The Woodward Charitable Trust is a grant-making trust. The Trust primarily funds charitable organisations in the UK. If Woodward funds overseas projects it is usually via UK charities which can ensure that funds are being well used. Woodward favours charities which make good use of volunteers and encourage past and current users to participate. The grant-making continues to be primarily reactive but with some selected projects initiated by the trustees.

The Trust’s grant-making focuses on the following areas:

- Children and young people who are isolated, at risk of exclusion or involved in antisocial behaviour.
- Prisoners and ex-offenders. Projects that help the rehabilitation and resettlement of prisoners and/or ex-offenders are supported as well as requests to help prisoners’ families.
- Disadvantaged women, covering refuges, domestic violence and parenting.
- Disability projects, which can include rehabilitation and training for people who are either physically disabled or learning disabled.
- Arts outreach work by local groups involving disadvantaged people.
- Projects that promote integration and community cohesion amongst minority groups, including refugees and travellers.

As the Trust’s resources are modest, the trustees prefer to fund small to medium-sized charities with an income of less than £300,000 where small grants can have more impact. The majority of the grants made are for one-off projects although some grants fund salaries and running costs. The Trust receives many more applications than it has funds to support. Prospective applicants should be aware that less than 15% of the applications received are successful.