About Your Organisation

• Legal status — registered charity number, when founded
• Governance — who your trustees are, their skills and independence
• Track record — how long you’ve been operating and what you’ve delivered
• Financial health — recent accounts, reserves policy, funding mix (are you over-reliant on one funder?)
• Organisational size — staff, volunteers, annual turnover

Your Work & Mission

• What you do and why it matters
• Who you serve — numbers, demographics, geography
• The need — evidence that the problem exists and that you’re the right people to address it
• How your work aligns with their funding priorities — this is critical, many applications fail here

The Specific Project or Request

• Exactly what the money will fund — activities, posts, equipment
• A detailed budget — what things cost and why
• How much you’re asking for and what other funding you have or are seeking
• Timeline — when the work will happen
• What happens when the grant ends — sustainability

Impact & Evidence

• What difference will the funding make — outputs (numbers) and outcomes (change)
• How you will measure and report on this
• Evidence your approach works — research, evaluations, case studies
• Learning from what hasn’t worked

Safeguarding & Risk

• Safeguarding policy — especially critical for children’s charities
• How you manage financial risk
• What could go wrong and how you’d handle it
• GDPR and data protection compliance

Values & Culture

• Commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion
• Whether beneficiaries have a voice in your work
• Partnerships — are you working collaboratively or duplicating others?
• Your reputation locally and regionally

Top tips for your charity specifically:

• Lead with the family and child — put their story and need front and centre
• Show you understand the local context (deprivation, referral pathways, gaps in provision)
• Be honest about your size and stage — many trusts specifically fund smaller grassroots charities
• Make your safeguarding crystal clear — for children’s charities this can be a dealbreaker