Information Sheet Summary From time to time Volunteering England’s Information Service receives enquiries about funding for individuals, small voluntary and community groups and larger organisations. This Information Sheet has been compiled to help provide more information about Trust fundraising, which we hope you will find useful. It covers the following topics: • What are Trusts?
• Different types of Trust
• Making your application successful |
What are Trusts?
UK Trusts and Foundations are independent grant-making bodies whose income is derived from investments or through some form of continued fundraising. Grant-making Trusts give away around £2 billion each year to charitable causes, and so are an important target for many fundraisers. Trusts and Foundations tend to fund pieces of work that wouldn’t receive government funding, for instance new ways of tackling problems and one off purchases and projects. Trust fundraising is also a very cost effective form of fundraising for all charities.
When identifying which Trust to approach it is important to understand how they work. The majority make grants to charitable purposes, but there are some non-charitable Trusts who will support both charitable and non-charitable causes, such as the Barrow Cadbury Trust and Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust. If your group does not have charitable status then you will need to explain how and why the work to be funded is for a charitable purpose. If possible, name a charity that will take responsibility for any grant you receive on your behalf and include written confirmation of this in your application.
Different types of Trust
There are six different types of Trust:
Community
This raises capital and income from the local community for the local community. The income can therefore come from many different sources. These are newer forms of Trusts, and they are a good source of money for any local project.
Private
These are set up by an individual family who only give to causes that the family are interested in. The family may play a leading role in the affairs of the Trust as trustees.
Livery
These are set up and administered by livery companies. Funds are accumulated from legacies and the philanthropy of their members. Such Trusts often give money to activities connected with the company, such as The Saddlers Company Charitable Fund and Goldsmiths.
Family
These are Trusts that are part of a group and operate in collaboration or occasionally as part of a group, such as the Sainsbury Family Trust.
Independent
These have no particular links and therefore the particular interests of the trustees may play an important role in deciding where the money is distributed.
Company
These are Trusts that are linked to a company. Their giving can be either independent of the company’s interests, as in the case of The Rank Foundation, or the giving can be linked to the company’s interests and also support the local community, such as Abbey Charitable Trust.
Making your application successful
These are some simple guidelines to follow which will help in your application being successful.
Do your research:
Find out as much as you can about each Trust, because they vary enormously. It is important to spend time researching which ones are worth approaching and which aspect of your work they are likely to support.
General PR:
You are more likely to get support from Trusts that have supported you in the past. Also, those that have turned you down in the past may support you in the future, especially as you have already identified them as being potentially interested in your area of work. It’s a good idea to make people aware of the work that you do, particularly if they haven’t heard of your group and its work before. You could do this by sending out your annual report and other publications well before you intend to apply for money. You could also include press cuttings of the work that you have been doing in with your application.
Making contact:
A phone call to the Trust to establish contact prior to your application may help you to assess your likely success. You can also establish the best time of year to apply and it may give you a clearer picture of the sort of work they are likely to support. They will also tell you about any deadlines you need to be aware of and whether you need to apply via an application form.
The application:
It goes without saying that this needs to be prepared carefully. A written application is the best medium, and with this you should also include your most recent annual accounts (if you have them) and some description of the work that your group does. Make sure that your application is tailored to the Trust that you are applying to, as most circular applications are rejected on sight. Make sure the application is well presented and of the right length. A couple of sides of A4 paper for an application for £500 would be about right, but if you are asking for £10,000 you will need to go into more depth to justify this amount.
Structure:
Applications should follow this basic format:
Title – This needs to get the funder’s attention, so make it catchy.
Summary – This is the part that will interest the Trust and needs to summarise the charity, scope of the project and the cost. It shouldn’t be any longer than a paragraph.
Introduction – Here you should emphasise how your project fits into the interests of the Trust.
Statement of need – in this section you must be able to articulate why your organisation needs the money and what particular issues it will tackle with the donation. Case studies and examples are essential here and try to avoid using statistics.
Project objectives – You need to state what your project aims to achieve with the money.
Method – This section should explain how the project will work. For instance, is it a new project, what staff will be involved and is there anyone else working on tackling the same issues?
Budget – Here you need to provide information about how much you are asking for and what it will be spent on. Use this section to explain who else is supporting your organisation. Asking for an appropriate amount is important and a common mistake that many people make in their applications. Some Trusts make larger grants to larger national charities and smaller grants to smaller, more local projects. It’s best to ask for a specific sum of money and say you are seeking a contribution of £x towards a total budget of £y. You should also state where you will raise the remainder of the money from. It’s often a good idea to telephone to see whether the application has arrived and to ask if they need any further information.
Servicing - Remember to say thank you if your application has been successful. Also, keeping in regular contact will help you in building up a relationship with them, which could lead to further support. Remember to mention them in any press releases or publications that are relevant to the work they are supporting. You may like to invite one of the trustees of the Trust to visit one of your projects so they can see the donation in action.
Further information
Directory of Social Change
24 Stephenson Way
London
NW1 2DP
Tel: 020 7391 4800
Fax: 020 7391 4808
Email: enquiries@dsc.org.uk
Website: www.dsc.org.uk
“The Directory of Grant Making Trusts 2007/08”, 20th edition. A. French, S. Johnston, D. Lillya, J. Smyth and T. Traynor. Directory of Social Change. 2007. Published in association with CAF. £99.
“A Guide to the Major Trusts 2007/08 - Volume 1”, 11th edition. T. Traynor and D. Lillya. Directory of Social Change. 2007. £39.95
“A Guide to the Major Trusts 2007/08 – Volume 2”, 8th edition. A. French, S. Johnston & J. Smyth. Directory of Social Change. 2007. £39.95
Trustfunding: http://www.trustfunding.org.uk/
This resource provides information on all the Trusts that are listed in publications by both the Directory of Social Change and Charities Aid Foundation.
Volunteering England Information Sheet
Fundraising Resources
Last reviewed: April 2008
We have made every effort to ensure that this Information Sheet was correct at the time of publication. It is intended as a summary of relevant issues and suggests further sources of information. Legal advice should be sought where appropriate.
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