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By Tom Traynor, Research Project Manager, Directory of Social Change
Many charities and voluntary and community groups have been hit hard during these difficult economic times, and a number of them have not survived as their funding has dwindled or been withdrawn completely. It could be argued that funding from grantmaking trusts and foundations has never been so crucial.
The new editions of DSC’s best-selling The Guide to the Major Trusts Volumes 1 & 2 offer a lifeline to charities seeking funding from trusts and foundations by detailing funders giving a combined total of over £2.3 billion in grants to charities for a wide range of causes.
The Guide to the Major Trusts Volume 1 features 400 of the largest grantmaking trusts and foundations in the UK, which gave over £2.1 billion to help thousands of charities working with some of the most disadvantaged people and groups in society. The funders included in the guide range from those giving around £300,000 in total grants, such as the Private Equity Foundation, the John S Cohen Foundation and the Charles and Elsie Sykes Trust, to ones giving tens of millions each year like the Henry Smith Charity, the Wolfson Foundation and the Garfield Weston Foundation.
The largest funder featured in the guide is the Wellcome Trust, whose funding for biomedical research and public engagement with science topped £551.5 million. The guide also includes around 20 funders which are featured for the first time.
The Guide to the Major Trusts Volume 2 features almost 1,200 grantmakers giving combined annual grants totalling almost £200 million. As with Volume 1, the funders included here are as diverse as charities and community organisations that they fund; many give locally or regionally, and most of them also give throughout the UK. Volume 2 also includes a number of funders which have not been included in previous editions, and it makes an excellent companion to Volume 1 for those seeking funding of all different types and levels.
The information listed on each funder in The Guide to the Major Trusts Volumes 1 & 2 includes: guidelines for applicants; funding preferences; application procedures; analysis of recent grantmaking using their annual reports and accounts; detailed financial information; recent beneficiaries and grant recipients so readers can easily see if similar organisations to their own have been funded in the past; and crucially, details of what they will not fund so that you don’t waste your time and theirs by making ineligible applications for funding. Each entry also includes full contact information for the funder and a comprehensive list of its trustees.
For the new editions of the guides we have also added yet more information to help you make successful applications. For the first time we are including information on ‘common applicant mistakes’ to help you avoid the pitfalls and errors made by previous applicants. We recently surveyed all of the trusts featured in both guides and specifically asked them to tell us what common mistakes were made in the applications they received. We have included all of their responses in their own words.
Despite the difficult economic climate, our research demonstrates that funding is still out there. These invaluable books contain detailed information not available in any other publications. They are thoroughly researched and designed to help you successfully apply for funding from grantmaking trusts and foundations.
Order your copies now and take your first steps towards fundraising success!