Winning Grants from Trusts and Foundations

Trusts and foundations make over £4 billion worth of grants annually and are an important source of income for charities and social enterprises. But demand and competition for funding is higher than ever, especially as the sector rebuilds following the pandemic.

This course will equip you with the tools you need to secure more funding from trusts and foundations, showing you how to identify valuable funder prospects, develop a more compelling case for support, write more impactful applications and build strong long-term relationships with funders.

The course is for people who have some bid writing experience already but who would like to:

• - Take a step back and consider how to develop a more strategic approach
• - Understand what funders are thinking and prioritising in a post-Covid landscape
• - Fine-tune their applications to stand out from the crowd in a world where funders receive urgent, compelling applications every day

Collectively we have over 20 years’ experience of trusts fundraising, and we’ve been writing successful bids throughout the pandemic. Drawing on our expertise and insights from working with organisations of all shapes and sizes, we’ll walk you through our five-stage process for succeeding with trusts and foundations.

Timetable

This course is delivered online. It consists of two online sessions on consecutive days, with time for questions throughout. We’ll be setting you some exercises to work on independently between the two sessions. To get the most from the course, we recommend that you set aside some time for these before the second day.

21st and 22nd May / 24th and 25th September

Day One (10:00-12:15 including a break)

• The state of grant funding after the pandemic – how have funders been affected, and what are they prioritising?
• Stage 1: Mapping out and prioritising your funding needs
• Stage 2: Building a pipeline of potential funders
• Stage 3: Developing your central case for support
• Introducing some exercises to work on before the second day

Day Two (10:00-12:45 including a break)

• Stage 4: Bid writing: standing out from the crowd and making the most of your limited time
• Stage 5: Grant reporting, record-keeping and relationship-building with funders
• Insights from the other side of the desk: what funders say, what they really mean and what to do about it

Location

This workshop takes place live online via Zoom. Joining details will be emailed to you in the run up to the workshop.

Course facilitators

- Mike Zywina has 15 years’ experience in the sector as a fundraiser, consultant, senior manager and trustee. He runs strategic planning workshops and training courses for charities and social enterprises, and designs major funding bids, with a particular track record in securing Lottery funding. As a strategy specialist, Mike brings together groups of people to make better strategic decisions, prioritise the right opportunities and develop a more sustainable funding base, by asking the right questions to bring structure to their planning and draw out the best aspects of their work.

- Ally Rea is a marketing and fundraising professional with over 15 years’ experience for charities large and small. She has broad experience in bid writing, communications, strategic and operational roles across the arts, heritage, disability, health and media sectors. Ally has also spent time sitting on the other side of the desk assessing funding applications for Arts Council England, and brings this insight into her trusts fundraising work and training.

Price

For this one day workshop  plus all course materials you pay:

Organisational turnover less than £50,000 or individuals unattached to an organisation - £89

Organisational turnover £50,000 – £99,999 - £129

Organisational turnover £100,000 – £499,999 - £169

Organisational turnover £500,000 – £1m - £189

Organisational turnover £1m + - £199