab). Scottish charities show up on the OSCR register (opens in a new tab). According to Companies House, CICs and companies limited by guarantee must file annual accounts, and you can see what's on yours through get information about a company (opens in a new tab); and CICs also file a community interest report with the Regulator of Community Interest Companies (opens in a new tab). If your latest accounts are overdue or missing, fix that before you apply.

The Living Wage question. The fund's eligibility checklist asks whether employers are Living Wage employers. The January 2026 guidelines are softer: they say the Foundation encourages the Real Living Wage, especially for new roles, but will still consider applications that can't meet it.

What the Fund Will Pay For

The fund backs two themes only. The guidelines give these examples:

Core costs or a project. If your core mission is financial wellbeing or climate action, you can raise money for core running costs. If it isn't, you can still apply for a specific project that clearly fits one of the themes and connects to your wider work.

Exclusions. Projects that benefit a single individual or are only open to people of one faith aren't eligible. The older platform FAQ also excluded fundraising for cash grants or vouchers, but the January 2026 terms allow a registered charity to use the money for beneficiary grants or vouchers if its governing documents permit it and it can show the controls it uses. If that's your plan, say so in the application.

Grantsights Analysis of the Fund's Published Figures

Aviva doesn't publish a list of every organisation it has matched. According to 360Giving's data registry, checked October 30, 2026, neither Aviva nor the Aviva Foundation publishes grants in the 360Giving standard. So Grantsights compared the figures Aviva has published itself, and then read a sample of public project pages to see what a typical 2026 campaign raises.

Application outcomes and budget:

The 2025 numbers come from the old fund's last year, before the new £1 million income limit and £25,000 cap applied, so 2026 odds could differ. The post doesn't say what happened to the other 79 applications; withdrawn or incomplete applications are a likely explanation, but Aviva doesn't say.

What 2026 campaigns raised. Grantsights read every Communities Fund project page from 2026 that the Internet Archive had captured with a visible match total. That's only 7 pages, so treat it as a snapshot, not a representative sample:

The middle campaign in this sample showed £2,430 raised, £1,215 of match and 24 backers. The largest match was £2,848, about a ninth of the £25,000 cap. In every case the match was between 41% and 50% of the total on the page, which fits a model where most backers give less than £250 and nearly every first gift is doubled. Four of the 7 were climate projects (a wildlife hospital, a community garden, a preschool forest school and a river restoration run), and 3 were financial wellbeing projects (money advice, work skills for disabled adults, and a token scheme that helps people sleeping rough).

A case in point: a community garden in Newcastle upon Tyne (Scotswood Garden) hit its goal on April 27, 2026 with 29 backers, and its page showed £1,870 of Communities Fund match within a £4,555 total.

What this means for your plan. If your realistic network is 20 to 50 people, expect a campaign in the low thousands of pounds, with Aviva adding roughly as much again. That's useful money for a small group. It's not a substitute for a £20,000 grant like those in our grants for small charities guide.

What the Aviva Foundation Doesn't Tell You

The guidelines are clear on rules but quieter on the things that decide whether a campaign is worth running.

Roughly 1 in 3 applications got through in 2025. The Foundation's own figures give 412 accepted out of 1,304. That's an approval to fundraise, not money in the bank. You still have to bring the backers.

The fund can close mid-year. The guidelines and terms say that once the annual cap is reached, applications close for the rest of the calendar year. Grantsights couldn't confirm on October 30, 2026 whether the 2026 cap had been reached, because the fund websites refused automated reads that day. If you're planning a campaign for November or December, check the fund homepage first; if it's closed, January is the realistic restart.

All or Nothing is a real risk. If you pick All or Nothing and miss your target, every pledge and Aviva's match are refunded. Set a target you're confident of, then use the stretch target. Flexible Funding is the safer choice for a first campaign.

The match window is short. Six weeks from launch, and you must launch within six weeks of acceptance. Groups that apply first and plan later often underestimate how much of the six weeks they lose to getting a video and emails ready.

Fees aren't zero. Aviva's match carries no fee, but Crowdfunder takes its fees, plus VAT on them, from public pledges. Read Crowdfunder's current fee schedule before you set your target.

There's an eligibility mismatch on income. The guidelines say a two-year average; the terms say last year or a three-year average. Organisations near £1 million should get Crowdfunder's answer in writing.

Why Applications Fail

The Foundation published its top three reasons for the 813 declines in 2025:

1. No clear fit with financial wellbeing or climate action. Many declined projects described good community work that wasn't about either theme. A general youth club or arts project needs a specific, believable link, such as a cookery-on-a-budget course or a tree-planting day, or it shouldn't apply.
2. No published accounts online. The fund checks your public record. A missing or overdue filing is enough to stop an application.
3. Incorporated for less than 12 months. The clock runs from legal incorporation, not from when the group started meeting. A group that became a CIO last spring will have to wait.

Other common mistakes from the rules: applying as an unincorporated group or a trust; forgetting a safeguarding policy when you work with children; and choosing All or Nothing with a target your supporters can't reach.

When to Use Something Else

The Communities Fund suits small, well-organised groups with an active supporter base and a project in one of the two themes. Others will do better elsewhere:

• No supporter list to crowdfund from: a straight grant is a better fit. National Lottery Awards for All offers £300 to £20,000 without crowdfunding.
• A small charity looking more widely: our guide to grants for small charities covers trusts that fund core costs.
• A community group that isn't a charity: the community grants UK guide covers councils and community foundations, many of which fund unincorporated groups the Communities Fund can't.
• Larger charities: income over £1 million rules you out here. The Aviva Foundation's Financial Futures Fund is the route it points to, and our charity grants UK overview lists other options.
• Lottery money with a local angle: see People's Postcode Lottery grants.

If you do apply, the best bet is a short, specific campaign: a target you can hit, a supporter list you've already contacted, and a clear sentence saying how the project helps people's finances or the local climate.

Sources Checked

Read on October 30, 2026 unless an archive date is given:

• Aviva Foundation, Communities Fund funding guidelines, January 2026 (PDF) (opens in a new tab), read live
• Aviva Foundation, Communities Fund page (opens in a new tab), checked live October 30, 2026
• Aviva Foundation, frequently asked questions (opens in a new tab), checked live October 30, 2026
• Aviva Foundation, why we decline applications to the Communities Fund (opens in a new tab), checked live October 30, 2026
• Aviva Foundation, our impact (opens in a new tab), Internet Archive copy of February 10, 2026, and about us (opens in a new tab), copy of February 2, 2026
• Communities Fund platform, homepage (opens in a new tab) (archived February 19, 2026), how to apply (opens in a new tab) (archived March 27, 2026), terms and conditions (opens in a new tab) (archived January 15, 2026, last updated January 12, 2026) and about page (opens in a new tab) (archived May 6, 2026)
• Communities Fund project pages for the 7 campaigns in the table, Internet Archive copies of March 26 to May 10, 2026
• Charity Commission, register entry for Charities Trust (327489) (opens in a new tab)
• GOV.UK, find charity information (opens in a new tab), get information about a company (opens in a new tab) and Office of the Regulator of Community Interest Companies (opens in a new tab)
• OSCR, search the Scottish Charity Register (opens in a new tab)
• 360Giving, data registry (opens in a new tab) (no Aviva publisher listed)