In order to apply for most grants you will need (as a minimum), a constitution or set of rules, a bank-account in the name of your group that has at least two signatories. 

Before you start 

Make sure you have the answers to the following questions: 

• How much money do we need to raise? 

• Is this money for ongoing costs, project costs, or capital costs? 

• What exactly do we plan to spend it on? 

• Who will benefit from the activities we spend it on? 

• Where do these people live and what issues do they live with? 

• How will they benefit – what positive changes will we make? 

• When do we need to receive the money by? 

• How long will we need the money for? 

Where to look for funders 

• Do an online search for ‘charity grants’ plus a keyword or phrase that is relevant to your cause, e.g. ‘older people’ (add ‘UK’ to avoid getting lots of results from the US that you won’t be eligible for)’ 

• Ask around – what funders have other groups applied to recently? 

• If you know of any registered charities that do the same sort of work as you and have medium/large incomes, find them on the Charity Commission website and look at their accounts where you’ll find a list of the funders that have supported them. 

• Become a member of Voscur and receive our regular ebulletin which includes current grant opportunities. As a member you’ll also be able to access our Grants Online Local hub where you can search for local and national funders. 

Read the grant criteria 

Every funder will have some information available for you to use to check whether or not you will be able to apply. Read it all, then read it again – good research is the key to good grant applications! Making 2 or 3 really good applications to funders who meet your needs is the way to waste as little time as possible and get the best results. 

Disclaimer

We make every effort to ensure that our information is correct at the time of publication. 

This is only intended as a brief summary of relevant issues and information. Legal advice should be sought where appropriate. The inclusion of other organisations in this information does not imply any endorsement of independent bodies, they are just for signposting purposes.

Voscur is unable to accept liability for any loss or damage or inconvenience arising as a consequence of the use of this information.