Grants from trusts and foundations

We’d normally recommend applying for a grant if:

• You need more than £1,000 and you have at least 6 months before your project begins,

or

• You’re applying for an emergency grant.

Smaller grants are available, but it’s worth weighing up the time and admin of a grant application against the amount of money you need for the project.

If it sounds like your timescale or the amount you need to raise means a grant isn’t the right option, you can also think about a sponsored challenge, or an event like a raffle or quiz night.

When you’re looking at grants to apply for, it’s important to consider which category your project will fall into.

Types of grants

• Projects (to fund a specific project, normally will include all elements from equipment, running costs, staff time).
• Core (this means a grant will fund running costs).
• Capital (specifically for building projects or purchasing equipment).

Most funders will let you know the amount of money they normally give as funding. It’s a good idea to check that this meets the level you’re looking for, as well as any geographical or age-based criteria.

• Keep an eye out on local Facebook groups, or among your local guiding network. If one unit has successfully received funding from a grant-maker, it’s normally a good sign that you may be successful.
• Get in touch with your country or region office. If you’re struggling to find grants around a specific project theme, then get in touch with us. We can help point you in the right direction, and it’s helpful for us to see trends in the types of funding units are looking for. You can email us on [email protected].
• It’s also worth looking at any local community foundations in your area, such as Kent Community Foundation, Sussex Community Foundation, and so on.  
• You can also search for grants on websites like Get Grants or Grant Nav to browse funding opportunities that might work for you. These allow you to search grant-makers who've funded projects. You can search for ‘young people’, or by theme such as ‘environment’. You can also filter depending on the geographical area you’re based in as this may be limited depending on the funder.
• The National Lottery website also has lots of funding opportunities for areas across the UK.

 A good structure for your grant application is:

1. Identify the need or the problem you’re solving.
2. Give some information about your unit. This could include the number of girls, their age ranges as well as any relevant local factors such as whether you’re a rural or urban unit.
3. Present a solution: how will this funding help you solve the problem you identified?
4. Examples of outcomes: you could focus on the skills the girls will learn or the knock-on effects. For example, funding for meeting hall refurbishments means a fit-for-purpose space for girls, lowering energy and running costs as well as helping us reach our environmental goals by becoming more energy efficient.
5. How you’ll evaluate and measure impact: will you ask girls to complete a survey before and after your project? Or ask for quotes from volunteers?
6. Budget for the project: see our notes on putting together a budget further down this webpage.
7. Conclusion: summing up your project again and reiterating the amount of money you’re asking for with a strong impact statement. 

Extras you could include: photographs and quotes from girls or leaders which are relevant to the need or impact of this project. 

• Think about the language you use to tell the most compelling story about why you need this grant. For example, instead of saying, ’We need £1,000 to take our unit on a camping trip’, you could say, ’£1,000 of funding would allow 50 girls to step outside of their comfort zone, learn new skills like outdoor cooking and wilderness crafts, and enjoy a night under the stars with their guiding friends.’
• Make it specific to the funder you’re applying to. Read their website and mission statement closely and keep referring to how your project fits their aims. Using the same language they do helps to show you’ve done your research and strengthens your case that your project fits their aims. You could even say, 'We share the XXX Trust’s commitment to providing outdoor opportunities for young people in the North East.'
• Avoid using too much Girlguiding jargon (for example, Brown Owl, UMA). When you need to refer to these terms make sure you explain them for a non-guiding audience. A good tip can be to ask a friend or family member outside of guiding to make sure they can understand what you’ve written. You may need to include explanatory information. For example, explaining the ages of girls in your unit’s section.

Depending on the focus of the grant application you’re applying to, the facts and figures below may help to make your application stronger by demonstrating need or impact.

• We're the leading UK organisation for girls and young women.
• We help all girls know they can do anything.
• More than 300,000 girls meet as Rainbows, Brownies, Guides and Rangers. We fire their imaginations through challenges and adventures for all personalities and abilities, from 4 to 18 years old.
• Through fun, friendship, challenge and adventure we empower girls to find their voice, inspiring them to discover the best in themselves and to make a positive difference in their community.
• Girlguiding girls are up to 23% more confident than the UK average.
• 96% of Girlguiding girls have done something to help their communities outside of Girlguiding in the 12 months before being surveyed. And girls in guiding are 36% more likely to have helped their local community or the environment (compared to non-guiding girls, boys and adults).

Check our impact report for more useful stats.

Almost 9 in 10 girls in guiding (87%) agree that we all have a responsibility to save energy and reduce waste to protect the environment.

By 2028 we hope to achieve the following goals:

• Building awareness among girls, volunteers and staff.
• Research, promote and offer more eco-guiding activities.
• By 2040, we aim to cut carbon emissions by 50% across all levels of guiding, from local activities to HQ and our trading operations.

See our environmental plan for more information.

For the impact of guiding, check our impact report.

For issues impacting girls across the UK (like mental health, confidence, online safety), check our Girls' Attitudes Survey.

Charity numbers can only be used if the fundraising will benefit girls across that area. For this reason, you must avoid using the charity number of HQ, your county, district or region if you’re applying for funding for an individual unit.

Most individual units will be exempt from registering with the Charity Commission. The kind of grant-makers you’ll be applying to should be used to this exemption. We can also provide a letter of charitable status, please get in touch with us on [email protected].

In this instance, we’d recommend writing a simple constitution document.  Whilst this will take some initial time and effort, it will be worth it as you’ll need it for other grant applications as well. Your county or country or region’s constitution may provide a good template, or they may be able to provide a template based on another unit near you.

You can also find guidance on the gov.uk website on putting together a constitution.

Unit finances can be a confidence barrier to applying for grants. If you have any concerns about your unit’s financial records, you can refer to our guidance.

Normal requirements for a grant application are:

• Your unit or area will need an account with at least 2 signatories. They’ll normally need to be unrelated to each other. 
• You’ll likely need to provide at least 1 year of accounts. Some grant makers may ask for 3 or 4 years. There are exceptions, for example if your unit has been set up less than a year ago.
• You’ll normally need to show that you have funds separate to this grant, and enough money to make the unit sustainable apart from this grant. However, you’ll need to check that you don’t hold a high level of reserves which may mean you aren’t eligible for the funding. That’s unless you have exceptional circumstances for this, for example the recent sale of a property.

If you’re applying to fund a specific activity, you’ll normally need to provide a budget. This doesn’t need to be perfect, and can be changed later if unexpected costs arise. Try to make it as accurate as possible, and there are some easily forgotten costs which you should bear in mind. As well as costs for venues, refreshments and materials or equipment, don’t forget to include insurance costs, staff salaries for the activity and training or planning time as well as any costs which may be incurred in the process of evaluating and reporting from the project.

Here’s an example budget for a unit day out:

Congratulations on winning funding for your unit or project! Once you find out that your application has been successful, send the grant an initial message thanking them for their support. Get creative with this, for example a video message from the leaders or girls in your unit would be amazing!

Make sure you make a note of any requirements set by the trust. This might mean sending them a report on your project by a certain date. This kind of report is easier if you know what sort of information you need to gather, for example quotes from participants or surveys to measure impact, so make sure to check this. They may also ask to be credited by having their name or logo appear on any materials around the project eg. posters or online content.

Stewarding means keeping the grant-maker in the loop with exciting updates and developments. Outside of their reporting requirements, you can also send a Christmas card or thank you card from girls or leaders. If they’re a local funder, you could also invite them along to a unit meeting or trip to see guiding in action!

One of the major benefits of fundraising from trusts and grants is the possibility of creating a continuing relationship between the grant-maker and your unit.

Even if the grant-maker doesn’t request a formal report on the project, it’s still nice to send them information on the impact of their funding. This might include photographs, statistics (eg. if funding an event, then the number of girls who attended), or quotes from leaders and young members.