School for Social Entrepreneurs - Winning Grants from Trusts and Foundations Day 1

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.

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.

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

Book here