Bates Wells Foundation

The Bates Wells Foundation, established in 2015 as an independent UK-registered charitable incorporated organisation by the law firm Bates Wells, honours the legacy of charity lawyer Stephen Lloyd by funding and championing innovative projects driving sustainable social change. Rooted in values of innovation, equity, collaboration, and public benefit, it identifies trailblazing UK initiatives through the Stephen Lloyd Awards, providing not just grants but expert mentoring, capacity-building, and networking to scale impact. Its focus is on creative, systemic solutions addressing root causes in areas like education, health, community cohesion, social justice, and support for vulnerable groups, with past grantees including Fat Macy's (homeless youth employment), Open Age (active ageing), and Blue Light Champions (emergency services mental health).

It prioritises UK-registered charities, social enterprises, and community groups—especially small, early-stage, or grassroots organisations and startups—with a preference for those under established income thresholds, operating UK-wide without regional or beneficiary restrictions. No religious limits apply, but it favours emerging ideas over mature projects from larger charities.

Grants range from £2,500 (development support for finalists) to £25,000 (core project funding for winners), occasionally higher in exceptional cases, covering seed funding, project costs, and capacity-building. Unsolicited applications are accepted annually via online form during advertised windows (e.g., March-May 2025 for the latest round), involving two-stage assessment, interviews for ~20 shortlisted, a development phase, and a live judging event in October. Unlike standard funders, it uniquely blends financial aid with strategic expertise to back high-risk, high-reward innovators, excluding non-UK entities, applications outside windows, and non-scalable or symptomatic interventions.