Read time: 8 minutes

Last month, Sarah opened an email that started with: “We regret to inform you…” Another grant rejection. That was supposed to cover coaching costs for the next year. Without it, Oakdale Community Sports Hub had to dip into reserves—again. They’ve got three months’ breathing space, maybe four, before the treasurer starts sounding the alarm.

To make matters harder, their Sport England funding had just ended. They knew the rules: no chance of reapplying until the project was fully wrapped up. And even then, they’d be waiting months before hearing back. Best case, if they applied the day after their grant ended, it could still be five months before new funding landed in the bank. That left Oakdale staring at a gap of half a year or more with no guarantee of support.

Sarah and her charity are fictional, but their story mirrors what happens to real organisations across the UK every day.

If you’re involved with a grassroots group, chances are you’ve felt that same mix of relief when a grant comes in and dread when the next one’s uncertain.

Let’s look at some practical, achievable steps that even a small volunteer-led committee can put into action.

Step 1: Map Your Core Costs (and Be Honest About Them)

The first job is to get crystal clear on what you need to survive month to month. For Oakdale, that was mainly coaching fees, venue hire, insurance, and a tiny bit for equipment. They wrote it out on a single sheet of paper:

• £X per month on coaches
• £X per month on pitch hire
• £X per year on insurance

That gave them a figure for their bare minimum running costs. No frills, no extras — just survival mode.

Why does this matter? Because once you know your number, you can have grown-up conversations about how to cover it. Too many committees shy away from this, hoping a grant will land in time. Being clear about costs means you can make better decisions.

Step 2: Build a “Gap-Filling” Toolkit

Here’s where Sarah’s committee got practical. They accepted there would always be gaps between grants. The trick was having tools ready to bridge them. For Oakdale, this meant:

• Small local pots: Parish and ward councillors often have £500–£1,000 community funds. Not glamorous, but they can cover short-term costs.
• Events that don’t break volunteers: Oakdale ran a “Family Fun Match” that doubled as a fundraiser. Low stress, small profit, but kept spirits high.
• Local sponsorships: A nearby café agreed to cover kit costs in return for a logo on shirts. Not huge money, but one less line on the budget.

And here’s the important part: you don’t have to know about all these pots yourself. Networks like Sported regularly share updates on small grants, local schemes, and practical ideas. Having a trusted source to scan for opportunities means your committee doesn’t have to spend hours trawling the internet.

The point isn’t that these replace major grants — they don’t. But they take the pressure off reserves and stop you freefalling while you wait for the big pots to (hopefully) come in.

Step 3: Diversify Slowly (Don’t Burn Out Trying to Do Everything)

It’s tempting to say, “We need trading income, corporate sponsors, crowdfunding, membership fees, social enterprise…” The reality? A small volunteer-led group doesn’t have capacity to do all of that.

Sarah’s committee picked one extra strand to test each year. Last year it was small business sponsorships. This year, they’re trialling a paid “holiday activity club” alongside their free sessions.

That’s the key: start small, test what works, drop what doesn’t. Diversification isn’t about doing everything — it’s about slowly widening your safety net without stretching volunteers to breaking point.

Step 4: Use Reserves Strategically (Not Just as a Last Resort)

When Oakdale dipped into reserves after the rejection, the treasurer groaned — but it wasn’t necessarily a bad move. Reserves are there to cover gaps. The problem is when there’s no plan for building them back up.

A simple approach Oakdale adopted: whenever they won a grant, they skimmed 5%–10% off into reserves (if the funder allowed). Tiny amounts, but it added up over time. That meant when the next cliff-edge came, they weren’t starting from zero.

Step 5: Keep Fundraising Conversations Live (Even When You’re Tired)

Grassroots committees often fall into a cycle: secure a grant, breathe a sigh of relief, go quiet for a year, then panic when it ends.

Oakdale changed tack. At every trustee meeting, they now spend ten minutes on “future income.” Not long, but enough to:

• Check deadlines for the next big grant
• Share any new small funding opportunities spotted
• Remind themselves that funding is a rolling process, not a one-off task

This tiny habit stopped the feast-or-famine cycle from feeling so overwhelming.

Step 6: Talk to Funders Honestly

One of Sarah’s biggest lessons? Pick up the phone. When Oakdale’s Sport England grant ended, she rang the grants officer and asked what they could do to bridge the gap. They couldn’t bend the rules, but they did point her towards Active Partnerships, who had smaller local pots Oakdale hadn’t known about.

Many committees feel nervous about this, but funders want projects to succeed. If you’re upfront about challenges, they’ll often help signpost or at least give clarity on timelines.

Food for Thought for Your Next Committee Meeting

If your group is in Sarah’s shoes — watching the reserves shrink and worrying about the cliff-edge — here are three simple prompts you can take to your next meeting:

• What’s our bare minimum monthly cost, and how many months’ reserves do we currently have?
• What’s one small new income strand we could test this year without burning out?
• Who could we ask for a small gap-filler while we wait for the big pots?

You don’t need a full-blown fundraising strategy right away. Just small, practical steps that move you out of fire-fighting mode.

The Bottom Line

Sarah’s story isn’t unusual. Thousands of small charities and community groups face the same funding cliff-edges every year. The lesson from Oakdale isn’t “diversify overnight” — it’s to take manageable, committee-sized steps towards long-term stability.

Map your costs. Build a gap-filling toolkit. Test one new income idea at a time. Protect reserves. Keep conversations with funders alive.

That’s not glamorous, but it’s the real work of keeping grassroots organisations alive — and thriving — in between the big wins.

Because when the next “We regret to inform you…” email lands, you want to know it won’t knock the ground out from under you.