I was turned down for funding by a trust the other day…..
As a regular trust fundraiser this is nothing very remarkable, it happens all too often, with even the best written applications.
However, why this one sticks in my mind is because of the nature of the ‘no’. Rather than sending a full application ‘out of the blue’ I sent a short introductory email asking if it would be appropriate to apply, sending it to the email address published by the charity and based on the published criteria for funding. The curt ‘autoresponse’ mail informed me that emails were never read and all applications were binned, as the trust concerned did not accept unsolicited applications.
I suspect the author of the email response message was fed up with receiving requests for funding they either could not or would not support. There is no doubt that many inappropriate and ineligible applications are sent, often on the ‘scattergun’ principle; assuming that if you send out enough requests at least some are bound to bear fruit. This rarely works, and must be very annoying for trust correspondents, who have to sift through the results. However, trusts are often far from clear about what they will and won’t fund and whether they welcome approaches.
Researching, reading and interpreting published trust material to prepare clear and appropriate application can be time-consuming and, even for those of us who have been doing it for many years, sometimes frustrating. However trusts can also be a great source of major revenue for the work you want to do and many organisations have either found somebody internally who has the skills to do this well or, alternatively, have employed an external consultant.
Talk to me if you would like to explore whether trust fundraising would work for your organisation.