What to include in your application
Please read this section carefully so you know exactly what we need to know about your organisation. This means that we will be able to review your application promptly and let you know if you are successful. If we have to ask lots of questions because information is missing, it will slow your application down, something that we all want to avoid!
Executive summary
Your work
Your people
Your impact
Your finances
Your request
Executive summary
In one or two paragraphs, please summarise:
What your organisation does
The need it is addressing
Where you work
The number of your organisation’s beneficiaries i.e. the people you work with
The difference it makes
That you are asking us for
Your work
You don’t have to use these specific headings, but please ensure you cover the following points:
Need
What need is your organisation addressing? Why is it important?
How does your work address this need: what do you do, what services do you deliver?
Impact and achievements
What is your organisation’s impact, what difference do you make?
Who benefits from your work and how?
Approximately how many people do you work with (your beneficiaries)?
How do you measure success?
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
What is your organisation’s approach to EDI?
How is this relevant to your work? This may be in relation to your location and/or beneficiaries.
How does this inform your work? For example you may have special projects to reach underrepresented groups.
Partnerships
We appreciate that partnerships can lead to improved services and make things more efficient. If you collaborate or partner with other organisations, please tell us about it.
Case studies
Case studies and images can help bring your application to life and illustrate the impact of your organisation’s work. Please feel free to include them, especially if your work has an emotional impact and brings joy to people. When you submit your application online, you can provide a link if you’d like us to see a YouTube or Vimeo clip that shows your organisation’s work and yes, we really do watch them! We just ask that you don’t embed a link within your written proposal.
Your people
The voluntary sector is full of highly experienced, passionate and competent people. We support organisations with talented people and inspirational leaders who are committed to making a difference. Please include a paragraph about your senior teams’ experience and the skills that your Trustees bring to your organisation.
Your finances
This part of your application is extremely important. We need to understand:
That you have a robust plan to fund your work
Where your funding comes from
Whether you are reliant on particular funding sources
If your local community supports your work (where relevant)
Organisations with a variety of funding sources tend to have a better chance of being financially sustainable. If there is a reason why your current funding comes from a small number of sources, please tell us why and what you are planning to do to change this going forward.
Projected income and expenditure
Whatever type of grant you are applying for, we need to see your organisation’s projected income and expenditure for your coming year. This can be your financial or calendar year, whichever you use for your planning purposes. If you are applying for a multi-year grant, we need to see your projected income and expenditure for each year your application refers to. We suggest that you provide two tables – one for your projected income and one for your projected expenditure.
Projected expenditure
Please provide a breakdown of how much your organisation plans to spend for the year/s relating to your application. You may want to use the same headings that appear in your annual accounts. These may be:
Salaries
Training
Programme costs
Office costs
Repairs and maintenance
Rent/utilities
Legal and professional fees
Governance
For example, your table may look something like this:
If you are applying for a specific activity, we also need to know the projected income and expenditure for your project.
Projected income
We need to see where your organisation’s income is likely to come from in the year/s relating to your application. Please provide a breakdown of confirmed and target income for each of your funding sources. This should make it clear how much funding has been secured already and what your shortfall is.
For example, you table may look like this:
Please make sure your tables have totals that add up! You’d be surprised how many organisations forget and it can delay your funding decision.
Income plan
In simple terms, tell us what your organisation is doing to funds its work. This should include the various funding sources you have included in your projected income table. For example, please tell us:
Which other trusts and foundations you are applying to
How you raise funds from the local community (where relevant)
How you plan to generate earned income (where relevant)
Whether you are planning to use any of your financial reserves
Whether you receive any contract income for delivering your services
Plan B
We understand that fundraising is hard, particularly in the current financial climate. We want to understand what will happen if you can’t generate all the money you need and what risk this poses to your organisation.
Will your work be able to go ahead but on a reduced level?
Are you able to phase work?
Will you need to cancel and re-think?
Your application will be stronger if we can see that your organisation has thought about its options, even if plan A is preferable!
Your accounts
All registered, exempt and excepted charities are required to produce financial accounts each year. To be eligible to apply, you will need to supply us with the latest financial accounts that you are required to provide to your Charity Commission. A quick reference guide is:
Charities with an income under £25,000 have to submit an annual return to the Charity Commission, that reports their income and expenditure for their last financial year.
All registered charities with an annual income over £25,000 must produce an annual report and accounts each year and must also arrange for an independent person or accountancy firm to carry out either an audit or an independent examination of their charity’s accounts. These rules also apply to excepted charities.
Therefore, you will need to submit either of the following:
Your annual accounts, audited or examined independently
A copy of your Charity Commission annual return
Please tell us if there is anything unusual in your accounts or return that needs explaining. For example, you may have received a one-off legacy gift or had an unexpected one-off expense, or your reserves have been built up for a specific reason.
Your request
We know that trying to ‘size’ your request can be challenging. Grants are typically between £30,000 - £50,000. Please be clear about what your organisation’s financial need is and what its shortfall is. Our Trustees are experienced grantmakers. They will use their judgement to decide if they are able to fund your organisation and what size grant may be appropriate. Please note that the Foundation is unlikely to fund the total costs of a project.
Please indicate:
What you are asking for funding for
Over what time period? Please note that we are only issuing single year grants in this funding round.
What will you deliver with the funding?
Who are you hoping to support?
How many people will you reach?
Please set out the impact and the difference it will make. Let us know how you intend to monitor your work.