A 6 week programme for UK charities, CIOs, CICs and community groups

Most funding applications fail before anyone reads them

Funders say the same three things. The criteria were not read properly. The governance was not in order. The work was pushed into a fund it did not belong in. None of those are about whether the work deserves funding, and none of them are fixed by writing better.

Start the programme, £395 Try the free tools first
6 weeksOne email a week
6 toolsOne for each week
Self pacedStart whenever you like
1 applicationSubmitted by week 6

What actually goes wrong

Three reasons funders give, and none of them is your work

Every one of these happens before a word of the application is drafted. That is why better writing does not fix them, and why the feedback you get back rarely mentions any of it.

The criteria were read as a gate

Passing the gate says you may apply. It says nothing about whether you should. Organisations treat eligibility as permission and stop reading, then spend 3 weeks writing to a funder whose grant list contains nobody like them.

The governance was not in order

Found at due diligence, which happens after an assessor has already liked the project. One authorised signatory on the bank account, an unfiled return, an out of date trustee list. The decline arrives and says none of this.

The work was pushed into the criteria

The project gets rewritten in the funder's language. The words change, the work does not. Assessors recognise it immediately, because the outcomes sound right but the activities underneath do not produce them.

Start here, free

Run the checks a funder runs, on your own organisation

Three tools, free, no account and no email needed. Most people find something in the first 10 minutes. If they do not, they have just saved themselves the cost of a programme they did not need.

Governance Ready

The 37 checks a funder runs before releasing money, by legal form and nation. Ten of them stop an application dead whatever else is in place. Tells you which ones, and how long each takes to fix.

Run the check

Should We Apply

Four eligibility gates and six fit questions. Where you do not pass, it names which gate failed and what to do instead, including the funders and routes that would take you.

Test a funder

The Assessor's Read

Paste an answer and it comes back marked the way an assessor reads it. Filler highlighted, and every sentence another charity could copy word for word shown in grey.

Mark up an answer

These stay free whether or not you ever join the programme.

The programme

Six weeks, in the order a funder finds the problems

Governance first, because it is the slowest to fix and cannot be sorted in the week before a deadline. Evidence second, because you cannot choose a funder honestly until you know what you can prove. The funder third. Writing last, and only then.

1

What a funder sees when they look you up

You open your own public record the way an assessor does. Trustees, filing history, your website next to your last application. Then you start every fix with a long lead time, because a bank mandate change takes 4 weeks and trustee recruitment takes 3 months.

2

The board, the money and the policies

The six things that stop an application dead. The tool drafts your reserves policy from your own figures, builds your register of interests, and assembles a paper you take to your next board meeting, whenever that is.

3

What you can actually prove today

Six evidence blocks, scored 0 to 3. This is the week people find out their case is thinner than they thought, and the week that changes the most. Under 12 out of 18 and you gather before drafting.

4

Choosing the funder on evidence

You run three shortlisted funders through the fit diagnostic and read their grant lists rather than their criteria. Where those two disagree, the grant list is the better guide.

5

Writing it

Drafting against the funder's real questions and word limits. Every claim carries a number, a name or a date. Gaps stay visible rather than getting filled with something plausible.

6

Review, then submit

Filler, figures, gaps, in that order. Then the completeness pass, and the application goes in.

How it works

Self paced, but you are not on your own

Nothing is scheduled, so nothing clashes with delivery. The rhythm is the same every week and takes about an hour.

1

An email arrives

That week's teaching, a video and the tool you need. Written to be read in 10 minutes, not watched for an hour.

2

You do the work when it suits you

The tool does what a session would have done. It saves as you go, so you can stop halfway and come back.

3

You send one thing back

Two minutes. Your score, your fix list, one answer. This is the part that makes it a programme rather than 10 emails you meant to read.

4

You get a reply from me

Personally, usually within 2 days. If your evidence is thin or your funder choice looks wrong, you will hear so early enough to do something about it.

You also get 30 minutes with me, to use whenever you want across the 6 weeks. No agenda needed, and it does not expire when the programme does. Most people get the most from it in week 3.

Your board needs to be involved in weeks 1 and 2, because several of the governance fixes legally require a trustee decision. Week 2 produces a paper for whenever your board actually meets, rather than asking them to turn up to anything.

Being straight about it

Who this is for, and who it is not

A good fit if

  • You are a UK charity, CIO, CIC, community benefit society or constituted group, any size
  • You have been declined and the feedback did not explain why
  • You are delivering real work and cannot evidence it well
  • Your board will act on a paper you put in front of them
  • You have a specific fund or two in mind, or want help deciding

Not the right time if

  • Your deadline is inside 3 weeks. Several fixes take longer than that
  • Nobody in your organisation can make board decisions
  • You want someone to write the bid for you. That is a different service
  • You are looking for a guarantee. Nobody can offer one, and we will not pretend
  • The project only exists because you saw the fund. Week 4 will tell you so

What it will cost

One price, and it includes everything

£395

Per organisation, for the whole 6 weeks, whatever size you are. One price, nothing held back for a higher tier and no upsell at the end.

10 emailsA welcome guide, six weekly, plus 3 going deeper
6 videosOne for each week
6 toolsPlus a reply from me every week
1 applicationSubmitted by week 6

Start the programme, £395

Pay and the welcome guide arrives the same day, with the full week by week outline. Week 1 lands the Monday after, so you choose when you start.

Funders, CVSs and community foundations: we also run commissioned cohorts for 8 of your applicants ahead of a funding round. Mention it in the form below and we will send the details.

Register interest

Not ready to start yet

If you would rather talk first, fill this in and I will send you the full week by week outline plus an honest answer about whether this is the right thing for your organisation right now. If it is not, I will say so. Nothing to pay and no commitment.

Thank you, that is with us

We will be in touch with an honest read on whether this is the right thing for your organisation right now.

In the meantime, the three tools above are free and need no account. Governance Ready is the one most people find something in.