The Double Ask
Two trustees, one donor, two different asks within three days. It cost the charity five years of a relationship. What a proper CRM, even a free one, would have prevented.
Finance
That grant money isn’t yours to move. (Or is it?)
You can pay a connected company for services delivered to your CIC using grant money. That’s true. What’s also true is that the advice circulating about how to do it is missing the parts that matter, and the consequences land entirely on you, not on whoever told you it was fine.
That grant money isn’t yours to move. (Or is it?) Read More »
Eight Weeks. Forty Percent. And If It Doesn’t Work, That’s On You.
A client forwarded me a sales pitch last week. Eight weeks to funding, forty percent success rate, templates included. Here’s why that timeline was broken before they’d opened the file.
Eight Weeks. Forty Percent. And If It Doesn’t Work, That’s On You. Read More »
Grant Funding in 2026. Let’s Not Sugarcoat It.
There used to be a book. An enormous green bible, published by the Directory of Social Change, called the Directory of Grant Making Trusts. That world is gone. What replaced it is faster, noisier, more competitive, and far less forgiving of shortcuts. This post is about what changed, why the funding landscape is harder than it has ever been, and what to do differently.
Grant Funding in 2026. Let’s Not Sugarcoat It. Read More »
Your mate was wrong. And now you’ve got a problem.
Someone sets up a CIC on a mate’s advice, or after buying a course that promises funding in eight weeks. A few months later they phone me. Within ten minutes of looking at their registration documents, I can usually see exactly what went wrong. Some of it is fixable. Some of it isn’t.
Your mate was wrong. And now you’ve got a problem. Read More »
Why Smart Charities Say No to Money (And Why You Should Too)
Emma was halfway through her third coffee of the morning when the email pinged through. A major foundation. £200,000. Three years of funding. She read it twice, then immediately rang her chair of trustees.
“We’re not applying,” she said.
That money should have solved every problem for Haven House, a small but brilliant homelessness charity. But the funding required them to abandon their core strength—face-to-face support—to chase the latest digital trend. We watch as excellent organizations everywhere lose their expertise trying to retrofit their mission into fashionable buzzwords. This is the story of why the smartest charities say no to money, and how focusing on your North Star is the only way to create lasting change.
Why Smart Charities Say No to Money (And Why You Should Too) Read More »
The Rainy Day Illusion
There’s a stupid idea floating around the charity sector that the most virtuous charity is the one that spends every single penny the second it lands in the bank. A charity with no financial reserves is a time bomb. Running with a zero-reserves policy isn’t “efficient” or “maximising impact”—it’s spectacular stupidity that puts every beneficiary, employee, and future project at risk. Without reserves, a simple shock means staff are laid off, projects cease overnight, and beneficiaries are abandoned. Financial resilience is how you maintain impact when the unexpected happens. Get your Reserves Policy written.
The Rainy Day Illusion Read More »
The Teacup Test: The Simple Art of Not Being Ungrateful
Most charities think a donation is the finish line. It’s not — it’s the start of a relationship. From phone calls to thank-you videos and proper reporting, this guide walks you through how not to be ungrateful (or administratively stupid) when someone gives you money.
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Deep Dive: The Complete Guide to Grant Readiness — A Masterclass for Small Charities
How one grassroots charity turned three years of rejections into £13,500 in eight months—and what your organisation can learn from it.
Sarah’s Frustration: What Are We Missing?
Sarah is a dedicated trustee of Oakdale Community Sports Hub, a vibrant grassroots charity. Their work is fantastic—the sessions are packed, the testimonials are glowing, and the community impact is obvious. Yet, for three years, they couldn’t land a major grant.
“We just don’t get it,” Sarah told me, another rejection email staring back at her. “We’re doing brilliant work. But we can’t get funding to save our lives. Meanwhile, I see charities with fancy offices securing grants left and right.”
Sarah’s story mirrors what happens to real organisations across the country every single week. Their applications were heartfelt and detailed, but they were falling at a hidden hurdle that nearly every funder uses, often without telling you: the organisational readiness test.
The Difference Between Hope and Habit
Fast-forward eight months after Oakdale started addressing these behind-the-scenes gaps, and the rejections stopped. They secured £8,000 from Sport England and another £5,500 from local funders.
Same charity. Same brilliant work. Completely different results.
This isn’t your usual “tidy your paperwork” advice. This is a masterclass in understanding and passing the unseen criteria funders use to judge whether your organisation is stable, professional, and ready for investment—even before they read a single word of your actual project pitch.
Most charities write grant applications. Few truly master grant readiness.
The difference? One group scrambles when opportunities arise. The other prepares strategically, embedding readiness into their organisational DNA so that when an opportunity lands, they can respond within hours instead of weeks.
Competition is fiercer than ever. Funders are raising their expectations. If you’re a small grassroots charity competing against larger organisations, you need every advantage you can get.
In the full guide, we’ll unpack how to build this level of readiness. You’ll discover the hidden tests funders use to separate the professionals from the well-meaning amateurs—and how you can pass this test every single time.
Deep Dive: The Complete Guide to Grant Readiness — A Masterclass for Small Charities Read More »
The ‘Trust Me’ Treasurer
Your Treasurer is a hero, but trusting one person with all the cash is The Art of Stupidity in action. Week 2 tackles the single-point-of-failure that leads to the dual disaster of friendly fraud or innocent error. Trustees have a legal duty to protect assets, and relying on a ‘trust me’ handshake is a dereliction of that duty. We provide the non-negotiable fix: Segregation of Duties and four essential financial controls you must implement today.
The ‘Trust Me’ Treasurer Read More »