Trusts and Foundations

Grant making trusts give away millions of pounds each year for charitable purposes. Each trust is different and you need to look at those who are worth approaching, what sort of projects they support and to what extent they will fund projects.

Grant making trusts, sometimes called foundations are independent grant making bodies. They obtain their income from investments or through some form of continued fundraising.

Trusts can be an extremely valuable source of income as they are set up specifically to give their money away for charitable purposes and for community benefit.

It is important to note that trusts are governed by their founding constitution, usually with the requirement that they support charitable work. This requirement does not necessarily mean that trusts have to give to organisations that are constituted and registered as charities, but they must support work for the public benefit.

Many trusts have a policy of only funding organisations which are registered with the Charity Commission or have an Inland Revenue charity reference number. In this case, it may be possible to arrange that another charity receives the grant of behalf of the applicant.

Grant Directories

The Charities Aid Foundation and the Directory of Social Change both publish a range of grant directories on trust giving for fundraisers. The DSC grant guides go into great detail about the larger trusts where most of the money is, whereas the CAF directories cover more trusts.

Funder Finder

Funderfinder is a database of grant giving trusts that can be searched to find potential funders for your group or organisation.

Contact Eastbourne Association of Voluntary Services (EAVS) Community Support Team on 01323 419788 to discuss running a search for your project.  They will ask for some information about the amount of funding you are looking for, what you want to spend it on and will then run a search for your group, forwarding a shortlist of the best matched funders.    

There is no charge for this service for EAVS members or members of the Eastbourne Community Network.

For details of joining EAVS and/or the Community Network, please call 01323 639373, membership is free.