Tag Archives: fundraising

Why Smart Charities Say No to Money (And Why You Should Too)

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The Charity That Said No to £200,000

1–2 minutes

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.

There was a long silence on the other end. Then: “Emma, are you alright? That’s two hundred grand.”

Let me tell you about Emma and Haven House—they’re not real, but their story is happening in charity offices across the UK right now, probably in one near you.

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Deep Dive: The Complete Guide to Grant Readiness — A Masterclass for Small Charities

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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

Sarah is a dedicated trustee of Oakdale Community Sports Hub, a grassroots charity with a £250,000 annual turnover. She joined the board three years ago after volunteering as a coach for their youth football programme. While she works full-time as a primary school teacher, she dedicates her evenings and weekends to helping the Hub thrive.

Oakdale runs multiple community sports programmes from a modest facility they’ve gradually improved over their 12-year existence. They’ve created a vibrant space where local children and adults can access affordable sports activities. The sessions are packed, the testimonials are glowing, and the community impact is obvious to anyone who walks through the door.

But the organisation is perpetually caught in a financial balancing act.

(A quick note: Yes, Oakdale turns over £250k—but if your charity is working with £25k, £50k, or £100k, this guide is absolutely for you. In fact, it might be even MORE important for smaller organisations, because you’re often competing against larger, better-resourced charities for the same pots of money. Everything in this guide scales down perfectly. The principles don’t change whether you’re managing £25k or £250k—you just need fewer trustees and simpler systems. Don’t skip this thinking it’s not for you. It is.)

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💥 Get Ready for the Catastrophe: The Art of Stupidity’s 40-Week Charity Fails Masterclass

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The Stupid is Coming…

Right, listen up.

I’ve spent too much time watching well-meaning charities make world-class, utterly avoidable, administrative disasters.

We’re talking about the simple, everyday failures that put your funding at risk, land your trustees in legal hot water, and make the whole sector look like it’s being run by people who found their job description in a Christmas cracker.

I’m calling time on pretending everything is fine.

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Beyond the Cliff-Edge: Practical Steps for Long-Term Funding in Small Charities

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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.

If you’ve ever sat round a committee table with the bank balance dropping and volunteers looking worn out, you’ll know exactly how Sarah and her team felt. This isn’t bad management; it’s the reality of grant-reliant funding. The cliff-edge happens to the best of us. The question is: how do you build a bit more stability into the picture?

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

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Grant Readiness Checklist: Is Your Small Charity Prepared?

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Read time: 6 minutes

Your charity does brilliant work. But when that perfect grant opportunity lands in your inbox, can you respond with confidence? Research shows 82% of successful applicants prepare their core documents well in advance—and there’s good reason for that.

Grant readiness isn’t about having a crystal ball. It’s about having the right foundations in place so you can move quickly when opportunities arise. And crucially, it’s about having all this information organised and accessible—whether that’s a physical folder system or a digital solution.

Consider using a tool like Evernote, Notion, Google Drive, or OneDrive. Personally, I use Evernote because its AI search function means I can find anything quickly—even when I’ve inevitably misfiled something. The key is having everything searchable and accessible from anywhere.

What’s brilliant about these platforms is that they’re all shareable across your organisation. You can give your whole team access to work collaboratively on documents, or set permissions so only certain people can edit while others can view. No more emailing documents back and forth or wondering who has the latest version.

There’s nothing worse than knowing you have that perfect case study somewhere but spending an hour hunting for it while a deadline looms. We’re all human—things get misfiled. But good systems with search functionality can be a lifesaver.

Here’s your practical checklist to get there.

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Welcome to Third Sector Support Solutions: Where Every Organisation Matters

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Read time: approximately 8 minutes

Things Are Tough at the Best of Times—We’re Here to Make It Easier for You, Not Harder

Hello there. I’m Constance Grayson, and I’m really glad you’ve found your way here.

After working in the UK’s charity and community sector for over 20 years, I’ve noticed something wonderful: some of the most powerful changes happen in the most ordinary places. Around kitchen tables where neighbours decide enough is enough. In community centres where someone puts up a hand and says “I’ll help with that.” In conversations between people who simply refuse to accept that things can’t get better.

I’ve also noticed that these everyday heroes often face exactly the same hurdles as the big charities when it comes to getting funding—but without the resources, jargon dictionaries, or dedicated teams to help them navigate it all.

That’s why Third Sector Support Solutions exists. We believe that good ideas, genuine commitment, and real community need should be able to access the resources they deserve—whether your paperwork comes on fancy letterhead or you’re still figuring out what a “case for support” actually means.

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✏️ Professionally Speaking…

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What I do, why I do it, and why it matters.

Let’s be honest: the third sector can be a bit of a maze.

One minute you’re sorting safeguarding paperwork and planning a local event, the next you’re trying to decode a funding application written in what looks like legal Latin. And all the while, you’re trying to actually make something happen for your community.

That’s where I come in.

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