The Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales and the Big Lottery Fund have launched a £400,000 funding pilot to give small charities more financial support for their work in local communities.

The foundation identified 22 charities it had recently funded and which the grant-maker believed were in need of additional funding in areas the BLF would fund.

Those charities have been offered a share of an additional funding pot worth almost £400,000 from the BLF without having to go through another time-consuming grant application or monitoring process, the grant-makers said.

In a statement, the two grant-makers said they hoped to help strengthen small charities that are struggling in today’s economic environment and support them to reach more people in need in their local communities.

They said that, after this initial pilot, they would be considering further options for joint working to continue growing support for and investing in small and local charities.

Paul Streets, chief executive of Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales, said small charities played a critical but often unseen role in local communities.

But he added: “Small charities are facing unprecedented pressures from funding cuts and, with growing demand for their services, many are struggling to stay afloat.

“As funders, we have a collective duty to believe in those charities that are making a difference on the ground by reducing administrative burdens and doing whatever we can to see these charities better supported.”

He said he hoped the partnership could demonstrate to other funders, government and larger charities that, by working together, large organisations could help to secure the knowledge, expertise and essential public services that small charities offered to communities.

Dawn Austwick, chief executive of the BLF, said: “By sharing resources, we hope to make the funding process easier for small local charities, which play such a vital role in civic life.”